AfterDawn: Tech news

China bans Microsoft Office on government computers

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 03 Jul 2014 10:06 User comments (5)

China bans Microsoft Office on government computers The Chinese government, just a month after banning Windows 8 on its employee's computers, has continued the trend, this time banning the Office productivity suite.
Employees have been asked to use alternative (mainly Chinese-based) suites, such as the popular and free Kingsoft Office.

Microsoft was shocked when it was revealed that China was banning the latest Windows, but the company has been promoting Windows 7 in the nation, and has ongoing discussions with officials to get the operating system reinstated in the nation. China has branded Windows 8 a threat to national security.

It has been suggested that Chinese officials were not fond of Microsoft cutting update support to Windows XP, which despite being 13 years old, is still used on over 40 percent of Chinese computers. In fact, the Chinese government only relatively recently ensured that all official computers were running genuine Windows XP, after a long fight with piracy.



Regardless, the fight is getting dirty now, and Microsoft cannot be happy with their cash cows being banned in a nation with over 1 billion computers.

Source:
Softpedia

Previous Next  

5 user comments

14.7.2014 16:07

Communism........Gotta love the notion of ONE F'ING PERSON making all decisions for everybody in the entire country, often on a whim. Yeah......that's the life for me.....................................NOT! Communism sucks! Freedom of thought ROCKS!

27.7.2014 11:51

...Steve? ...Steve Balmer? ...Is that you?


38.7.2014 10:21

Awww... Poor Microsoft. They're just upset because someone is actually resisting getting fleeced every 2 years. I think anyone would be hard pressed to say that there is ANY actual increase in productivity from going from XP to 7 or to 8. And for us sad consumerists in 'murricah, we kind of need the Chinese to stay productive, and not spend money on frivolous OS upgrades, or else the whole consumerist driven economy will collapse. LOL. Anyways, I don't blame the Chinese for their decision, especially since, as the article mentioned, they just now barely got everyone up to speed with Genuine XP. Doubt they're in a hurry to leapfrog over to Windows 8, which would be a pretty drastic change.

48.7.2014 10:42

Originally posted by SuckRaven:
Awww... Poor Microsoft. They're just upset because someone is actually resisting getting fleeced every 2 years. I think anyone would be hard pressed to say that there is ANY actual increase in productivity from going from XP to 7 or to 8. And for us sad consumerists in 'murricah, we kind of need the Chinese to stay productive, and not spend money on frivolous OS upgrades, or else the whole consumerist driven economy will collapse. LOL. Anyways, I don't blame the Chinese for their decision, especially since, as the article mentioned, they just now barely got everyone up to speed with Genuine XP. Doubt they're in a hurry to leapfrog over to Windows 8, which would be a pretty drastic change.
...What the Chinese are saying is twofold: They see the Windows ecosystem as a security threat -- and there is evidence going back decades; They have cheaper and safer alternatives.

513.7.2014 00:24

Originally posted by hearme0:
Communism........Gotta love the notion of ONE F'ING PERSON making all decisions for everybody in the entire country, often on a whim. Yeah......that's the life for me.....................................NOT! Communism sucks! Freedom of thought ROCKS!
Who is the one person in China making all the decisions for the entire country on a whim?


The decision is a reaction to the (quite correct) USA citing of five Chinese generals for industrial espionage.

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Latest news

VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads VLC hits milestone: over 5 billion downloads (16 Mar 2024 4:31)
VLC Media Player, the versatile video-software powerhouse, has achieved a remarkable feat: it has been downloaded over 5 billion times.
1 user comment
Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit Sideloading apps to Android gets easier, as Google settles its lawsuit (19 Dec 2023 11:09)
Google settled its lawsuit in September 2023, and one of the settlement terms was that the way applications are installed on Android from outside the Google Play Store must become simpler. In the future, installing APK files will be easier.
8 user comments
Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets Roomba Combo j7+ review - Clever trick allows robot vacuum finally to tackle home with rugs and carpets (06 Jun 2023 9:19)
Roomba Combo j7+ is the very first Roomba model to combine robot vacuum with mopping features. And Roomba Combo j7+ does all that with a very clever trick, which tackles the problem with mopping and carpets. But is it any good? We found out.
Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations Neato, the robot vacuum company, ends its operations (02 May 2023 3:38)
Neato Robotics has ceased its operations. American robot vacuum pioneer founded in 2005 has finally called it quits and company will cease its operations and sales. Only a skeleton crew will remain who will keep the servers running until 2028.
5 user comments
How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp How to Send Messages to Yourself on WhatsApp (20 Mar 2023 1:25)
The world's most popular messaging platform, Meta-owned WhatsApp has enabled sending messages to yourself. While at first, this might seem like an odd feature, it can be very useful in a lot of situations. ....
18 user comments

News archive