The Windows XP Mode RTM has finally been confirmed, and the Windows 7 Team predicts a simultaneous launch with the OS.
Microsoft has confirmed that the Windows XP Mode which will be a feature of Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Ultimate has hit Release To Manufacturing status and will be available at the same time as the release of Windows 7.
According to the official Windows 7 Blog
- via Maximum PC
- the "final release of Windows XP mode
" will be available for download from the 22nd of October, to coincide with the official launch of Windows 7.
The specialised version of Microsoft Virtual PC - designed to ensure that businesses are able to run legacy applications without issue, a concern which hindered corporate adoption of Windows Vista - was confirmed
back in April this year, but the fact that no RTM version had been announced this close to the launch of Windows 7 had some concerned that it would be delayed.
Sadly for those businesses who have standardised on one of the 18 versions of Intel Core 2 Duo processors that don't support
Windows XP Mode, the requirement for either Intel Virtualisation Technology or AMD Virtualisation is still present - meaning no XP Mode for processors including the E7500, the E8190, the E4700, or the T5550 - or even the quad-core Q8200 and Q8300 models.
For those unlucky enough not to have hardware virtualisation support on their processor, there are always the alternatives
- although a dedicated licence for the virtualised operating system would be required.
Are you waiting for a final release of Windows XP Mode to be made available for download before taking the Windows 7 plunge, or have you yet to find anything that doesn't work anyway? Share your thoughts over in the forums