Microsoft wants to get you off Windows XP and onto Windows 8 PCs so bad, it’s offering $100 in savings to those who wish to make the switch. The deal comes just days before the company ends support for its 12-year old OS that many businesses and individuals are still clinging to.
Before this, the tech giant was seen pushing a $50 Microsoft Store gift card to customers. The new deal delivers a $100 discount for those upgrading from a Windows XP machine. Interested folks can avail of the offer by making the online purchase from a Windows XP PC that Microsoft deems ‘qualified’ for it. The OS you’re using will be automatically detected when you go to the shopping portal.
It’s possible that a technical error might cause your Windows XP machine to not be recognized by the store. If you think this is happening with you, then you could lug your PC to a Microsoft store of the brick-and-mortar sort and find out if your device is eligible for the $100 discount. At any rate, unless you’re planning to pay for a Windows 8 PC which costs above $599, you’re not going to get the deal.
The $100 price slash is available to those in the US and Canada. But as The Next Web points out, Microsoft is perhaps targeting the wrong markets here. Emerging countries, especially companies in such regions, are more likely to be reluctant to upgrade owing to the time and cost of transitioning their systems to the updated OS.
Individuals can be expected to be comparatively more comfortable with the notion of an upgrade. What do you think? The Lenovo ThinkPad S1 Yoga and HP EnvyTouchSmart 15 are two names on the list of PCs that Windows XP users can upgrade to in order to take advantage of Microsoft’s $100 offer.