Software giant Microsoft Corp on Wednesday released a new version of its long-running operating system (OS), Windows 10, which is available as a free upgrade for copyrighted Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users around the world, news portal chinanews.com reported on Wednesday.
Users in about 190 countries and regions who run copyrighted versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 can upgrade to Windows 10 for free, the report said.
But users of other versions, including Windows XP and Vista, can only obtain Windows 10 by buying it.
A report released in January by US-based market researcher StatCounter said that this situation may frustrate many Chinese users since Windows XP accounted for about 32.7 percent of the market in China as of January 1, the report said.
"Microsoft probably worries that Windows XP or Vista, even if upgraded to Windows 10, will not provide a good user experience," Cheng Jian, editor-in-chief of Beijing-based IT website zol.com.cn, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
"The more advanced Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 systems can do better in this area," Cheng said.
The price of the copyrighted Windows 10 OS could also deter potential Chinese buyers.
The Windows 10 professional edition will cost 1,799 yuan ($289.82) in China and the home edition 888 yuan, zol.com.cn reported on Wednesday.
But in the US, the prices confirmed by Microsoft are $199.99 and $119.99, respectively, according to the report.
A survey conducted by tech news portal tech.qq.com in January showed that most Chinese users were very interested in upgrading to Windows 10 if it was free, but less than 11 percent were willing pay more than 300 yuan for Windows 10,qq.com reported on Wednesday.
As Microsoft claimed, Windows 10 does offer a higher level of safety, Cheng said.
As for users who suspect that Microsoft aims at bundling, by selling its own utility software via Windows 10's automatic updates, Cheng disagreed.
"Microsoft is not so aggressive in selling its own utility software compared with other software producers,"Cheng said, "Patches are still mainly used for enhancing security."
Experts have said for some time that Win 10, claimed to be the safest Windows OS ever offered by Microsoft, would boost the declining personal computer industry.
Global PC shipments fell 5.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, news portal ce.cn reported on April 17.
Cheng had a different take. "It may give a slight boost to low-priced tablets, but by no means to the whole PC industry. People rely more on mobile devices than computers nowadays."
