Microsoft, attempting to prepare for the worst: Corporations not upgrading to Windows 7 due to functionality problems with their programs currently running under Windows XP without issues, has announced a new “Windows XP Mode” in Windows 7 RC 1. The Windows XP Mode will provide you a means to run older productivity applications on a PC running Windows 7.
“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.” the Windows Blog stated.
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. A screenshot of the application running on Windows 7 is avaliable.
Since the application is running under virtual PC, gaming in the Windows XP mode with games that require a graphics card is out of the question apparently. However, it does open up other possibilities such as running Linux based application directly on the Windows 7 desktop.. I wonder if that would be possible?
The release candidate for Windows 7 is still expected on April 30th.