Posted on 04/24/2009 4:20:39 PM PDT by DevNet
XP Mode consists of the Virtual PC-based virtual environment and a fully licensed copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3). It will be made available, for free, to users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate editions via a download from the Microsoft web site. (That is, it will not be included in the box with Windows 7, but is considered an out-of-band update, like Windows Live Essentials.) XPM works much like today’s Virtual PC products, but with one important exception: As with the enterprise-based MED-V (Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization) product, XPM does not require you to run the virtual environment as a separate Windows desktop. Instead, as you install applications inside the virtual XP environment, they are published to the host (Windows 7) OS as well. (With shortcuts placed in the Start Menu.) That way, users can run Windows XP-based applications (like IE 6) alongside Windows 7 applications under a single desktop.
Obviously, XPM has huge ramifications for Windows going forward. By removing the onus of legacy application compatibility from the OS, Microsoft can strip away deadwood technology from future versions of Windows at a speedier clip, because customers who need to run older applications can simply do so with XPM. For Windows 7 specifically, XPM is a huge convenience, especially for Microsoft’s corporate customers, who can of course control XPM behavior via standard Microsoft administration and management technologies like Active Directory (AD) and Group Policy (GP). And it significantly recasts the Windows 7 compatibility picture. Before, Microsoft could claim that Windows 7 would be at least as compatible as Windows Vista. Now, they can claim almost complete Windows XP compatibility, or almost 100 percent compatibility with all currently running Windows applications.
(Excerpt) Read more at withinwindows.com ...
For the computer non-geek; what does this mean?
To tell you the truth, MS’s human factors engineering folks with respect to programming options really bit the big one on this ‘7’ release. I can’t find anything! It is just a waste of time to ‘modernize’ and ‘improve’ something that works acceptably. There are harsher words I’d like to use here but decency (and the ‘delete’ key of the moderator) preclude that.
It means Microsoft found a way to make you PC even slower.
Ignore the idiots. It just means that MS will be offering an environment to maintain legacy support through a full virtualized OS while going forward on a new platform that is cleaner, faster and more secure. While the concept is not new it is very nicely implemented and is one of the fastest VM’s I have used.
That windows 7 should be able to run nearly every app that runs under windows XP. This will be very useful for running those small apps that haven’t been updated in 10 years but are very important to the business in question.
Funny - my system isn’t slow at all - am I doing something wrong that makes it go fast?
The problem with this all is people are tring to install Vista on old, outdated machines. Its like trying to run the Indy 500 in a ‘65 VW. Just Wont Work. And yet, they complain. Buy a new machine (like me) and Vista is awesome. (Please no snipers). It just happens that way.
It means that “legacy” applications which need the various compatibility hacks and work-arounds that Windows has been carrying around for some time will run under this WinXP “guest” environment alongside Windows 7. Windows 7 will not support all applications that might have run under XP.
On the whole, this is good news for Windows - it means that Microsoft is finally breaking away from the past legacy application hacks in Windows 7, so they’ll be able to tighten up the speed, security and reliability of the new OS.
Now, if they’d only stop these gratuitous, sweeping changes to their UI...
Cool idea. I knew VMs were really taking off in datacenters but I had not thought of this application for them.
“The problem with this all is people are tring to install Vista on old, outdated machines. Its like trying to run the Indy 500 in a ‘65 VW. Just Wont Work. And yet, they complain. Buy a new machine (like me) and Vista is awesome. (Please no snipers). It just happens that way.”
Meaning Vista was designed for and needs more RAM, right?
That has been the push-pull-push-pull between hardware and software, for over 20 years of PCs.
This will be what Microsoft does in the future when they replace the current OS Kernel they are using.
The tech is really cool - check out research.microsoft.com sometime - they are one of the few American software companies actually doing research.
You can run multiple VMs at once and I should have mentioned that this VM tech is seamless - you setup the app to run under the VM then when you click the icon all you see is the normal app windows on your desktop. If you do it right you don’t even notice it is running under a VM.
Some really cool stuff is coming over the next few years.
I'd be more impressed if they did some engineering!
What is badly engineered about Vista or .Net?
I can't speak for Windows 7, but in office 2007, they rearranged all the menus so that I can't find anytning. And, many of the keyboard shortcuts I used to use are no longer available.
Why they changed it, I'll never know. I guess just to change because there's no logical reason for the new interface. To me, it's as if GM had decided to put the headlights on the back of the car because they thought people were tired of seeing them on the front.
I think that when I replace the laptop this fall, I might opt for an Apple.
No, I bought a brand new laptop with Vista. It’s crap. I hate it. I can’t find anything. And it’s bug-infested. I needed to replace my old Windows ME desktop, and just bought a used desktop off eBay with XP, redone to original factory configuration, with factory recovery disks included. No way am I ever buying anything with Vista on it again, and no I’m not interested in “downgrading” to the far superior XP. Microsoft needs to quit fixing that aren’t broke, and start fixing things ARE broke. The notion that they will now “solve” many of the problems of later Windows versions by inviting users to run multiple operating systems on the same computer is patently idiotic.
What *bugs* did it have and how much memory did the laptop have?
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