Top 10 Windows 7 Features #3: XP Mode

Of course, the real question becomes, what does one do with such an application once it's running? Like I said, the real purpose for running an app such as this, in a context such as this, doesn't have much to do with its original function in life. But what you can do is get at the data, and there's some tools here for getting that data out. For example, even though the virtual envelope's directories are local to its own file system ("My Documents," for example, belongs to the VM and not the physical machine), all of your physical hard drives are automatically given share names, so you can save or export material outside the envelope with confidence. Your VM's system Clipboard is shared with the physical one, so you can cut and paste between older and newer "rescue" documents.

Printing is one other way you may be able to at least make archival records of older projects. Windows Virtual PC does not automatically install the equivalents for the printers recognized by Windows 7, so you have to install those same printers through the hypervisor first. Of course, you need the XP drivers for your printers -- Vista veterans will recall the nightmares regarding getting updated drivers for their perfectly functional devices, years now after Vista's launch. (Believe it or not, in our tests, Windows 7 RC recognized an Epson Stylus photo printer that Vista to this day still rejects.)

Here is where we encountered some problems: With Windows Virtual PC, printers are supposed to be shared by means of a virtual USB connection, accessible from a menu bar command in the hypervisor -- something the user doesn't see if she's running a seamless app. So while printing from the virtual XP worked fine through the hypervisor window, it did not work from a seamless app window because the seamless XP guest does not include the hypervisor menu.

So it's not "seamless" yet, and inevitably that will cause some problems with some users somewhere. Conceivably, Microsoft could come up with an XP-based utility that gives the user a way to connect the virtual USB cable, maybe with a keyboard shortcut. But at some point, someone will try scooting the XP seamless window to the top or the side, for Windows 7's new "Aero Snap" mode, and they'll notice it doesn't work the same way -- XP can't respond to events created by and for Win7. Similarly, a snapshot of the running XP app does not appear in the new taskbar when you hover over its icon -- it would require the hypervisor taking the snapshot on the app's behalf.

While it seems that these matters won't be significant, businesses that depend on "legacy" applications will have users who will inevitably call the support desk with these little surface issues. There will be complaints, and support staff will have to be ready for them, particularly because they are insignificant although the complainers themselves cannot be dismissed.

But the fact that XP Mode exists at all is an indication of a startling realization: The disappointment of Vista made enough of a dent in Microsoft's mindset that it opened itself up to a very broad array of suggestions, most notably the ones that pointed out uncontrovertibly that the company already had the tools necessary to eliminate one of the biggest complaints customers have. It was just a matter of deciding to ship the thing. Though that decision took some time, it certainly appears to bear the Steve Ballmer signature.