RSSIs 'XP Mode' in Windows 7 something you'd want to use?
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published May 4, 2009, 11:34 AM
Since Microsoft's acquisition of SoftGrid application virtualization two years ago, the company's engineers have known that this technology could present an attractive and even preferable shortcut to the perennial problem of downward compatibility. If you set aside the problem of affordability for a moment, the other key reason businesses remain hesitant to adopt Windows Vista at present is because of the uncertainty that existing business applications will be seamlessly portable into the new environment.
This is much more of a problem for businesses than consumers, although a lot of the excitement around what Microsoft's calling "XP mode" in Windows 7 (whose first and probably only Release Candidate should be available to the general public tomorrow) came from everyday users who perceived the company's move as a nod toward the efficiencies of the past, as opposed to the planned obsolescence of the future. The fact is, businesses continue to invest in software up front with the expectation that it will pay off in the long term, depreciating it like an asset rather than supporting and nurturing it like a resource. And it is for those businesses that Microsoft must ensure that it facilitates and ensures the same general infrastructure over time.
So would everyday consumers have reason to use Windows 7's new Windows Virtual PC in XP Mode? Not typically. Consumer-grade software is usually updated with the moving target of Windows evolution in mind. But if those consumers are also businesspeople, and they're faced with a situation where they need to be able to run their office's software that was developed in the era before .NET, where resources were either built-in or dependent upon DLLs or OCX's (the version of DLLs originally built for Visual Basic) then Windows 7 gives those consumers a serious alternative to having to buy or use two computers. There are indeed many home office workers who have to maintain "the XP machine" separately, and who either cannot or aren't permitted to update those machines for fear of rendering obsolete the software upon which they depend.
Essentially giving away a working XP kernel -- which is what Microsoft has decided to do -- is the company's boldest move toward neutralizing the negative impact of the downward compatibility argument on the operating system. The press materials last week presented by Microsoft did not explicitly specify that both Windows Virtual PC and the XP Mode drop-in (a pre-installed virtual machine) would be free, so even though a Microsoft FAQ for the general public stated they would be, we weren't certain we should report that without direct confirmation. (We'd been burned on that count before, and with a virtualization-related product.)
Over the weekend, Microsoft spokespersons rallied to confirm the licensing situation. Users of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate SKUs, a spokesperson confirmed to Betanews Sunday afternoon, will not be charged extra to download either Windows Virtual PC or the XP Mode drop-in. But the downloads will be available "for all customers," the spokesperson added, leaving open the possibility of future fee-based licensing for users of other Win7 SKUs. For now, as is the case with Vista, the Ultimate SKU is the only consumer-grade edition of Win7 that enables the business-class features of the operating system, which also include such things as group policy management.
In a marketing effort clearly intended to contrast its Vista push for bigger, bulkier PCs, Microsoft has been diligent this time around in presenting Windows 7 as not requiring more hardware or horsepower than Vista. Last week, the company made certain Mary Jo Foley knew right away that at least the 32-bit version's specification profile was essentially the same for Win7 as for Vista.
But you'd expect XP Mode to require something extra from the hardware, and here is where the company's playing things low-key. Windows Virtual PC requires a computer with 2 GB of DRAM and 20 GB of free storage space for the creation of a virtual hard disk. The XP Mode drop-in consumes 2 GB on its own, plus another 15 GB for virtual storage. Experience with WVPC's predecessor, Virtual PC 2007, tells me you really need 4 GB of DRAM at least, and 50 GB of total free space. On the one hand, that's probably too much for your "old PC," but you don't want to run Windows 7 on an old PC anyway -- not so it can run Windows XP on the side. The users who will take advantage of XP Mode will be those who require the convenience and efficiency of having both modes of operation in a single machine.
The other big requirement -- one which Virtual PC 2007 did not have -- was for hardware-based virtualization support through the CPU. If you're judging from CPU model numbers alone, you could get confused by this; but typical consumers don't make such judgments based on model numbers anyway. They look for logos such as the Intel vPro and AMD-V symbols, which certify a machine as supporting virtualization in hardware.
For AMD-based machines, practically all Opteron server CPUs support AMD-V, as do all Phenom desktop processors, all Athlon 64 X2 processors with Socket AM2 dating back to 2007, and all dual-core Turion 64 X2 processors. For Intel desktop CPUs, all dual-core Core 2 Duo E6xxx (65 nm), E7xxx, and E8xxx series, as well as Extreme branded CPUs support Intel VT, and all Core 2 Quads including Extreme support it as well. In mobile, the picture is a little spottier: Only some of the first mobile Core 2 Duo T5xxx series support VT; but in the 45 nm generation, all of the Core 2 Duo U-series, the T9xxx, the P, SP, SL, and SU series support VT. All Extreme branded mobile CPUs support VT, as well as all mobile Core 2 Quads.
No. Why go to a buggy OS that doesn't even run the games that run perfectly on XP ? Just stick with what works and is superior.
Score: 0
|"...something you'd want to use?". This will be the only way to run XP in a near future, no matter if you want it or not.
No problem about support: there's no obligation at all to go on supporting any OS, but IMHO XP should keep being sold "as is" to anybody who demands it.
(Edited)
Score: 0
|*laughing*
Wow. Um, yeah...power to the people...and stuff.
"the work becomes by law a free access matter belonging to that cultural heritage of mankind. "
Yeah. Right. Go for it. Let us know how that works for ya.
Score: 0
|You are right.
(Edited)
Score: 0
|If it means compatibility with the software many of the business' I deal with generate substantial wealth with each day, without a doubt its a very good thing and puts a Windows 7 upgrade path on the table.
Score: 0
|perhhaps, win7 won't be on the table.
if older winxp machines cannot run win7, then there is hardware upgrades to consider and this is costly.
it is cost effective to buy new machines rather than to upgrade older runs which at best would meet the "minimal" requirements to run win7.
however, if comapanies go with the plan to buy win7 and new computers, then they will also have to buy new licenses for winxp if they install it in virtual pc.
perhaps, the business's that won't benefit are those that have older but still highly functional computers and winxp oem's.
personally, i don't see any real costs savings companies will ascertain from win7. the question is, how can win 7 make and save money for business's that winxp is not doing presently. and if win7 has cost saving features, will they actually offset the costs to buy that o.s. and the newer computers "and" the cost of upgrades of thier current software to run on w7?
based on my experience, i think companies will hold onto their capital and leave well enough alone.
Score: 0
|"therefore if comapanies go with the plan to buy win7 and proceed to buy new computers, then they will also have to buy new licenses for winxp if they install it in virtual pc."
Pure genius...
Again: XPM does not require a separate license. Upon install of the XPM addon, it is ready to go and activated.
Helps if you actually have the slightest clue as to what you're talking about.
Score: 0
|the license for the virtual XP mode comes with Windows 7
Score: 0
|Most of the computers today are in great networks (governements, railway, sealines, airlines, banks and financial corporations etc) under the responsibility of proffesionals. IMHO it's unlikely that they buy new licenses for the same purposes, taking into account that the new offers mean a considerably more bloated OS in the workstations and that most of the corporate servers are already using Linux for free.
Score: 0
|"Virtual XP Mode Capable"
Score: 0
|Need more clarification on this virtual XP Mode. Intel Dual Core E7xxx and Quadcore Q8xxx don't support VT. The ones that support VT are E8xxx and Q9xxxx which coincidentally cost much more. Some customers are going to be surprised.
The Virtual PC needs 2GB, Windows 7 needs 2GB. So it's 4 GB. If users opt for Win7 32 bits, the 4th GB is not available to the user. How can Windows 7 manages this scenario?
The virtualization technology underneath Virtual PC is an emulator which has the lowest performance compared to other well known VM solutions. If he VPC runs as a separate machine, then the user will need two sets of security softwares (antivirus, anti ...etc) one on the XP one on WIndows 7. Seems like there will be some impact on performance and maintenance headache in view.
Score: 0
|Correction -- Intel quad-core Q8xxx series do NOT have Intel VT technology. Also of note -- the ever-popular Intel E7400 CPU does NOT have VT.
Score: 0
|I am not sure, but i think you need to enable something in your bios.
regards
Score: 0
|I'd rather go on running XP in XP mode without any support at all from Microsoft. IMHO they should keep selling all their precedent products, with no support at all of course, no matter if they create new totally supported ones.
Score: 1
|One of the version of WIN7 will NOT have XP mode in it, so for all you B.M.C. buy that version then.
good greif, never heard so many people complain before in my life, except my wife.
Score: 1
|We still have to see it working... But knowing the bloated model MS base its software, users with knowledge will use Virtualbox instead: Free, fast and reliable. Lets see...
MS ruined Virtual PC after buying it and is hard to believe they will make things better this time. Though, the right choice here is to avoid bloating the W7 kernel with buggy compatibility code.
Score: 0
|Virtual PC works great and is hardly bloated. It doesn't run things like linux well, but that's not it's focus. For testing and running MS stuff, it's better than the others. Virtualbox is good, but its track-record is pretty spotty.
Score: 0
|"The XP Mode drop-in consumes 2 GB on its own, plus another 15 GB for virtual storage."
Um, no thanks, the OS is a resource tax as it is!!
This is really a lazy way out. Not to start flame wars, but surely there got to be other options?
Score: 0
|I'm pretty sure it will be possible to use a server-side image. If not, there is always the non-persistant VM from whatever software is currently used (though it would require far more in terms of management and support).
Score: -13
|As this actually been confirmed, VirtualPC is a pig, and extremely outdated, but I've never seen it consume anything like that, not to go against betanews, but I strongly feel this needs to be verified, an actual test verified,
Microsoft say vista needs 2Gb of memory, doesn't mean vista will consume the whole 2gb when sitting on desktop, "Consume" is a strong and direct term to use, and I hope the reviewer has actually confirmed that the 2gb the drop in needs is actually consumed,
I don't think it will be, I’ve used VirtualPC, although far inferior to VMware, and as mentioned even "Virtual Box" http://www.virtualbox.org/
is probably now even better, (virtual box use to have a lot of bugs, but it's quite a solid platform now, and it's free which again is amazing given the complexity of any emulator that has to be developed)
I think the biggest issue with this drop in method is more of a gimmick, something there going to put on the BOX, and probably something they will heavily market as Win7 release date comes close, practically speaking I don't think the business world will adopt the idea, most admins have to set system up for general users to use, users that only can operate the program they have been trained to use, workers messing around with virtual images and what not, it won't take of,
Home users, will benefit the most, but most users (in general) will not like the idea of having to deal with an old operating system just to make something work,
although they may not like it, at least it's a solution, it's something, and 10points for MS for doing it, I just hope it comes with a powerful wizard for users to follow, because most users will need to be hand held through the entire process of creating an Virtual Image, further more I hope that the XP Mode will be nurtured, and developed to it's full potential, because if it is just a marketing gimmick then the released version will be the final version, and no further enhancements will be done to it, apart from a few tweak when it comes to "Service Pack" time,
however if it does get supported by MS, and they listen to the feed back from there customers concerning improvements to the XP mode project, then it could become a valuable and important part of everyday use for windows users, and this type of product could help in the far of future when windows goes through another revolutionary change (which it will, but we can't moan to much on this, nearly every OS apple has released for the MAC has always broken backward compatibility, only windows does it every 10 years as opposed to apple doing it every 2-3 years, hehehe, just look around, apple is always breaking backward compatibility, and I feel this is what pisses software developers off the most, and why apple don't get much support (just a theory)
Score: 0
|VPC is a rather quick download, the XPM addon is about 450MB.
I am sure the "requirements" account for a dynamically sized Virtual Hard drive that can "expand" to 20GB or more....depending on how much you install into the XPM.
Some people can't think about things for more than 3 seconds and instead post as though they've already downloaded, installed, tested, verified, and actually *know* something. It would appear mdotwillis is one of those folks.
Score: 0
|vista is not there biggest failure. there biggest failure was Microsoft BOB back in the windows 95 days and a close 2nd is windows ME. there are more people using Vista then people who were using ME
Score: 1
|perhaps, there are more vista users due to the power and popularity of the internet and marketing on a global basis with a touch of an internet mouse button (or two).
Score: 1
|Bob wasn't nearly as high profile and Bob didn't have corporate clients saying "we won't bother".
Score: 0
|Personally, after using vista (thanx to the free copy from the last MS event I went to) for the last year, I've found it easily as stable as XP and have noticed it's better than XP in the fact that it boots up as fast as it did when I first installed it a year ago, something that XP and earlier OSes never managed to pull off (on a test machine that frequently has software installed and removed). Vista is just proof that a bunch of monkeys can throw a fit and if enough monkeys throw a big enough fit, then the IT manager monkeys believe the negative hype.
Score: 1
|Is 'XP Mode' in Windows 7 something you'd want to use?
NO WAY !
Windows XP is history !
Score: 0
|i don't think many people would considered tossing out their expensive computers and peripherials and software engineered exclusively for winxp
and start over again by re buying everything to cater to vista or win7.
not to worry though. microsoft "really" appreciates the forgetful users and those with money to throw away at microsoft products, each time they fart.
Score: -1
|Are you trying to come across as a complete troll? Because all you're really missing is the Dollar signs... You've got the "{insert product being trolled here} is so bad no-one would ver want to use it!" BS down pat. Might wantt o throw some" M$ suxx0rz!!" in there too, bud.
That said, not all of us are *you* (Thank God)...
Many of us have equipment that can run Windows 7 just fine. Hell, considering it works on my ancient 1.6 GHz Single-core, 1GB RAM, Ati Mobility 200 HP ZE2000 laptop, there's probably more current equipment out there that will run it than won't.
Hell, even XP ran like crap on that Laptop.
Sorry HP never released drivers for ya. Really. That's too bad. Thankfully, though you seem to believe otherwise, you are *not* the majority. Most current hardware works just fine. :)
Score: -11
|no, me no think i'm troll.
if me were troll, me would bury nose in microsoft's butt, so me can be first to pay for fresh smell. old smell no good no more.
if others no do like me, i will wampum with club, like troll.
Score: 0
|That would be the definition of fanboy, genius.
Try again.
(And before you start running around banging your "wumpum" about me being a fanboy, please feel free to peruse my posts regarding the usability of Vista and the joke that is IE. ;)
Score: 0
|picsoetje- Did you read the article:it states that for crucial business software that are stable(usable) in Xp,this gives an easy way-once set up- to use it on the new Win 7.And M/Sft realises that some- that did not take the leap to Vista- will now have good reason to use the new O/S?
Score: 0
|@pct
you flatter yourself.
fanboy, you might be to microsoft.
but everyone else you attack, you are a tr-oll.
"pig with lipstick is still a pig"
but in your case it might actually help your image.
Score: 0
|*laughing*
Troll?
Only to the idiots, my friend. ...of which you did not used to be until you started blindly (and incompetently) trolling Win7. You've proven you know next-to-nothing about it, and you've proven that regardless of the facts presented, you will ignore them and continue your absurd tirades, and your posts have steadily gotten less and less intelligible (possibly indicating we're nearing the end of your idiocy due to some oncoming breakdown).
Taking someone's post and calling it what it is is not, by my definition anyway, trolling.
Your post regarding networking? Pure incompetent gibberish.
Your post concerning file sizes? Totally irrelevant to the majority of users.
...and yet you continue to state that these are "critical" issues MSFT must address before *anyone* would consider using the OS....this, in the face of posts by a large number of people who appear to not only be using it *now* but have stated they intend to purchase it when it is released...
So really... who's not facing reality here, benny? Anyone perusing any forum regarding Win7 will plainly see that there are scores of people who are thrilled with it. Apparently, your blinders are on nice and tight with your incredible statements of how no-one will ever want to use it....
So call me a troll. Look around. Do you think I care what *anyone* here thinks of me? Seriously? I call 'em as I see 'em, and if some of the *real* trolls here don't like it, (heh...) well, that's just more fun to be had.
You don't like Win7? No problem. Lots of folks don't. I have no problem with that. Hell, if you had not been so generalizing in your complaints, I might very well have agreed with you. It's the whole sensationalistic "No-one will want to trade in all their hardware" BS that I have no issue with ridiculing. Get some perspective. Or don't...if you did I'd have to go back to ridiculing fatty, and that's gotten old. :)
Score: 0
|Is 'XP Mode' in Windows 7 something you'd want to use?
NO WAY
XP is history
Score: 1
|"For Intel desktop CPUs, all dual-core Core 2 Duo E6xxx (65 nm), E7xxx, and E8xxx series, as well as Extreme branded CPUs support Intel VT, and all Core 2 Quads including Extreme support it as well." Check your info on that - Ed Bot's blog has more specific info which made me check my Core 2 Duo E7300, which does not support Intel VT, confirmed by CPU-Z.
Score: 1
|roj:
The sidebar still "exists". It's just not called the sidebar anymore. Right click on the desktop and click "Gadgets".
Microsoft is working on a newer version of "Movie Maker".
Score: 1
|I know about the gadgets but what I like about the sidebar that gadgets no longer do is that there was a dedicated area on my desktop for them that apps could not overwrite. Yeah, there's the whole "click this button and show the gadgets" thing but that's a kludge - I want "keep on top" in a nice area on my screen out of the way.
See: http://roj.deviantart.co...ffice-Desktop-120766783
Thank the gods that there will be a better version of Movie Maker - the current one stinks.
Score: 0
|roj:
Try:
http://www.mydigitallife...le-sidebar-in-windows-7/ (replaces Win7 "sidebar" files with the Vista versions)
Dunno if that's it or not. (Still a PITA, though)
Never used it myself, so haven't missed it or bothered to mess with gadgets in Win7 at all.
Score: -13
|Thanks, I'll give it a shot. I've used sidebars since Windows 3.0 and I ain't about to stop now. :)
Score: 0
|Might want to check out Object Desktop as well. Yeah, it's 3rd party, but then you're not at the mercy of MSFT for your sidebar. ;)
Score: -12
|Sorry, I jumped off the retarded MS Windows boat six years ago. Why in god's name would I want to buy all new software to be less efficient and increase my overhead? When has there been a version of Windows that has "INCREASED" performance WITHOUT buying upgrades or a new computer? Just like Intuit's Quickbooks, it sucks more and more each year as they crude it up with garbage that is useless. As the old saying goes, if it is not broke, why replace it? Or how about spend tons of money replacing a working system with a slower one? Sure, the evolution from the 3.1/9x generation to 2000/XP was a needed step. What the heck have we gained after XP? The opportunity to buy all new hardware, all new software, learn to pound our desk after confirming a requested action fifteen times and buying more and more licenses to do the EXACT same thing we previously had done but now only slower? The icing on the cake, thanks a lot Bill, is that your freaking software still has huge exploits and holes so why should we bother? Thanks Bill, for making the PC a two-year life span piece of equipment. Your robbing us Bill, stealing us blind. Good job..
BTW, I have a G4 made in 1999 that runs Leopard as well as a two year-old PC runs Vista... Eat that one..
Score: 0
|If you think there has been no improvements since Windows Vista you most probably never really used it.
Score: 0
|Have fun in Macworld sir. It's a crazy, crazy place over there.
That being said, I don't have any problems with my machines, but I'm not the typical ignoramus that feels entitled to brand new Operating Systems speeding along on 10 year old hardware.
What I do, is I time my upgrades or new PC purchases with OS overhauls. So for instance, my last big upgrade was in 2007 and I won't have to upgrade again until MS makes something that really pushes the limits of my current machine (C2Q, 8GB RAM, 3+ TB HD, etc.). Windows 7 actually runs faster than Vista does, so apparently that won't be happening for now.
I'm going to agree that Vista was a misstep, not because I have issues with it...on the contrary, I like Vista. But it was a misstep in the way they handled marketing it at the time (vista capable stickers included..), and it was a misstep in terms of thinking about backward compat. ... I'm sure they weren't thinking that companies would just up and switch to Vista, but they may have thought that most companies would transition eventually or be willing to, and so far that hasn't happened. Windows 7 is somewhat of a fix to these missteps.
Personally, I don't quite understand why people expect NEW software to work better on OLD hardware, as this has never, ever been the case in computing history. New software, may not necessarily demand new hardware (as in many cases Vista seemed to do), but it's always the case that new hardware essentially cements your new software working better/faster. Vista has been bad mouthed so much when if you get down to performance issues, all the OS really needed was a good video card and more RAM.
Your G4 may run as well as a 2 year old machine running Vista with 1GB of RAM and a crummy video card...but I'm pretty sure something that actually meets Vistas recommended specs. sinks your ship.
Score: 0
|There are a couple of things I truly dislike about Windows 7, specifically the removal of the Sidebar (the one useful feature of Vista) and the gutting of apps like Movie Maker (what a miserable retroactive abortion and insult the new version is).
That being said, outside of corporate users, I think the whole XP Mode thing is more hype than anything else. If i want a virtual machine running XP, I'll do something really revolutionary and run virtual machine software - like the free VirtualBox. Home users have few apps that don't do well on Vista, mostly because if they didn't run well on Vista, the chances are that they didn't do so well on XP either (this applies to COTS - not homebrew weirdness), In any event, time has moved on and many users have replaced recalcitrant software, if only out of frustration (I know folks who moved to Paint Shop Pro X2 from version 9 for just that reason).
To cut a long story s***:
Corporate world - essential feature
Consumer world - much ado about nothing
YMMV.
Score: 0
|Siderbar is still there in Windows 7, it's no longer called sidebar though. It's called desktop gadgets. You can download Windows movie maker from Windows live website. Just google it
Score: 0
|See my reply on Gadgets. The downloadable Movie Maker is the one I'm complaining about, sadly.
Score: 0
|"This is much more of a problem for businesses than consumers, although a lot of the excitement around what Microsoft's calling "XP mode" in Windows 7 (whose first and probably only Release Candidate should be available to the general public tomorrow) came from everyday users who perceived the company's move as a nod toward the efficiencies of the past, as opposed to the planned obsolescence of the future."
...or as opposed to it's actual purpose? Ya know....allowing businesses to run Win7 while maintaining compatibility of their legacy applications, at least for a little while longer?
Don't really care what home users think...just like I wouldn't care what they think of MOM or SMS. It's not intended for them in the slightest.
Would I use it? Sure, if I needed it to support legacy applications here. As it turns out, we may not actually need to, though.
Score: -13
|If the Win7 RC is any indication, there's even more reason to stick with XP (or Vista, if you swing that way). Performance and responsiveness has actually decreased since the last beta. 3D games have real issues with lots of hitching and poor FPS. And of course, there's that UI ..
Score: -2
|"Performance and responsiveness has actually decreased since the last beta....3D games have real issues with lots of hitching and poor FPS."
Benchmarks? Or are you talking out of your a** again?
"And of course, there's that UI .."
Which many people who have actually *used* the OS actually like. :)
In all seriousness, how'd you install the RC? As an upgrade to whatever build you had (or worse, Vista), or clean? I installed my copy clean and have had *zero* issues in Burnout:Paradise, Flatout:UC, or WoW. Boots in just under/over 20 seconds (depending on whether or not you start counting pre or post-POST).
I did have an issue upgrading a previous build to a later previous build that caused some major slow-downs (slow UI, slow boot, desktop took forever to become "usable"..), but a clean install of that same build worked fine.
Score: -12
|He's emoting form the aforementioned orifice.
As you know, I'm no fan of Vista and have branded it the biggest failure MS ever produced. That being said, apart form the caveats I mentioned in another post in this topic, I'm very enthusiastic about Windows 7 and will likely run a VM with XP 9under virtualBox) to use the older and competent version of Movie maker since the new version is a stone cold ripoff. I find system snappiness to easily surpass Vista's stumbling performance and stuttering multitasking. The UI actually makes sense and is full of REAL user niceties, like having, oh I don't know, a progress percentage indicator for the Defrag tool (removed in the continuous stream of assininity that is the Vista UI).
I do hope they make the Sidebar an optional download though - in fact, I insist upon it.
Score: 0
|Not sure how they'd implement that, other than simply making it visible again. It apparently never actually left. The desktop gadget process in Windows 7 (Beta, at least) is still called "sidebar.exe".
Personal preference really, and I agree.. they should provide that option to the end user. I happen to like the fact that it's no longer visible (transparent or otherwise). Each gadget still retains their own individual transparency options.
Speaking of progress meters, I really like the indications in the improved taskbar for file copy and IE download progress. I only wish it showed the background transfer / download progress for other applications and browsers.
Score: 0
|@PC_Tool
Yep, zero issues here as well with the previous Beta release, and by your testimony of your experience with the RC, I'm looking forward to upgrading now more than I was before. The x64 ISO should be done by the time I get home from work. It's good to know that WoW has no issues, as I've recently converted. :)
Score: 0
|spam???
spammer??
needs to be banned / blocked from betanews.
Score: 0
|i think this could be a great thing for every day consumers, if it is developed in the right way.
one of the bigest advantages i could see with this is making a virtual space for things like internet browsing, or email, could all open in their own virtual pc so to say. you could have a much more robust security built into the OS, by simpily seperating certin process from running on the same kernal. obvously this wouldnt be an end all soulution, but i think they are on the right track.
Score: 0
|many people are relunctant to throw away all their invested software engineered exclusively for use on winxp systems, simply because customers want to buy a more advanced/powerful computer system, which is likely designed for vista or win7.
if people want to buy a newer computer, the customer would also have to invest in updates for their favorite software.
i had a situation where hp decided they were not going to make a printer driver for my laser printer obviously engineered for winxp but not compatiable on vista.
unfortunately, the laser printer is a damn good one and seems to have been built to last for a hundred years. so i was unwilling with tossing it (my investment) into the dumpster only to spend a couple of hundred dollars again for a newer model simply because i upgraded to vista.
fortunately, i discovered a solution. but it wasn't without weeks of headaches, shopping and searching for a solution.
the assumption here is that people will not spend any money on newer computers that are not winxp compatiable. so unless winxp software can install flawlessly on win7, microsoft should not be planning corporate paid vacations for its executives.
Score: 0
|Don't need it coz all the applications and games installed here are compatible with Vista and 7 too including 3ds max, VStudio, CS4, GTA 4 and so on :)
Score: 0
|Unfortunately, after testing The Sims 2, it won't work for me on Build 7000. Hopefully, there's an improvement with Build 7100 tomorrow, otherwise, I would have to use the "XP Mode". I'm sure it would work then.
Oh, well ... at least I would be able to play it again! And, I hope The Sims 3 works on Windows 7!
Score: 0
|Try running that game in Vista compatibility mode. And XP mode is not designed for running games and am sure you won't be able to run Sims via XP mode. And I get more FPS while playing Crysis, GTA 4 etc in Windows 7 x64 than on Vista x64 :)
Windows 7 RC public download page: http://www.microsoft.com...windows-7/download.aspx
Score: 0
|It's certainly a nice move from Microsoft. A lot of times we have to run an old applications on our PC, in that situation instead of installing VMware and OS on top of it, we can run XP mode. I am waiting for the official release of Windows 7.
Vista is not that bad, I can play almost all of my games on Vista. BTW...., I don't bother about computer problems since I have geeks of IT24BY7 (www.IT24BY7.com) with me. These guys are amazing; they optimized my computer, now its running a lot faster then before. I have their unlimited support plan and I call them 24 by 7 for computer support. I get instant support for my desktop and laptop without paying an extra penny. These folks are awesome.
Score: 0
|