Windows 7 – XP Mode
So this week i’ve been playing with Windows 7 and the “XP Mode” that is built on Virtual PC. I must say that i’ve been impressed with it thus far. This mode allows you to install XP applications in a VM and then those applications are published to the host’s start menu. You can launch the application from the start menu even though it’s actually launching from the virtual environment. I had installed Office 2007 on my Windows 7 host and then i installed Office 2003 in the XP VM. Both programs functioned great. Very cool stuff! :) Now to all my other XP applications. I really think Windows 7 will be the next OS that we move to. The XP Mode should solve alot of our compatibility issues hopefully.
Here is an official blog posting on the matter:
http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/business/archive/2009/04/24/coming-soon-windows-xp-mode-and-windows-virtual-pc.aspx
Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7. Windows XP Mode provides you with the flexibility to run many older productivity applications on a Windows 7 based PC.
All you need to do is to install suitable applications directly in Windows XP Mode which is a virtual Windows XP environment running under Windows Virtual PC. The applications will be published to the Windows 7 desktop and then you can run them directly from Windows 7.
Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC are best experienced on your new Windows 7 PC. We will be soon releasing the beta of Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate.
