Weclock: I don't think anybody likes microsoft.
I like them just fine. But I don't love them and/or think they're infallible (unlike a lot of Apple/MS/Unix/CPM-tards). Well, OK, CP/M is godly, no one can argue that.
Maybe it should be:
I don't think anyone
sane loves %insert company here%
Arkose: Today it has been announced that Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate users will have access to a free downloadable feature called
Windows XP Mode, which allows software to run on a virtual XP SP3 installation right on the Windows 7 desktop. Unlike other virtual machine solutions, where virtualised apps are restricted to a virtual desktop, XP Mode applications receive their own windows on the real desktop and show up on the taskbar, in Alt/Win+Tab, in the Start Menu, etc. The window's theme will reflect the one used on the virtualised OS, but other than that you would never know you weren't running it locally.
More importantly, that this is not a partial Windows implementation like Wine and the like, which don't run all software and have some inherent bugs and shortcomings; this is a real, fully licensed copy of XP SP3 running under virtualisation. Thanks to the hardware virtualisation technology (Intel VT and AMD-V) found in most modern CPUs a virtualised OS can run at native speed (although with the overhead of Windows 7 running at the same time); for non-gaming uses, the performance difference between your native software and XP Mode software will be effectively invisible. There is no word yet on the extent of driver support and whether Direct3D is supported, but beyond that all software will run just as if it was on a real XP installation.
Make no mistake: this is a
huge achievement. From this point onwards Microsoft can start dropping legacy code (resulting in a lighter, more secure OS) without worrying too much about breaking backwards compatibility. Additionally, backwards compatibility will never again decay between releases; the virtualisation technology will become even more faithful and feature-complete in future releases.
This brings me much happiness and even though I know nothing of software I'm still pleased by the possibilities this will offer. For years I've been saying (to my poor co-workers who think that my tinfoil hat is just sexy) the source of much of Windows' biggest issues was the ever expanding base of legacy code. I'd be happy to see them start dropping some of the cruft from the Win32 API. I think their attention to backwards compatibility (and for those idiots out there who'll say "what backwards compatibility?" : You don't know
shit) is admirable but it's also served to be a big stumbling block. A stumbling block that gets larger with every new technology introduced.