In China 72.1 percent still use Windows XP

Microsoft is going to have a lot of trouble convincing 37.19 percent of PC users to switch from Windows XP to a more modern operating system before support for the old OS finally runs out on April 8, 2014, and it seems the situation is even more extreme in China.

According to a report by Network World, a whopping 72.1 percent of computers in China still use Windows XP.

And it will get worse for China, not better, as the remaining eight months flip off the calendar.

If one assumes that recent trends in XP's decline continue, then its share in the U.S. will drop to between 9.1% and 11.1% by April 2014 (depending on whether the forecast is based on the last three months or the last six months, respectively).

China, however, is in a tougher spot because while it's been shedding Windows XP at about the same clip as the U.S., the country's much larger current share puts it at a severe disadvantage. By April 2014, XP will still be on between 65.2% and 65.7% of its personal computers. Eight months from now, China's XP problem will be six or seven times bigger than the U.S.'s.