By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Microsoft - Windows XP Comes Integrated into Windows 7

heruamon on 26 April 2009

This information is really going to speed up the shift from XP to 7 for those who skipped Vista.  The US Federal Govt for one, didn't shift to Vista, but with news like this, the shift to 7 will probably happen this year, if not early next year, and this is going to rreally boost the sales figures for 7.  Now, if they can make the driver conversion as  painless, that is going to be a major win-win:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/microsoft-windows-xp-vista-win7,7631.html

"If you thought Microsoft was going to dump Windows XP completely, think again.

Zoom

Windows 7 is approaching its official release date not too long from now, and this week Microsoft unveiled one of the "secret" technologies that will ship with Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate.

Called XP Mode or XPM for short, the new feature essentially virtualizes the legacy Windows XP operating environment within Windows 7. That is, users will be able to install all applications that were previously only fully working with Windows XP, on their Windows 7 desktop without having to resort to a dual-boot solution.

Indeed, Windows 7 comes with "compatibility mode" but XPM isn't the same. XPM is actually built on the same platform as Microsoft's Virtual PC 7 product. This isn't the same as running an XP environment through a hypervisor. It was previously believed that XPM would be a Hyper-V client for Windows 7, but it is not.

However, XPM will utilize virtualization technologies in recent processors from both AMD and Intel, such as Intel's VT.

Users will be able to install a Windows XP application, and launch it seamlessly on the same Windows 7 desktop, along side Windows 7 versions of the same application, without actually affecting the core operating system. This fact alone, allows Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP in a virtualized environment, thereby giving legacy support without actually building loads of legacy code into Windows 7. This not only improves Windows 7's stability and speed, but also security.

At this time, Microsoft is claiming that XPM provides near perfect Windows XP compatibility within Windows 7.

Microsoft will include a full license of Windows XP SP3 with every copy of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate for use with XPM."



"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."

- From By Schism Rent Asunder

Around the Network
shio on 26 April 2009

wow is this really true?! That would be huge.



http://i48.tinypic.com/120qaon.jpg
heruamon on 26 April 2009
shio said:
wow is this really true?! That would be huge.

Yes it would...business wouldn't have to "eat" all the transitional cost of buying new software to convert over to 7.  They would be able to phase it over a few years, making the adoption of 7 more widespread then any other OS launched by M$.  I don't think it covers drivers, as I said, but just looking at all the other software I have on my computer...WOW indeed!

 



"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."

- From By Schism Rent Asunder

Naraku_Diabolos on 26 April 2009

Yes, it's very true. It's posted on Microsoft's Windows Blog for Windows 7.



WereKitten on 26 April 2009

How is this better than running XP and its applications inside one of the many third party virtualization tools?



"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." - Mark Twain

"..." - Gordon Freeman

Around the Network
heruamon on 26 April 2009
WereKitten said:
How is this better than running XP and its applications inside one of the many third party virtualization tools?

How is it not?

"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."

- From By Schism Rent Asunder

WereKitten on 26 April 2009
heruamon said:
WereKitten said:
How is this better than running XP and its applications inside one of the many third party virtualization tools?

How is it not?

Sorry, but I still don't understand. You could use virtualization in Vista too, and no details were given on how this "new" solution would be any better. So how is this "huge"?

 



"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." - Mark Twain

"..." - Gordon Freeman

heruamon on 26 April 2009
WereKitten said:
heruamon said:
WereKitten said:
How is this better than running XP and its applications inside one of the many third party virtualization tools?

How is it not?

Sorry, but I still don't understand. You could use virtualization in Vista too, and no details were given on how this "new" solution would be any better. So how is this "huge"?

 

"Users will be able to install a Windows XP application, and launch it seamlessly on the same Windows 7 desktop, along side Windows 7 versions of the same application, without actually affecting the core operating system. This fact alone, allows Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP in a virtualized environment, thereby giving legacy support without actually building loads of legacy code into Windows 7. This not only improves Windows 7's stability and speed, but also security.

At this time, Microsoft is claiming that XPM provides near perfect Windows XP compatibility within Windows 7.

Microsoft will include a full license of Windows XP SP3 with every copy of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate for use with XPM."

Okay...just incase you didn't know this...ALOT of business IT department's DIDN'T turnover to Vista, and this was the reason why...so my question is what audience are you talking about...because I'm talking about the US Gov't, Fortune 500 set....



"...You can't kill ideas with a sword, and you can't sink belief structures with a broadside. You defeat them by making them change..."

- From By Schism Rent Asunder

noname2200 on 26 April 2009

That's good to hear.



WereKitten on 26 April 2009

@heruamon

I work with enterprise-level clients, and virtualization has been available for years to launch your XP applications under Vista if really needed. Our clients who didn't update to Vista did so mainly because of retraining costs vs benefits and drivers issues.
I'm asking what's new in this solution, because the devil is in the details.
What happens of the Windows XP virtualized registry vs the Win 7 registry? What about user rights? What about hardware access?
Just saying that you can launch an XP application in a virtualized XP environment and this won't touch your host OS is nothing new.



"All you need in life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure." - Mark Twain

"..." - Gordon Freeman