Rolf wrote with regard to Windows 7: > What I still do not understand, however, is why they push a Home > Premium > version without XP emulation (almost all new machines sold come with > it). End users will have a great bunch of older software they depend > on > which they will want to continue using. As far as I can see, they > would > have to upgrade to Professional to be able to use XP emulation. Or > did I > get this wrong, too? :-)
Sort of. XP Mode, which is available for Win 7 Professional and Ultimate (Enterprise, too) is a virtual machine containing a licensed copy of XP that is seamlessly integrated into Windows 7. It does not come with Win 7 Professional or Ultimate and is a free download from Microsoft, which the user has to install. Note: MOST applications users ran under XP will also work with Windows 7 and the user doesn't need XP Mode at all. XP Mode is intended for mission-critical XP applications that won't run under Win 7; mostly those would be customized applications used by businesses. If someone has Win 7 Home Premium and a desired application won't run, he or she can install a software virtual machine like VMware or VirtualBox, install a licensed copy of Windows in the vm, and install the software. This is exactly what you could do in XP or Vista. You DON'T need Win 7 Professional if you want to install VMware, VirtualBox, or another virtual machine like Microsoft Virtual PC. However, you'll need a legal copy of XP, Vista, or whatever version of Windows you want in your virtual machine and integration with Win 7 won't be as seamless as it is with XP Mode. As anyone who has run another version of Windows or Linux in a vm knows, this is no big deal. Windows 7 includes compatibility mode, which has been available through a right-click on a program's executable file since Windows XP came out. This is not a virtual machine and simply "fools" some software that is looking for a specific version of Windows in order to run. I have never found compatibility mode to do much of anything when I've tried to install a program in XP or Vista that wouldn't allow this. It may help with some games as long as they don't try to access the hardware directly, which is forbidden in all versions of Windows NT (XP, Vista, and Win 7 are all versions of NT). I guess the right-click compatibility mode must do something for someone or it wouldn't be there, but it can't make a truly incompatible program compatible. So really, the vast majority of buyers for personal use don't need XP Mode and certainly shouldn't spend the considerably increased price for Win 7 Professional solely for XP Mode. And of course, the processor has to support hardware virtualization. Processor support is not needed for a virtual machine installed in Win 7 Home. I have Windows 7 Home Premium installed in a dual boot with XP and I like Win 7 very much. However, I am primarily a Linux user and Linux will continue to be my main OS. (I actually have a quadruple boot on that computer, as I have VectorLinux 6 Standard and VectorLinux 6 Light in their own partitions.) I run Windows occasionally when I need to use a program without an acceptable, or any, Linux equivalent. I'm also the tech support person for a number of relatives and friends and I need to be on top of the Windows versions they use. So when Win 7 Home Premium was offered for $50 US last summer, I preordered a copy and I installed it as soon as it came in the mail right after Windows 7 was released for retail sales. I haven't yet installed Scribus or Inkscape in Win 7, though I have installed the Gimp and it is working fine in my limited use. I don't have any 64-bit programs except for what are part of Win 7. Much of my software is not recent at all. For example, Photoshop Elements 4 is installed and working fine, though the Organizer has some compatibility issues that are not killers. Even my Win 95-era Bitstream Font Navigator is working for installing and uninstalling font groups. Font Navigator doesn't understand OpenType or Unicode, but as long as it works with my font groups, that's enough for me. A retail full or upgrade copy of Windows 7 comes with two DVDs, one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit. You have to choose one or the other as the license is for one computer only. I installed 64-bit Win 7 because 64-bit is the future of computing. It also allows for much more RAM to be utilized than the 3.5 gigs and under that a 32-bit Windows can use. 32-bit programs run fine in Win 7 64. 16-bit programs do not run at all. Some 32-bit programs have 16-bit installers. The installer will not run, so those programs can't be installed. If you really need 16-bit programs, you can install a virtual machine and put a copy of an earlier Windows in it and then install and run your 16-bit programs. Although most 32-bit programs will run in Win 7 64 WITHOUT a virtual machine, another point to consider is whether there are 64-bit drivers for your hardware. You must have those. They're not scarce, however. Many manufacturers have 64-bit drivers available for download and Win 7 64 itself includes drivers for lots of hardware, with more to come, supposedly. I have four printers, two of which are inkjet all-in-ones. Only one printer, a 9-year-old Epson Stylus Color 760, does not have a 64-bit driver. The one piece of hardware without a 64-bit driver I'll really miss is my Sony Clie PDA. I can install Palm Desktop but cannot sync the PDA with the desktop because Palm does not and will not offer a driver. I do have a kludge, though. I sync the Clie through XP on the same computer and simply copy the files to Palm Desktop in Win 7. Win 7 64 is performing very well on my computer, an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ with 3 gigs of RAM and onboard Radeon Xpress 200 video. This is definitely not state-of-the-art hardware but with Win 7 64 it feels like a new computer. If you need to join a domain or really need Group Policies, you should get Win 7 Professional. Apart from that, you can save your money and go with Home Premium. --Judy M. USA Registered Linux User #397786 Being productive with VectorLinux 6.0 Standard, Deluxe Edition
