Windows 7 XP Mode goes RTM

On Thursday, Microsoft announced the release to manufacturing (RTM) of the Windows 7 XP Mode. XP Mode was intended to ease the transition to Windows 7 by using virtualization to provide a Windows XP environment to Windows 7 users. The idea is that businesses could still be able to run applications that won't work properly on Windows 7 in the virtual XP environment.

What is lesser known is that in order to utilize XP Mode, customers will need a processor with built-in support for virtualization. While this probably isn't a problem for newer laptops and PCs, attempting to upgrade older machines to Windows 7 and expecting XP Mode to be supported might be problematic.

In what can only be described as a bizarre decision, certain computer makers such as Sony have actually disabled the processor-level capabilities necessary for supporting XP Mode at the BIOS. Of course, the company has since pledged not to do the same on new machines--but previous customers who might require XP Mode are now left in a quandary.

For now, the final release of XP Mode will be in tandem with the October 22 general availability date for Windows 7. Now that it is RTM though, OEMs are free to offer this functionality based on their own manufacturing schedules.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at PC World
- check out this article at The Windows Blog

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