Microsoft is getting closer to releasing the successor to Vista, currently named Windows 7. One of the interesting things about Windows 7 is that it will include “XP Mode” for backwards compatability. According to this article XP Mode is:
a licensed, virtualized copy of Windows XP Service Pack 3 running inside Microsoft’s own Virtual PC framework, customized and framed to allow anyone who needs a picky XP application to run to simply install it while XP Mode is enabled, then have it run as a virtualized app in the future without thinking about it.It is, in a way, a 100% compatibility promise
Simply put, XP Mode will be a licensed version of XP that is run on top of Windows 7. Important items to remember from this announcement:
-Microsoft is not offering Vista Mode. That omission speaks to their success with Vista.
-Running XP Mode on top of Windows 7 will not be available in all versions of Windows 7.
-XP Mode will require additional hardware resources
This announcement shows that Microsoft has learned from the migration to Vista but it’s far from a convenient solution for users.
Full disclosure: Network Velocity has been running Windows 7 on several test machines for months. So far Windows 7 is better than Vista, but migration issues may remain for those upgrading from XP. For more information, contact us.
