Microsoft recently announced the availability of the Release Candidate for Windows XP Mode. According to Microsoft, this release was specifically designed to ease the migration path for small to medium-sized businesses by providing additional compatibility for their older applications that may not be compatible with Windows Vista or the upcoming Windows 7.

Windows XP mode runs a virtualized instance of Windows XP in Windows 7 and requires a PC equipped with an additional 1 GB of RAM, 15 GB of available disk space, and a processor capable of hardware virtualization with AMD-V or Intel VT turned on in the BIOS. Because of these system requirements, older PCs are not able to run the software.

In the blog post by the Windows 7 Development team, they suggest that users first try the Native Windows 7 mode when running their applications before resorting to Windows XP mode. Windows XP Mode was developed to address some users’ concerns about compatibility, considering that Windows 7 uses the same kernel as Windows Vista. Some businesses had been holding back from upgrading their operating systems since some business applications built for XP proved incompatible with Vista.

Windows XP Release Candidate will work with both the RC and RTM (Release To Manufacturing) versions of Windows 7. If you need more information, please contact us today and we’ll assess whether you can safely upgrade to the new release of Windows 7, or if you need Windows XP compatibility mode for your business applications.