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Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 Release Candidate available
Built using Microsoft's Virtual PC product, Windows XP Mode actually runs a copy of Windows XP inside your Windows 7 installation. You can install older programs on the Windows XP virtual machine, allowing them to run in a more familiar environment. This is great for older games or programs that aren't yet compatible with Windows 7. Also, Windows XP Mode has new integration features that allow you to interact with the Windows XP system and applications more seamlessly than other virtualization packages provide.
The major potential downside to Windows XP Mode and the latest release candidate of Virtual PC is that they require your processor to support hardware virtualization to run. This means that, while Windows 7's performance enhancements will allow you to get the most out of older computers, processors that are more than a few years old won't be able to run Windows XP Mode. Microsoft provides a helpful page with instructions to determine whether your computer supports hardware virtualization, and in turn, whether you'll be able to run that old game from the MS-DOS days on your Windows 7 machine.
More details and changes from the last beta version of Windows XP Mode are available on the Windows 7 Team Blog.
Comments
9
Subscribe to commentsMollyAug 4th 2009 6:43PM
they aren't really reinventing the wheel here, are they? :)
"This is great for older games"
gotta be really old games, since MS VPC is emulating some ancient S3 GPU.
'seamless mode' is rather old news for frequent VBox users.
and as for "that old game from the MS-DOS days", can't beat the trusty DOSBox.
Andy GrattonAug 4th 2009 10:54PM
'ready for public consumption' ...lol, you've totally missed the point of XP mode, it's not meant for the general public, it's meant for specific bespoke applications in the business world that aren't compatible with Vista/W7.
To suggest it's useful for old games is ridiculous, considering it has limited directx support at best.
psycrosAug 5th 2009 2:04AM
Its startling what kind of absolute fail Windows 7 represents. It may well be the beginning of the end for Microsoft. The only feature they got right was DX10, and they could've just as easily made that a standalone install for XP and Vista. WMP12 may be the single worst media app I've ever seen.
216Aug 5th 2009 8:42AM
troll much?
MollyAug 5th 2009 9:49AM
call me a troll or whatever you want, but i totally agree on windows 7 being a complete and utter failure.
German compumag CHIP recently ran a series of tests, no fancy benchmark programs, just based on daily computing tasks. they ran each test 10 times and posted the average result for each of Microsoft's 3 most recent desktop operating system. the test platform was an average core 2 duo based system, not some high end power house. although they've headlined the test with something like "Windows 7 making Vista look bad", the outcome isn't exactly flattering for Windows 7 in the light of the Windows XP test results.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo94/eeemolly/xpvista7test.jpg
Windows XP clearly winning 6 out of 8 tests hands down. mind you, these are 'out of the box' installations and we all know what a beast Windows XP becomes once it is properly tweaked.
acmeAug 5th 2009 9:55AM
its better then vista, thats a positive. Nothing MS makes is gonna be leaner then XP. stop with the illusions.
sitrucAug 5th 2009 11:10AM
XP can't touch 95 on my Core 2 Duo rig...
MollyAug 5th 2009 2:01PM
now, if you could only make decent use of 95 on your Core 2 Duo rig. i hate to break the news, but 95 doesn't support most of modern software, XP does.
and as much as Ballmer & Co. wish for XP to become an 'illusion', and a faint one at that, i'm afraid it just wont go away for the foreseeable future. :)
sitrucAug 6th 2009 12:52AM
Did you just feel a breeze?