Earlier this year, China moved to ban the use of Windows 8, and now it looks like the country is not yet done trying to distance itself from Microsoft software.
In a report from CRI, it's stated that part of the Chinese central government and subordinate departments are banning the use of Microsoft Office. The reason is the same as the ban of Windows 8: Chinese officials allegedly believe it contains spyware for the U.S. government.
Instead of Office, China will use its own internally grown software as a replacement for the popular productivity suite, CRI's report claims.
This news is obviously a huge blow for Microsoft, which is trying to penetrate the Chinese market with legitimate copies of its software. At one point, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that nine out of 10 copies of Windows in China were pirated versions.
While the Chinese government is trying to actively avoid Microsoft software in favor of its internal platforms, we wonder if Microsoft will work directly with the Chinese to remedy these woes.
China is a massive market, and for Microsoft to have its software shut out of this territory could severely cut potential profits. So far, China has not placed any bans on Windows Phones, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see this happen in the near future based on these actions.
[Update] Looks like Microsoft is saying that this is not true and has issued the statement below:
Source: CRI via Windows IT Pro | Thanks for the tip Acrodex!
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