Windows 8 remains banned for use on Chinese government computers. In a surprising rebuke to software giant Microsoft, China's Central Government Procurement Center announced the ban at the end of May, and it stays up to now.

The decree banning the operating system was announced as part of an otherwise banal report on energy-saving products, and came in response to security concerns, according to Xinhua. Not long before the ban, Microsoft announced that it would be discontinuing support for its Windows XP operating system, to the dismay of many Chinese commentators. XP remains the main workhorse of Chinese computing. State-owned companies' use of the aging operating system ranges from 60% to 95%, and it also enjoys use by countless private firms, government bureaus, and educations institutions.

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Many if not most of these computers are, however, running pirated versions of XP (often laden with 3rd party software such as "360 Safeguard", produced by China's Qihoo 360 Technology Co.) The discontinuation of Microsoft support for XP means that much of this computing infrastructure could be left vulnerable to viruses and other security threats. Windows 7 has not been adopted to nearly the same degree as Windows XP, which has shown a remarkable staying power in the Chinese market.

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer once estimated that although China nominally has the same number of Windows XP users as the United States, the actual revenues flowing from sales of legitimate copies of the operating system are less than those for sales in The Netherlands. Some have speculated that the ban on Windows 8 represents an attempt by the Chinese government to avoid the same security problems that they are currently facing with the forced retirement of Windows XP. By avoiding enmeshing their computing infrastructure with a foreign operating system, the central government could exert a much greater degree of control over the future of computing in China, rather than depending on foreign products.

The move could signal a new step in China's ongoing attempts to develop a home-grown operating system to replace foreign competitors, such as the Linux-based "China Operating System (COS)" recently developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Commentators inside and outside of China have expressed doubts as to the ability of a Chinese operating system to supplant foreign counterparts.

The ban on Windows 8 represents the latest setback to an American firm operating in China, as companies as diverse as Coca-Cola, GlaxoSmithKline, Caterpillar, Wal-Mart, and Google, among others, have faced notable obstacles and frustrations in recent years, in what many speculate is a calculated strategy to increase the competitiveness of domestic firms at the expense of foreign brands.

Microsoft could be the latest victim of these mercantilist trends, as the Chinese government seeks to check the software-giant's influence over the computing infrastructure of large segments of the Chinese economy by banning the use of its flagship product on government computers, and perhaps aid in the development of a domestic Chinese operating system in its place.