An iiMedia Research report forecast that the transitional period for XP will last from one to five years, with the new information security market size reaching five to six billion yuan.

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So far, almost all Chinese IT companies engaged in information security, including Baidu, Tencent, Kingsoft, Rising and Qihoo 360, have aimed at this market by launching free Windows XP support plans to build a hedge against viruses. Nevertheless, netizens are still concerned with the post-XP era security.

Tang Wei, a security expert with antivirus provider Rising, said that Microsoft knows better than anyone else of its own products, therefore the best solution is to upgrade the XP system, adding, "following patch-ups are only remedial solutions and minor problems in stability and compatibility may pop up. "

Tang Xiaosheng, vice president of Qihoo 360, shared the view, saying that "no matter how advanced the system is, if it can be used indefinitely long, it will be cracked sooner or later."

Domestic systems hardly fill in

It's noteworthy that after the announcement of Windows XP demise, not a single domestic operating system stands out in the market, except for other Windows and Apple systems.

Industry watchers said that Microsoft's monopoly in PC operating systems would be overshadowed if domestic companies can develop a more secure and compatible system accepted by the market.

Not a few insiders have called for the development of domestic operating systems in recent years.

Ding Liping of the Institute of Software at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the government was already on the lookout for the country's own operating system, well before Microsoft announced the end of XP support, and several systems had been put forward, such as NFSARK designed by Beijing's NFS, and NeoKylin, by Shanghai's China Standard Software.

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