Windows7How

Reasons to Use XP Mode Part II

April 5, 2010

Back in Part I, you should have easily seen that Windows XP Mode in Windows 7 is a useful feature included with Windows 7. It may sound redundant, talking about how useful it is, but it is with this approach that you can easily learn how to make the most use of it. As you go through these benefits it will be easy to see how you could set up your Windows 7 ‘ecosystem’ to your liking. Once you do that, you can save your settings and simply use the operating system (OS) as you intend. It makes it much easier to get everything you can out of your computer – especially if you work on yours as much as most of the working world does these days. Just read on and learn…

As was eluded to in Part I, a primary notable positive about Windows XP Mode is that you do not have to be in the Windows XP environment If you boot right into Windows 7, you still have access to everything you have installed in your Windows XP Mode. It actually works like having two concurrent operating systems running alongside each other.

What remains are more opinions, ideas and simple feature additions to the Virtual PC. So, let’s start with the inclusion of a simple but very important compatibility which everyone will use – USB support. In previous versions of any virtualization from Microsoft, USB was not allowed. Now, it is and it works just as fluidly as it did in your old Windows XP install. Since everyone you know (and you know it’s true) has a USB key drive, this expands its usefulness significantly. However, if you have never before used the Virtual PC feature, you may not notice much; just know that you are happy to have this new standard ability.

Do not forget that this is the first time Microsoft has done anything even remotely like this. You have never seen anything like this with the OS side of the campus – it’s just not done. This is essentially shipping two operating systems in one build – and not of the previous version, but two versions back. It really says something about Microsoft’s commitment to providing a good product. They actually listened to what the market taught them and obliged. And, it very well could bring some other items into the future of Windows, in general.

These are actually ideas which were located on the general Windows 7 forums, but people seem to agree that this is possible. This idea is simply a vision of the future which we may see come to us from Microsoft. Imagine plugging in various Virtual PC modules which allow compatibility with other past OS versions which are available with Windows 9 (or who knows what they will call it then). You could keep applications which are very useful to you without having to upgrade your entire library to Windows 9 (or whatever). That speaks of incredibly long backwards compatibility. And, the very cool part is that you only have to install the virtualization code – not the entire operating system. Of course, it all depends on whether we are still using the same architecture in our silicon by that time. The way it is going now, we may be running optical processors and storing data on crystals – and that is not an exaggeration.

This could even breed slimmer operating systems from the company once known for ‘bloatware’ – that is the constant increasing size of code which takes up more and more space on your hard drive with each and every new version; most of it there to provide for backwards compatibility. Though, the future OS will still be large when compared to DOS, but it is not so large that it costs you hundreds of extra dollars/rubles/Yuan/pounds/etc. to get the hardware you need to provide you with storage space and your OS. Using the Virtual PC method to provide backwards compatibility, Microsoft could provide their customers with what they need with less code sitting on their customer’s hard drive. You simply install what you need to use.

Windows XP Mode could be the beginning of something different for future OS releases. It could drastically change the paradigm – not exactly going the way Microsoft was trying to go with Software as a Service – to something we can all agree will be better. It could also make it flexible enough to be used in almost limitless configurations. It is almost similar to a Linux-type system – not near there yet, but moving down the continuum towards it a little. Give it a try and you will see what the hype is about; you might even find it expands your own possibilities.

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Tags: linux, microsoft, storage, usb key drive, virtual pc, win 7, windows 7, windows xp, xp, xp mode