Is the XP Mode of Windows 7 Anything But a Reaction Tool?

[...] Revelations From An Unwashed Brain created an interesting post today on Is the XP Mode of Windows 7 Anything But a Reaction Tool?Here’s a short outlineI was just reading about the XP Mode of Windows 7 (only included when you buy the premium versions of that OS) and wondering, from the description, if this isn’t simply a tool for Microsoft to mess up the actual workings of XP, by semi-virtualizing it, and then being able to crow about anyone wanting to run things that way must really miss XP badly. The story on Within Windows states that the system will be basically  an image of Windows XP SP3 running on top of Windows 7. Who do they think [...]

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I was just reading about the XP Mode of Windows 7 (only included when you buy the premium versions of[...]…

I think Microsoft gets it…but the people don’t. If Microsoft says the sky is blue, people say it’s grey. If MS says the sky is grey, people say it’s blue. In other words people are just idiots always trying to look and feel smart by putting someone else down. I for one am sick and tired of it.

When Microsoft includes Windows Mail, Messenger, Picture Gallery etc in with the OS people cry that it’s bloated and takes up to much resources. When they take it out and leave it as option for the end user it’s seen as an abandoned child that’s on their own.

When people say they want to use XP as long as they can and skip Vista or Windows 7 Microsoft promises to support their wishes within reason before discontinuing support that they gave for YEARS. People are outraged, so when Microsoft tries to keep these people happy by giving them the tools to extend their dependence on XP…People cry foul and call it a gimmick complaining it will run like a dog on their new systems.

Like I said…Microsoft gets it, People don’t. They should take the pacifier out of their mouths and grow up, and I’m not talking about Microsoft.

[...] Is the XP mode of Windows 7 anything but a reaction tool? [...]

[...] Is the XP mode of Windows 7 anything but a reaction tool? [...]

Zune80, you seem pretty angry for a bystander – are your paychecks coming from Redmond?

I don’t think anyone I know of complained about the Live Essentials, at least not anything about bloat. I really like them – for the most part. (if you read me on a consistent basis you would have seen my comments as to their fitness for purpose.)

Where I think differently about it is that, as I said, they put these things out, for public consumption, and say they will make them better (and yes, by putting out updates, and making promises of features added, the logical mind concludes that the items will be made better) then things, reported through Microsoft’s own reporting tool, are not ever fixed, people get upset. Still, I say what the heck, they are free.

But Vista and Windows 7 are not free, and if Microsoft wants to see the greatest number of copies of their products sold, they should appeal to the greatest number of people. Clearly, Vista did not.

And the bloat was all due to stupidity.

It is widely chronicled how Microsoft always counts upon increased computer speed to make up for its bloated software. It all started with the registry and DLLs. They sounded like a good idea, and the entire point of DLLs was to allow non-used code to be pushed out of memory, so that the bloat would not be there – it did not work out that way. Just another Microsoft broken promise, or subterfuge, depending on your world view.

It’s like dot NET, basically it allows compact code – once you have this humongous number of function calls already in memory. So where is the savings? Also, since the calls are all interpreted, rather than the code being compiled, as it would be in a simple executable, you lose speed of execution, further cancelling any speed gotten from processor upgrades. Not everyone wants the operating system to be the ’sucker of all available CPU cycles’.

There are tens of things, that Microsoft has said it will do, and be pursuing, that it does not do, ever. That is why people get upset. If much was not promised, much would not be expected. No pacifiers needed.

@The Oracle
I tried to see any reasoning in your post, but after reading your comment on the Zune80, you (I mean the Oracle) don’t know what you’re saying and you just say bla bla bla.

Mohamed, what do you have to add to the conversation that is pertinent, or is that beyond your capabilities?

When I said “People” I was talking in general, and not referring directly about you or your post.

I agree with you that Microsoft isn’t perfect and things haven’t always gone as planned, but neither is Apple and neither is any Open Source community.

My anger is normally contained better, but I lost my father a week ago, and I”m having trouble dealing with it. Obviously not your fault or your problem so maybe you can take what I say with a grain of salt for awhile…

I’ve been a Windows user since I first installed Windows 3.0 on one of early computers using the 5.25″ Floppies that I still have to this day.

I have never had the kind of issues with Windows that plaque so many. Over the years I’ve become convinced that it’s usually not the Windows code or their native drivers that are at fault, but the end user themselves. You can chalk it up to inexperience on their parts, or you can blame it on other factors such as Warez and cracked programs that lead to viruses and malware etc. A large majority of people are just not smart with how they run their computers and bring the failures upon themselves. When these end users turn around and blame Microsoft…the ignorance infuriates me.

Vista was no different than any other OS release in the past. There will always be early issues that need to be worked out…that’s life. When SP1 was released for Vista, and the third party vendors started getting driver support right many started to realize the potential of Vista, and took a second look. The people who KNOW that Vista is much better than it was and are still bashing it for various reasons also infuriate me. I believe in honesty…If it works say it works and give credit, if it doesn’t work then by all means state your issues and they will be solved.

OS X has many bugs that require updates…hundreds at a time to fix, but no one thinks twice about that. Linux, I use it and enjoy most aspects of it, but it’s hardly the go to OS if you require any serious work in multimedia creation for instance. I have a very extensive home recording studio,and Linux is not even an option for me.

I’m glad to see that people are excited by what they see in Windows 7, but there are still plenty of haters just because it’s Microsoft. No, I don’t work for Microsoft in any fashion. I just think If people stop looking for trouble with everything they do, and give things time they just might like the results that they see. XP Pro didn’t happen overnight, but I still think Microsoft is damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. That’s not exactly fair or right in my opinion.

Sure,
I think Microsoft is doing its best in giving its customers the most backword compatibility achievable, because I don’t know how Windows still runs those old applications anyway, if you compared any other OS with Windows, like MacOS for example, the breaking changes are very often, and people just accept it for other systems, while it is an unforgivable mistake for Microsoft, so really people don’t know what they want, they want the applications they used in 90’s and may be 80’s to work on all versions of windows forever, as well as all the hardware + they want Microsoft to fix security and performance, So Microsoft should use the black magic to do all these contradicting requirements in the same time!!!!! Sure stuff will break, and they should, and when Microsoft tries to give its customers an option to run their desperate programs that doesn’t run on any system other than the great XP, you start complaining!!! So what should tey do, how to modernize their OS while they have to hold all these legacy on the same time!!

I agree Mohamed…another good example of what Microsoft is up against.

Good points, People demand that Microsoft scrap the NT Kernel and start from scratch. These would be the same that bash them when all their software is rendered obsolete. They just can’t win….

Again, correct in reference to OS X. When Apple changed their hardware and went from OS9 to X a lot of programs were useless, but that was okay because it was the Mighty Apple. LOL.

[...] I was just reading about the XP Mode of Windows 7 (only included when you buy the premium versions of that OS) and wondering, from the description, if this isn’t simply a tool for Microsoft to mess up the actual workings of XP, … Read the original post: Is the XP Mode of Windows 7 Anything But a Reaction Tool … [...]

Zune80, my condolences. I lost my father a few years ago, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be over it. I think that is just how it is when you love someone.

But to your points -

I too, am a long time computer user. Back to DOS 3.3. I remember getting Windows 3.0 as part of a Microsoft Mouse promo – I kept the mouse, and would still use it if I could – that dove-bar shape felt best in my hand of any I’ve ever held – keep the shape and size, add a wheel between the buttons, make it wireless, and add a laser instead of the rubber ball, and you’ve got it!

Anyway, Windows 3.0 was a total dud as far as I was concerned – it was unceremoniously removed from my machine in about 3 weeks, never to be seen again.

At the time, I used DesqView/X and it was a much better use of resources. I had a 386 – 33 with 32 MB of memory (if you remember, this was an astounding amount of memory at that time) and DesqView/X allowed me to use between 6 and 8 programs at once. Windows never did that for me until Windows 2000, quite a stretch in computer years.

I never liked the way Windows did things (actually, the way Microsoft did things, it has always seemed stupid and clumsy to me).

When I got hold of OS/2, I knew there was something better. Unfortunately, there were simply too many idiots who couldn’t get OS/2 to work for them, and then, there was the spat between IBM and Microsoft.

If IBM had been better at marketing, it would have been a completely different world!

The point I’m trying to make is that Microsoft can’t be all things to all people, I certainly get that, but they could try to do what they say they will – and – they could be consistent. They are neither.

I agree about the problems with people and their hardware – much is self-inflicted, but, as someone who does this for a living, I can say that there are many times when Microsoft knows there is a problem, yet refuses to acknowledge it, and then, miraculously the problem disappears with the next update, with no comment in the fix lists. I prefer the IBM method, with FIX-PACKS, all the errata is specified, and you always know where you stand. No games from them.

Vista is better, but it is still a pig – it makes any machine it is installed on a way-back machine, slower than the generation before it. Many are mesmerized by the pretty colors, I am not. And I know enough about security to know that the research and tests that state that XP, properly set up, is insignificantly less secure than Vista are correct, and I know for a fact that XP is imminently more usable.

With 7, I’ve stated here that I started running it as soon as it was released, and I was unimpressed. It has gotten better, but so what. If it is orders of magnitude better it should show it – I remain unimpressed. I also don’t like being dictated to by Microsoft where I can install things, simply because they are trying to protect the lowest idiot from himself.

I work on computers for a living. If I came into your house, to work on your computer, and told you that you were all wrong, and that everything you did was wrong, you would not want to pay me for my services, or ever invite me back again (especially if I was the one who had previously told you how to do things).

That is how I view Microsoft. I’m paying them for the operating system, so it is their job to be consistent in how they deal with me, and not change their mind about how things work, capriciously. They have, and I don’t like it. The more they try to make the OS idiot proof, the more idiots will want to use it, and the fewer who want freedom to do as they will and have a level of intelligence.

Thanks for the comment.

Mohamed, have you ever heard the saying about the futility of trying to re-invent the wheel?

If Microsoft could effectively show good reasons why stuff should be broken – then great, on with it. But they cannot. They have not. They clutch at straws, and change things to make them differrent, in a desperate attempt to make sales. This is why things must be broken, whether we’re talking Windows, or Office.

Although I am not an Apple afficionado, I know that they were damn smart using BSD as the basis of OS/X, and when they broke things, it was to give the user better ways to do things. BSD, by the way, is not new, and Apple built upon something with over 20 years of tried and true service – much different than what MS did with Vista. Starting to get the idea? You seem to bash Apple, for things you dislike, yet you sound to me as though you are simply another Microsoft fanboy, who must like what he has to use.

I use XP because I like to have the ability to try new and better hardware, something very limited in the world of Apple. Yet I see that by limiting their hardware base, the ability to make the machine and OS rock solid results. No screw ups, no surprises (of course there are minor problems, the things are made by humans, after all – but those are repaired much more quickly than Windows problems – again helped by the smaller number of hardware possibilities)

I see benefits to all of the big operating systems, and I am aware of the drawbacks. I don’t bash Microsoft just for the sport of it, I want to take them to task for the promises not kept, and the problems remaining (some after generations of the OS).

I think it’s a good sign that they are doing this. I have a great laptop (ASUS G50vt-x5) that is selling very well because of it’s compatibility and price. I almost DIDN’T downgrade because I was happy with the way Vista 64 was running things. But inevitably, there were things I had to do and Vista was crashing more and more often.
If only I had been able to “GO INTO XP” when I wanted to or run XP and “GO INTO VISTA 64″ (I also ran Windows 7 beta but same problems).
We need this OS switch. I think MS can do a better job than what we think at making this work. It probably wont be as virtual and clumsy as the VMWare products, but we’ll see.
As of now, until MS comes up with a way to SCARE US into upgrading (MS and Norton have always been rumored to be planting bugs and viruses and I believe it with billions at stake).
I’ll stick with XP.
My wife uses Vista and Windows 7 for her business, by the way. I have abandoned my beta testing for less headaches and more compatibility.
Also, XP can be backed up on an 8 gig USB stick or two DVD-R. Why would I want to make it harder for myself when I do so many backups and restores (if you have a family with their own computers who doesn’t back stuff up YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, you either spend a day fixing it or you BACK IT UP FOR THEM). With PING (Linux based backup disc FREE btw) it only takes a few minutes to backup OR restore XP.

[...] Is the XP mode of Windows 7 anything but a reaction tool? [...]

The Geek in me want to learn new things.If i get a new OS,I want to learn that OS.And it’s just a money thing to have so many versions of one OS.Just give a regular and one for business and be finish.

[...] Is the XP Mode of Windows 7 Anything But a Reaction Tool … By the oracle I was just reading about the XP Mode of Windows 7 (only included when you buy the premium versions of that OS) and wondering, from the description, if this isn’t simply a tool for Microsoft to mess up the actual workings of XP, … Revelations From An Unwashed Brain – http://www.lockergnome.com/theoracle/ [...]

[...] Is the XP mode of Windows 7 anything but a reaction tool? [...]

I agree that the number of “versions” or SKUs of a single base OS is out of hand, but to the actual topic —

If Microsoft plans to keep a 32-bit version of Windows 7 around for the long haul, yet the XP “VM” will require Windows 7 64-bit, then Microsoft should also provide a VM image to run on their own Virtual Machine product. They have already done this, in a sense, with their VHD test drive program.

Virtual Machine has been free for a while, it has some shortcomings but will run applications fine, and keeps Microsoft’s intellectual property intact. For those who want to run VMWare, Microsoft could continue to offer XP Home as they are doing for netbooks so people could run it in a VM. I would think that they would gain back some cosumer confidence with that move.

Joe, you don’t state if you have actually tried it. If you have please give your impressions, as I have not, and had all but forgotten about this possibility.

Most of us are making our living out of IT in a way or another, have been developing on deifferent OS’s (except for Apple’s to be honest) I developed on (Windows & Windows Mobile, Linux & Symbian for cell phones) and the way Microsoft introduces its API’s & Frameworks and how much extensibility to their systems they provide always impressed me and gave me a good reason why the number of applications on Windows are huge eventough it is a closed source.
Windows Vista was another push from Microsoft to make things better for users, by adding stuff like DirectX 10 and .net framework 3.0 out of the box as well as many other technologies for drivers and hardware, the problem that not all HW manufacturers adopted the new hardware model correctly and this is Microsoft’s fault but this got fixed by time, and now with Vista Sp1 and Windows 7 everything is very stable and rock solid, I am using both Win7 64 & Vista Sp1 64, and I don’t have any problem running any application or game

Though I am not certain what your exact point is, in relation to the post, I certainly welcome your input.

If you think I am saying that Vista is not usable, you would be wrong. I simply said it is a pig – it makes everything it touches slower, and less useful. Since I am not mesmerized by the Aero interface, I find little to like about the operating system.

Windows 7 stays with the idea that the user cannot be trusted to install things properly, and I reject this. I am not an idiot, and I don’t like software that treats me as such. Perhaps Microsoft should market an idiot’s edition, calling it Windows for Dummies, for the rest of us, they could continue with Windows XP, and apply the changes to the underpinnings, instead of the fru-fru.

I usually install programs in directories of my own choosing, and reject software that clutters up the path with unnecessary length. There are many other ideas that I have, left over from the days of DOS, but in each case, there were solid reasons, that still apply, for their choice.

I also look at the Windows 7 interface as a throwback to Windows 3.1 – think about it, they have simply moved the Program Groups from the desktop to the taskbar.

I too, have used Windows 7 x64 since it was first released, and I have seen the changes to make for fewer errors, but nothing has been done to change the way it works, which is contrary to the way people work with Windows XP – something that has been estabished over time to work well.

You seem to have not read my earlier postings – I am not a Luddite. I have eagerly anticipated all the operating systems from Microsoft, and was a first adopter until the disaster that was/is Vista. Because Vista was all rough (no diamond in the …) I was really anxious to try Windows 7. I was almost immediately turned off, yet I still have it on a machine in my house – I remain unimpressed, yet I become more familiar with it, as I know I will be called on to work on machines using it.

This is just another useless Microsoft-hater article. Not surprised I see nothing that bashes Mac or the OpenSource stuff. Better read something else that makes more sense

If you don’t like Windows Vista and says it is a pig, fine it is what you feel, however personally I am using Vista & Windows Server 2008 (which shares most of the kernel & services of Vista) almost everywhere I use Home Premium on my home laptop, and my wife’s latop, I have both Vista Enterprise & Windows Server 2k8 at work, and you should see how much software I am using in the same time (Visual Studio, SQL Server, Word, Outlook, QCD Player, Firefox & IE 8 … etc) and everything just works as expected, I have a lot of hardware that I connect to these machines (Wireless keyboards, Mouse, Phone, Cameras, Joy Pads, Headphones, my whole TV with HDMI) and the experience I get is amazing, everything is what you expect and more, if you ever tried Windows Media Center on your Home TV with a HDMI and connect your Cable to your PC and used the PC as a DVR you will know how much you can get from Vista, and how much you get.

If Windows wants to start leading their users into Windows 7 they’re going to have to give up on Windows XP. Integrating XP into 7 in any shape or form is a horrible idea, and shows how much they’re scared about the potential of their product failing.

It seems that Microsoft is stuck in the past, and too stubborn to move on.

Microsoft is not stuck with the past, the users are, they tried already what you said with Vista, and the result everybody knows when everybody starts screaming when his 19xx software didn’t work on Vista, or his old **s scanner or printer wasn’t recognized out of he box