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Microsoft: Here's $100 if you drop Windows XP

Hey XP users, time to move on -- Microsoft is saying in no uncertain terms by offering $100 off a new PC.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
Brooke Crothers
2 min read

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Hey XP users, how about a Windows 8.1 machine and $100 off

April 8 is the day support for XP ends. So, Microsoft is reaching into its bag of discount tricks to get users to drop the decade-plus old operating system.

If you own a PC with XP and upgrade at the Microsoft Store, you get $100 off, 90 days of free support, and "free data transfer," as spotted by Neowin.

The offer includes a new PC or Surface device priced at $599 or more and excludes Surface 2" and some PCs," Microsoft said.

And you have to make an online purchase with a Windows XP machine or take an XP PC to a physical Microsoft Store.

April is shaping up to be a watershed of sorts for Windows users. At the same time that support for Windows XP is ending, the more mouse-friendly Windows 8.1 update is arriving to the general public.

Microsoft Vice President Joe Belfiore said at Mobile World Congress that the company wants to "make things better" for users without touchscreens.

So, if you hail from the mouse-centric world of XP, the Windows 8.1 update should be the most palatable Windows 8 to date for XP users.

Those changes may include new right-clickable context-sensitive menus, the ability to pin Metro apps to the Desktop task bar, and adding dedicated search and power buttons to the Start screen, as described earlier this month by ZDNet.

Meanwhile, the countdown for the end of support for XP continues. "There will be no more security updates or technical support for the Windows XP operating system," as Microsoft has made amply clear.