Im a part of a lot of Beta programs as well as a part of MSDN. Microsoft grants me access to a lot of toys. In return I give them feedback and support thier products. A lot of vendors have open ralationships with me because I work with many large companies. Im not talking about companies with 500 employees but 30K to 200K+ employees. I speak with a lot of engineers and was once asked by Microsoft if I wanted to be submitted to work on the X-Box team because of some of the ideas I presented to them.
To Prove I have a Beta copy here is some info.
Here is what I get when I put the CD in a regular 32 bit machine.
"This Version of Windows cannot be installed on this machine."
here is quick clip
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition Only Back to Top
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Software
16-bit applications
Windows XP 64-Bit Edition does not support most 16-bit DOS, Windows, and OS/2 applications. This is also significant to 32-bit applications where the initial setup.exe is a 16-bit stub which checks the machine type, then launches a 32-bit install engine to perform the install.
On computers running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, certain proprietary 16-bit applications do not run correctly and might affect other applications.
Programs that use 16-bit Microsoft ACME Setup versions 2.6, 3.0, 3.01, and 3.1 and InstallShield versions 5.x should install without error.
32-bit device drivers
Computers running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition do not support 32-bit device drivers.
Some 32-bit applications ship with device drivers that are not supported by the 64-bit kernel. These applications will not function properly and might cause an error during installation or operation. Most 32-bit antivirus programs fall into this category and should not be loaded on computers running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
32-bit plug-ins on 64-bit Internet Explorer
The 64-bit default browser for Windows XP 64-Bit Edition will not load 32-bit plug-ins. However, a 32-bit version of Internet Explorer (IE) is included with Windows XP 64-Bit Edition.
To use the 32-bit version of IE in Windows XP 64-Bit Edition:
Click Start, then click All Programs.
Click Internet Explorer (32-bit).
Microsoft ActiveSync® version 3.1
On computers running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, after launching ActiveSync and clicking on the Explore icon, the following message appears:
The path does not exist or is not a directory.ActiveSync relies on 32-bit Explorer shell extensions. On Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, the 64-bit Explorer is the default shell.
Speech recognition
On computers running Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, speech recognition for applications (including Microsoft Office) is not supported. In some applications, speech recognition options might be present on menus but do not function.
Other Back to Top
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Microsoft virtual machine for Java
32 - bit Platform The Microsoft virtual machine (Microsoft VM) is now only available as a Web download. The latest 32-bit edition of the Microsoft VM can be obtained at the Microsoft Web site. If you do not already have a virtual machine on your system and visit a Web site with a Java applet, Internet Explorer will automatically ask if you wish to install the Microsoft VM.
64 -bit Platform The Microsoft virtual machine (Microsoft VM) is now only available as a Web download for customers who wish to run the 32-bit Microsoft VM under WOW64 on Windows XP 64-Bit Edition. The latest 32-bit edition of the Microsoft VM can be obtained at the Microsoft Web site. If you do not already have a virtual machine on your system and visit a Web site with a Java applet, Internet Explorer will automatically ask if you wish to install the Microsoft VM (IE running under WOW64). This is a one-time installation. Note that Microsoft does not produce a 64-bit native Microsoft virtual machine.