- Tuesday, 24 November 2009
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He is drinking from the INQwell when he should be drinking beer - Anonymiser
Parallels prepares XP virtualisation tool for Windows 7
VIRTUALISATION OUTFIT PARALLELS is making a virtualisation tool that will let users continue to run Windows XP applications on Windows 7 systems. The software will compete directly with the Vole's own Windows XP Mode.
The company has invited testers to sign up for the beta programme, but details are sparse, as Parallels declined to disclose a release date or even an official name for the forthcoming product.
In a statement, Parallels said the tool "leverages Parallels' high performance adaptive hypervisor" as well as its other technologies such as Coherence and SmartSelect, which enable users to seamlessly run differing operating systems and their applications side by side.
Coherence and SmartSelect already feature in Parallels' Desktop for Mac software that enables Mac users to run Windows applications.
Parallels said that the forthcoming product will also integrate its Parallels Transporter tool, which can migrate a physical PC into a virtual PC along with its applications and data.
The company also hinted that 3D graphics support and performance would be key areas addressed by the new product once it ships. µ
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MS is giving away a fully licensed copy of XP to run in Virtual XP mode. Will they be giving that too?
"The company also hinted that 3D graphics support and performance would be key areas addressed by the new product once it ships."
And I thought Charlie said in a recent article there can be no 3D graphics acceleration in a virtual environment?
3D acceleration has been a key feature of Parallels Desktop and VMware fusion for ages now.
But in the ever changing, chair-chucking world in which we live in
Makes you break down and cry
No 3D is not quite right for VPC7 (which is what the XP-Mode will be using) and you can even get aero to work in it, so you can host Vista on Win7 with aero enabled.
However, unlike VPC-2007, VPC7 demands VT be present... no ifs or buts about it... and the performance of the emulated 3D graphics won't be anything to write home about... No games for you!
sudo apt-get install UBUNTU
@ssj4Gogeta:
Virtual XP Mode is only available for Windows 7 Professional Edition and above so most Windows users who will be using Home Premium and below will never get to use it. There is definitely a market for a third-party consumer VM solution, which is probably the point to avoid unnecessary bundling accusations.
NO 3D acceleration seems to only be a limitation of how Microsoft designed Virtual XP mode. Just like VMWare Fusion for Mac and Parallels for Mac already have Coherence and Unity to better integrate Windows programs in OS X, Fusion and Parallels also offer DX9.0 SM2.0 acceleration of Windows programs on Mac. They can't run Aero because of the WDDM driver requirement, but you can play accelerated games on Mac.
Microsoft included XP Mode to address migration issues for enterprises (who avoided Vista in droves because of too many custom/line-of-business apps that won't run in any OS higher than XP). The problem for Parallels and VMWare: if those businesses *have* a virtualization solution, it's VMWare (in Mac shops, Parallels may either be present or dominant), and now Microsoft is including virtualization support with the OS? Yes, it requires VT-x support (however, any virtualization solution uses that for the best possible performance, and that includes not just Parallels and VMWare, but the free VirtualBox as well), so that is, at best, largely a nitpick. Therefore, you have to counterattack.
So Windows 7 Professional and Above is supposed to be a barrier? Definitely NOT in the target markets at which XPMode and Windows VPC 7 is aimed at.
1. Enterprise users - most of these already are using Software Assurance to handle license management and will also, more likely than not, go *directly* from XP Pro to 7 Pro (or from Vista Business to 7 Professional/Enterprise), neatly sidestepping the issue.
2. BYOPC - This group was the single largest non-corporate/non-enterprise purchaser of Vista Ultimate (especially 64-bit) in the OEM marketplace outside of Dell/Gateway/Acer/etc. in North America; the tilt toward 64-bit (and the three high-end OEM SKUs) will actually only increase with Windows 7 due to increased performance, driver support, and stability.
3. Pre-built PCs - This is likely where JoeMendes got the idea that there won't be much takeup of VPC 7 due to loading of 7 Premium. I respectfully disagree, oddly enough due to changes in loadouts by the four largest OEMs in the home (not corporate) market (Dell, Acer, HP, and Toshiba). When Vista Service Pack 1-integrated images became available, it was simultaneously with a sharp decrease in DDR2 prices, which by and large have still not recovered yet. These four OEMs switched the majority of their prebuilds from sub-3GB of RAM to 3+GB (and moved from Vista Home Premium 32-bit to the same OS in 64-bit, if not Ultimate 64-bit, as Dell, HP and Toshiba largely did). That was largely because there was no Vista Professional 64-bit available. However, because 7 Professional exists, it will largely replace Premium in those valuable preload OEM sales, especially in the 3+GB portable computing space. (Toshiba? Portable computers are Toshiba's only business, and portable computers are why it's a top-four OEM in the non-corporate pre-built space.)