Archive for April 30th, 2009
Hands On with Windows 7’s XP Mode
April 30th, 2009
The Windows 7 Release Candidate ships with a feature called Windows XP Mode (XPM) that has left longtime Windows users excited. XPM is designed to let users continue to run older XP-compatible applications, mostly special-purpose business programs, that won’t run smoothly (or won’t run at all) with Vista or Windows 7.
XPM sounds like the feature that finally kills off XP by persuading XP users to switch to Windows 7 without fear of incompatibilities.
In reality, the beta of XPM is a mixed bag of clever programming, appalling kludges, missed opportunities, and challenges to the ingenuity of even the most experienced Windows user. To be fair, however, this is indeed a beta, and we would hope quite a lot will change between now and the final release.
