Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Microsoft Corp officially announced Tuesday that it will no longer offer updates or security support for its 13-year-old Windows XP operating system. Further, the company said it will partner with local Chinese Internet security and anti-virus companies to provide security support to XP users in China as they upgrade to new systems.

Many within the public worry that the end of XP support will threaten Chinese network security - with Microsoft no longer issuing updates or security patches, the hundreds of millions of computers still running XP could soon become exposed to hackers, viruses or malicious software. Meanwhile, this latest development serves as another reminder of China's shortcomings in terms of developing its own core computing technologies and network defenses.

Operating systems are at the heart of modern personal computing. These vital collections of software are responsible for running nearly all of a computer's hardware and software. Importantly, these systems also contain built-in parameters which define a computer's security system. When Microsoft rolled out its Windows Vista operating system in 2006, the Chinese government refused to purchase it because Vista's security framework left computers open to adjustments and manipulations by Microsoft. For this same reason, Vista's successors, Windows 7 and 8, were also not suitable for use by government agencies or important industries in China either. By this point, the Chinese government looks like it could be running out of operating system options once Microsoft stops providing support for XP users.

Over the past decade, Microsoft has introduced several measures forcing Chinese users to upgrade their operating systems; many of which were made under the guise of stamping out software piracy. But China is now the largest Internet and computer market in the world, and Microsoft's coercive upgrading strategies now appear quite shortsighted.

Under such circumstances, a new alliance is urgently needed between the Chinese government and domestic computer enterprises. The alliance should first work to protect the interests of Chinese computer consumers. It can start by setting up effective measures to make XP users feel safe enough to continue using this operating system. Second, it can offer guidance to users on whether they should continue to use XP, or switch to a newer Windows system or a domestically made system. Third, it can focus on innovating and adding new features to original software in order to improve the end-user experience. And last but not least, the alliance should turn to the strongest domestic tech companies to counter the spread of Microsoft products in China.

Information security is a serious concern for every Chinese person, and events of recent years help explain the public's growing awareness of this issue. In October 2008, Microsoft came up with a new method to combat software piracy: users running non-authorized versions of Windows XP would see their screens go black after an hour of use. This "black screen incident," whereby Microsoft was able to interfere directly with people's personal computers, left many in China shaken. Then in 2012, the US House of Representatives said that Chinese telecommunications giants ZTE and Huawei posed a security threat to the US. Later, in 2013, the revelations of Edward Snowden, who exposed a massive telecommunications surveillance program run covertly by the US National Security Agency, forced many in China to think seriously about Internet security and the safety of data stored electronically.

Microsoft has violated the rights of consumers in China, and it continues to ignore the basic social and moral responsibilities that all companies should uphold. Will this latest incident damage Microsoft? Will it create more opportunities for domestic Chinese software makers? Will China make important new breakthroughs on its own network security strategy? Let's wait and see.

We should not underestimate the determination of the Chinese government to protect the security of its computer networks. Similarly, the domestic software industry still has a great deal of potential to develop its own core technologies.

The author is a senior research fellow with Zhejiang University of Media and Communications. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn