Windows 7's virtual 'XP mode' could mean support nightmares

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Computerworld - Microsoft Corp.'s decision to give some Windows 7 users a tool to run Windows XP applications in a virtual machine may have been necessary to convince people to upgrade, but it could create support nightmares, analysts said today.

Last week, Microsoft announced that it would offer an add-on called Windows XP Mode (XPM) to users of Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise when the new operating system ships. Professional and Ultimate are the two highest-priced versions of Windows 7, while Enterprise is sold only through volume licensing agreements.

Microsoft was clear about XPM's purpose. "Windows XP Mode is specifically designed to help small businesses move to Windows 7," Scott Woodgate, director of Windows enterprise and virtualization strategy, said in a blog entry last Friday.

"I think that this will help the uptake for Windows 7, because it removes one more 'gotcha,' and that's never a bad thing to do," said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.

The idea of using virtualization to provide backward compatibility for older applications is neither novel nor surprising, Cherry continued. He called it a nice "safety net" for users concerned about abandoning XP who don't have access to centrally managed MED-V (Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization).

MED-V is available only to organizations that have a Software Assurance plan in place and also purchase Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP). Microsoft launched MDOP 2009, which includes MED-V 1.0, earlier this month.

XPM is a smart, if necessary, move, given the reception users gave to Windows Vista, Cherry said. "Because of the way Vista was received -- it's got enough baggage already -- the more they can do to address all those things [Vista was criticized for] upfront with Windows 7, the more likely that people will go to the new OS," he said.

Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner Inc., echoed Cherry's take on what motivated Microsoft to offer XPM. "It shows the extent to [which] Microsoft wants to get people who use XP onto Windows 7," he said.

But Silver sees some big downsides. "You'll have to support two versions of Windows," he said. "Each needs to be secured, antivirused, firewalled and patched. Businesses don't want to support two instances of Windows on each machine. If a company has 10,000 PCs, that's 20,000 instances of Windows."

The other big problem Silver foresees with XPM is that it may cause some companies to neglect the real task: making sure the software they run is compatible with Windows 7. "This is a great Band-Aid, but companies need to heal their applications," Silver said. "They'll be doing themselves a disservice if, because of XPM, they're not making sure that all their apps support Windows 7."