Country officials say they need cheaper licenses to abandon Windows XP

Dec 12, 2013 23:11 GMT  ·  By

China still believes that it deserves preferential treatment when it comes to Windows XP, so country officials have not only asked Microsoft to extend support for the aging platform, but also to provide local users with cheaper Windows 7 licenses.

A report by TechRepublic is revealing that, as part of the discussions between Chinese officials and Microsoft, Redmond has been requested to bring back low-cost versions of Windows 7 retired when Windows 8 was officially launched in the country.

There's no word as to whether the company agreed with the request or not, but Redmond recently revealed in a statement that, just like everybody else, China needed to move from Windows XP as well.

Windows 8 is not yet an option for Chinese users, as the modern operating systems currently hold a 3.48 percent market share in the country, which is clearly below expectations.

Windows 7, on the other hand, is fairly popular, with adoption growing from 31.2 percent last year to no less than 40.24 percent.