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Windows XP is officially dead, folks, with Microsoft officially closing the books on support from here on out. With that, businesses might find themselves scrambling to find a solution to get them into the 21st century. The natural thing would be to go with Windows 7 or 8, but Google wants folks to consider another option.
They’re extending an olive branch to those willing to try something new — Chromebooks. From now until June 30th, your company can get $100 for each Chromebook they buy through the Chromebooks for Business initiative. Need VMWare DaaS for all your desktop apps? You can get $200. And if you throw in Citrix XenApp Platinum Addition, you’ll get that for 25% off normal cost.
Google contends that Chromebooks are ready for enterprise thanks to the advent of offline office apps, virtual machine emulation and more. If you’re interested you can try convincing your IT department that this is the way to go, though we wouldn’t be surprised to learn that most admins would rather stick to more familiar footing. Find out more at the source link.
[via Google]
Do we really think Chromebooks are ready for enterprise or nah?
They actually are if your enterprise already has the necessary server infrastructure in place to support thin clients. But if it can, then chances are you don’t care about the XP sunset.
If it can’t, then it’s likely going to be just as expensive to change your infrastructure to support chromebooks as it would be to update your antiquated software.
The question is not “are Chromebooks ready for the enterprise”, the question is “are businesses ready to leave behind the familiarity of Microsoft platforms and software”. The answer is most likely no. The best way to adopt Chromebooks is to buy into cloud computing wholeheartedly and replace Microsoft Office with Google Drive and GMail.
Something tells me that the antiquated software that a lot of businesses run won’t run on one of these. I’m not even sure a Chromebook would run my needed peripherals. Wish it would though.
That and now you’re asking a bunch of people who are the constant butts of jokes about technology to learn what will be an all new platform to them. I’m sure IT will “LOVE” this.
Well, their argument is that you can simply use these as thin clients to connect to a server cluster that runs all their antiquated software.
The problem with that argument is that it’s incredibly expensive to build out that infrastructure if you don’t already have it. And if companies don’t want to spend the money to update their antiquated software, then why would they want to spend the money to change their infrastructure to support thin clients?
Why don’t they extend this offer to all xp users. I bet a lot of individual (like me) will give it a shot.
Not the same offer, but… BestBuy is offering $100 for XP boxes, and it can be used on a wider range of machines. I’m told the $25 gift card is instant and can be applied to the purchase, so it’s a true immediate $100 credit.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Computing-Promotions/Windows-XP-Trade-In-Offer/pcmcat327400050019.c?id=pcmcat327400050019
I know this is slightly unrelated, but I ditched an android tablet my mom had and bought her a Chromebook. Best decision I ever could have made for her.
I would have done the same by now if I could plug in and print to a USB printer.
It would be a big commitment but if google really wants to make chrome OS stay they should say we’ll support OS for X number of years, people always fear they’ll change direction and be left with a pile of outdated machines
I love the idea of Chromebooks but in business it still makes sense to go Microsoft. It just works with everything out there
Chromebooks are perfect if spend most of your computer time online (it does have offline capability for google docs and other aps). i bought one and would never consider going back to Microsoft.
Also buying a Chromebook, looking for the right one.
While Chrombooks are pretty slick, they won’t be able to get to the healthcare market (which is notorious for running antiquated hardware/software) because they refuse to accept liability in case of a HIPAA security breach.
I work as a sysadmin myself. I dualbooted my chromebook with Linux. Its easy to remote into serviers and handle other various tasks. I don’t know if this would be a good option for my customers, but the chromebooks really are awesome. I own 3 other computers. A gaming laptop, a gaming desktop, and a valve steambox from their beta. The chromebook is a welcome addition to my computing fleet.
Too bad the chromebook sucks when compared to an actual laptop, whats the point if it only works online and has such a small harddrive.
I’ll stay with XP. Chromebook does not had a real hard drive I guess.
SSD aren’t real hard drive to you? I think you meant to say it doesnt have enough storage, which it doesnt need since everything is on the cloud.