Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 24th Apr 2009 23:44 UTC, submitted by google_ninja
It's something lots of people here on OSNews have been waiting for. It's something we've talked about, something we've theorised about, and something we've declared as the future for Windows' backwards compatibility - and now it's here, and official. Over a month ago, Microsoft bloggers Rafael Rivera and Paul Thurrott have been briefed by Microsoft on a technology for Windows 7 called Windows XP Mode. Available as a free download for Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate users, it's a fully integrated and licensed copy of Windows XP SP3 in a VirtualPC-based environment, with full "coherence" support. In other words, it's Microsoft's variant of Apple's Classic environment, and it's coming to Windows 7, for free. Near-instant update: The Windows 7 RC will indeed be available publicly on May 5. TechNet/MSDN will get it April 30.
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Member since:2005-07-12
This is simply the next version of Virtual PC which adds native host OS integration (removes the desktop and start menu/taskbar from the guest OS). This should in an ideal scenario work with any OS, esp Vista, but Microsoft is trying to sell if off as an exclusive Windows 7 feature for business reasons.. VMWare Workstation 6.5 released in September 2008 aleady does this
VMware doesn't come with an XP license. It also isn't free (unless you pirate it).
Users will still have to manage and patch this "Virtual XP". This won't take management of the XP VM (patching, defragmenting) out of the equation.
I'd be surprised if Microsoft made you patch XPM separately. As for defragmenting, well, that depends on their implementation. I expect you won't have to manage a seperate virtual disk, that user files and XP apps will be stored on the host filesystem. That wouldn't be to difficult to accomplish. That would also put file system management in one location.
RE[2]: Comment by sumone
by BluenoseJake on Sat 25th Apr 2009 21:16
in reply to "RE: Comment by sumone"
Member since:2005-08-11
Member since:2005-08-27
I'd be surprised if Microsoft made you patch XPM separately. As for defragmenting, well, that depends on their implementation. I expect you won't have to manage a seperate virtual disk, that user files and XP apps will be stored on the host filesystem. That wouldn't be to difficult to accomplish. That would also put file system management in one location.
If XPM is a virtual XP, whether you patch automatically through a central tool or not, you will still have twice the patch downloads. One download for Win7 and the other for XP.
A virtual machine requires a method of booting its own filesystem and this is accomplished through raw devices, partitions or pseudo drives created from one big disk image.
Also, I'd rather the XPM not be able to put its library of malware on the host OS filesystem.
Member since:2005-07-06
What I'd love to see is for Microsoft to provide a free vanilla Windows XP Virtual PC image that allows an end user to put their old Windows XP OEM serial number in it and thus retain the benefits of Windows XP which came with their machine. After all, they did pay for the software - why shouldn't they be allowed to use it within a virtualised computer to make migration to Windows 7 easier?
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Member since:
2007-02-11
This is simply the next version of Virtual PC which adds native host OS integration (removes the desktop and start menu/taskbar from the guest OS). This should in an ideal scenario work with any OS, esp Vista, but Microsoft is trying to sell if off as an exclusive Windows 7 feature for business reasons. VMWare Workstation 6.5 released in September 2008 aleady does this (called Unity mode instead of XP Mode) and isn't locked for Windows 7 hosts and Windows XP guests. Sadly, THIS WON'T GIVE ME BACK THE FEATURES REMOVED FROM WINDOWS VISTA OR WINDOWS 7 WITH NATIVE INTEGRATION. Users will still have to manage and patch this "Virtual XP". This won't take management of the XP VM (patching, defragmenting) out of the equation.