XP with Windows 7!

Most of us have many applications that run only on Windows XP but are not compatible with Windows Vista or Windows Seven. It seems that Microsoft has integrated a new feature into Windows Seven, known as XP Mode or XPM. This allows users to run XP versions of a program on their Windows 7 machines without the need for “Compatibility mode” as was the case in Vista. Users will be able to install a Windows XP application, and launch it seamlessly on the same Windows 7 desktop, along side Windows 7 versions of the same application, without actually affecting the core operating system. This allows Microsoft to continue to support Windows XP in a virtualized environment, thus giving legacy support without actually building millions of lines of legacy code into Windows 7. This not only improves Windows 7′s stability and speed, but also security.

It was thought that this was done using a Virtual PC like environment, but indeed it is not so. This XPM feature takes advantage of processor virtualization technologies such as AMD Virtualization™ (AMD-V™) andIntel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT).

Microsoft claims that XPM provides near perfect Windows XP compatibility within Windows 7. What is more interesting is that Microsoft will include a full license of Windows XP SP3 with every copy of Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate for use with XPM. Ah, dual licences anyone? Not for me. I’m happy with Debian 5! Its so cool.

Microsoft dive into social networking, or do they?

Researchers at Microsoft plan to release soon, a search engine to test their latest technologies. This site will be separate from Live search, that is already offered to customers. The site named Viveri for now is currently still being developed. This site was among the new products at Microsoft TechFest 2009 on February 24. Some of the features of Viveri might be ultimately be integrated into Live search, but for now the development threads are not being merged.

 

Viveri URank - snapshot of the sign-in page.

 

 

Researchers will have a new way to test their newly discovered concepts and get feedback from the users, without the need to add them to Microsoft’s mainstream search engine.  Among the features  shown today was one that automatically puts results from niche search engines in modules next to the main search results. 

Says a Microsoft Research software architect Robert Rounthwaite: ”Most people are not going to want to have their lives interrupted by the latest wacky idea we have, but some people will, and their feedback will help us figure out which ones aren’t so wacky.”

Microsoft currently holds a 9 percent market share in Internet Search in the US, and it remains to be seen if Viveri can help improve on that figure. But Rounthwaite analogises it to concept cars used by carmakers to show the public what their future cars might, or might not look like. For a useful tip on using this search engine, goto the URank blog.