The ship date for XP Mode is a little cloudier. "We hope to release it at the same time as Windows 7," Woodgate said, "But as always, we'll ship based on quality."

Microsoft has not changed its plans to offer XP Mode to users of Windows Home Premium, Woodgate added. "This is not a typical consumer thing," he said. XP Mode RC is available only to users of Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate and Enterprise, either pre-installed on PCs by computer manufacturers or as an after-market free add-on. Hewlett-Packard Co. is one of the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) that has promised to install it on the machines they sell, Woodgate said.

He also said Microsoft is working with some software developers, particularly security vendors, to encourage them to provide multiple licenses with their software so that users can install one product on both Windows 7 and the virtualized XP. Security software makers have the technical information they need to create products that can scan not only Windows 7 files, but also those in XP Mode, Woodgate said.

"Do I need to use antivirus in XP Mode?" he asked rhetorically. "Absolutely yes."

Windows XP Mode can be downloaded starting today from Microsoft's Web site. It requires Windows 7 RC or RTM, the latter the final code that the company announced two weeks ago. XP Mode also requires an additional 1GB of memory, 15GB of hard disk space and processor-based virtualization support.

Read more about operating systems in Computerworld's Operating Systems Knowledge Center.

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