Google dances on XP's grave with $100 Chromebook tempter

'It's time for a real change, not more of the same', Google Enterprise boss claims

Google is dangling a $100 (£60) sweetener to lure businesses that have yet to migrate from XP off Windows and on to its Chrome-powered Chromebooks.

Despite being dismissed by Microsoft in its recent "Scroogled" marketing campaign as "not a PC", the Chromebook enjoyed a blistering 2013, with shipments topping 2.1m according to analyst ABI Research.

And Google sees the end of XP support this week as an opportunity to further dent Microsoft's dominance of the PC market.

In a blog, Google Enterprise president Amit Singh announced that Google is "sweetening the deal" for businesses still on the 13-year-old operating system that choose to migrate to Chromebooks rather than Windows 7 or 8.

Until 30 June, businesses can get $100 off each managed Chromebook for Business they purchase.

A $200 and 25 per cent discount is also available for Chromebooks for Business with VMware Desktop as a Service or Citrix XenApp Platinum Edition, respectively.

"It's time for a real change, rather than more of the same," Singh declared.

Google partnered with Samsung and Acer in 2011 to develop its first Chromebooks, low-cost notebooks that run on Google's Chrome operating system and leverage its cloud-based applications. At the time, one Google partner hailed the launch as "the end of the typical desktop refresh cycle that most organisations face every three or four years".

Chromebooks have so far gained most traction in Google's home US market, particularly in the education sector, capturing 21 per cent of the US commercial laptop market in 2013, according to analyst NPD.

But sources here believe that – with Google chairman Eric Schmidt having personally courted the UK schools market – that success could well be reproduced on this side of the pond.