China is still holding on to Windows XP despite phaseout

Today is April 7th, the last day before the worldwide phaseout of Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system. While most people out West will be operating happily in either Windows 8, 7 and even, hahaha, Vista, close to 200 million people in China will still be holding onto XP. According to StatCounter close to 50 percent of desktop PCs currently in use in China run Windows XP.

Microsoft’s plans to retire its Windows XP operating system have raised concerns in China, which has been slow to upgrade its computers. Microsoft says it will no longer be offering technical support or security patches for Windows XP after April 8, and it is encouraging users to upgrade to newer operating systems, such as Windows 8. Although the percentage of computers running Windows XP in China is declining ahead of Microsoft’s deadline, it’s still quite high. As of January, 49 percent of Chinese computers were using the 12-year-old operating system, according to StatCounter, an analysis firm. That compares with less than 18 percent worldwide and less than 11 percent in the United States.