Windows 7 XP Mode

[WobbleWobble]

Like many large organizations, we simply can't afford to upgrade to the latest Windows or Office applications. It's been announced that Office 2000 will end-of-life (EOL) this July and I've been thinking about when Windows XP will EOL. When I say EOL, I mean when Microsoft stops putting out even the most critical security patches and not availability of it.

So since Windows 7 XP Mode essentially has Windows XP running inside of it, it would delay EOL of XP for many more years since Microsoft would need to continually provide updates for it?

If so, I see that as a good thing for us since we won't be able to upgrade to a later version of Windows for years to come.

 

[armstrda]

Except that they could release these "XP" fixes as Windows 7 patches that don't actually update the real XP kernel thus the real XP OS would be able to EOLed.

 

[RebateMonger]

MS already said it'll release Security patches for XP Professional until 2014.

 

[Bradtechonline]

Yeah, they catch ya into upgrading that way.. I really enjoying running Windows 2000 Pro as my OS choice at home.. I trained for 2000 Pro, and Server for my MCSE, and then XP but still chose 2000 Pro for a while afterwards. Wait until they stop making new drivers or have none for your OS.. I'm running Vista SP2 now though.. Bad experience with my motherboard SATA driver causing crashing *known issue with nForce 550*.. I really like Windows 7 though so far.. Hopefully all the driver makers learned their lesson with the botched support for Vista upon release.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
MS already said it'll release Security patches for XP Professional until 2014.

Sure, but W7 would be supported until the latter part of 2019*. So MS would either have to more or less support XP for another 5 years, or drop support for a component of W7 early. As far as I know, they have not commented on how they're going to handle this.

* Note to self: come check on this thread in 10 years

 

[guy93]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
MS already said it'll release Security patches for XP Professional until 2014.

What if the world ends in 2012?!?!?!

 

[California Roll]

Originally posted by: guy93

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
MS already said it'll release Security patches for XP Professional until 2014.

What if the world ends in 2012?!?!?!

Then you don't have to worry about security patches!

 

[Raduque]

XP mode is virtualized. I'm betting there won't be "security updates" for it. If anything, it'll be an "Update for Windows 7 Virtualization Mode".

 

[armstrda]

Originally posted by: Raduque
XP mode is virtualized. I'm betting there won't be "security updates" for it. If anything, it'll be an "Update for Windows 7 Virtualization Mode".

Exactly what I was saying above 🙂

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: armstrda

Originally posted by: Raduque
XP mode is virtualized. I'm betting there won't be "security updates" for it. If anything, it'll be an "Update for Windows 7 Virtualization Mode".

Exactly what I was saying above 🙂

The problem with that is that XP is stored as a flat VHD file. You can't just release a W7 update and patch the VHD file. You'd need to mount it and then patch the internals just like you would XP.

It's doable, but it's a lot of work...