Microsoft’s problems in China continue these days

Dec 18, 2014 15:35 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft definitely doesn’t feel like home in China, where it’s experiencing really serious problems because of local regulations, and it turns out that the company is rapidly losing users in the country as a result of its legal trouble.

After Windows 8 was banned on government computers in May this year, Microsoft now lost a full city, which decided to switch from Windows to NeoKylin.

Bloomberg reports that, as part of China’s struggle to migrate to locally developed software, the city of Siping dumped Windows completely and installed NeoKylin, a homegrown operating system based on Linux, that’s said to provide enhanced security and better control for the government over built-in code.

Microsoft hasn’t yet issued a comment on this, but it’s definitely something that Redmond expected to happen, especially since the company continues to be involved in a legal dispute with local authorities.

China’s central government is currently investigating Microsoft for violating competition rules, but the allegations aren’t exactly clear.

Redmond was accused of not disclosing full software incompatibilities of some of its products, including Office and Internet Explorer, but sources close to the matter suggested that it was all just part of China’s efforts to achieve software independency.

In the meantime, Microsoft is working with local authorities to address all claims and said on several occasions that, no matter the ongoing investigations in the country, its products, including Windows 7 and Windows 8, would continue to be available to Chinese buyers.

Windows 8.1 is banned on Chinese govt PCs (10 Images)

Windows 8 cannot be used by Chinese government agencies
Windows 8.1 desktopWindows 8.1 All Apps view
+7more