Microsoft’s operating system popularity can be traced to a few things namely backwards compatibility. The downside to this is that they have to provide some form of support in order to keep a customer’s old applications compatible with their new operating system. All of that added compatibility means a much heavier OS to contend with.
It looks like Microsoft has finally gotten wise and is going the virtualization route in order to support Windows XP based applications under Windows 7, huge news and a route they’ll likely take well into the future. SuperSite for Windows has tons of details:
XPM works much like today’s Virtual PC products, but with one important exception: As with the enterprise-based MED-V (Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization) product, XPM does not require you to run the virtual environment as a separate Windows desktop. Instead, as you install applications inside the virtual XP environment, they are published to the host (Windows 7) OS as well. (With shortcuts placed in the Start Menu.) That way, users can run Windows XP-based applications (like IE 6) alongside Windows 7 applications under a single desktop.
They’ve also got some screenshots of the install process. An exciting turn of events which will surely allow the company to get rid of a good chunk of legacy cruft.
