Filed under: Windows, Microsoft
Windows XP Mode for Windows 7 Release Candidate available
by Adam Maras Aug 4th 2009
Built using Microsoft's Virtual PC product, Windows XP Mode actually runs a copy of Windows XP inside your Windows 7 installation. You can install older programs on the Windows XP virtual machine, allowing them to run in a more familiar environment. This is great for older games or programs that aren't yet compatible with Windows 7. Also, Windows XP Mode has new integration features that allow you to interact with the Windows XP system and applications more seamlessly than other virtualization packages provide.
The major potential downside to Windows XP Mode and the latest release candidate of Virtual PC is that they require your processor to support hardware virtualization to run. This means that, while Windows 7's performance enhancements will allow you to get the most out of older computers, processors that are more than a few years old won't be able to run Windows XP Mode. Microsoft provides a helpful page with instructions to determine whether your computer supports hardware virtualization, and in turn, whether you'll be able to run that old game from the MS-DOS days on your Windows 7 machine.
More details and changes from the last beta version of Windows XP Mode are available on the Windows 7 Team Blog.
Virtualization software, allowing you to simulate a "computer within a computer", is increasingly becoming a tricky subject. With products like Parallels Desktop, VMWare and Microsoft's Virtual PC allowing you to, in a way, mix and match operating systems, the licenses behind those operating systems are becoming more complicated and restrictive. Microsoft, for example, doesn't allow low-rent versions of Vista (Vista Basic, or Vista Home Premium) to be used within a virtual environment; If you want that privilege you'll need to cough up some extra dough for Vista Ultimate, Vista Business or Vista Enterprise. Not to be outdone, Apple doesn't allow OS X in a virtual environment at all, ever; Not on Apple hardware or anyone else's.
I've been having to use VirtualPC (among others) for virtualization for ages, so running an OS inside another OS is pretty old hat for me. But for a lot of folks, the new virtualization tools have really, finally arrived. Let's face it, hardware has finally gotten to a point where doing this kind of stuff isn't nearly as painful as it used to be. I'm not saying it's great, but at least we're moving beyond the point of "which runs faster than a box turtle." Rick Cook has an excellent article at informit.com on 
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
