Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft Lifts XP Mode Hardware Requirement

Posted by kdawson on from the marketecture-in-action dept.

An anonymous reader writes "This week, Microsoft published a patch that allows Windows XP Mode to run on PCs without hardware-assisted virtualization. Which begs the question: Why the bizarro requirement in the first place? Was it an honest attempt to deliver an 'optimal' user experience? Or simply a concession to the company's jilted lover, Intel Corporation — 'a kind of apology for royally screwing up with the whole Windows Vista “too fat to fit” debacle,' as the blog post puts it."

7 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. My best guess.... by jawtheshark · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The "weird" hardware requirements are probably due to the fact that they expected AMD and Intel only to produce CPUs with hardware support for virtualization enabled. The fact that one of the major CPU manufacturers didn't, is most likely what bit Microsoft in the ass. Still, some OEMs also are at fault, I think: Just recently I got to look after a defective laptop (RAM module was broken...) and I looked in the BIOS. The CPU could do hardware virtualization, but by default it was disabled in the BIOS. Why? I have no idea...

    --
    Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
    1. Re:My best guess.... by mister_playboy · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The CPU could do hardware virtualization, but by default it was disabled in the BIOS. Why? I have no idea...

      At least it could be turned on. Sony computers with processors that support virtualization have the feature disabled in the BIOS and there is no option to enable it.

      --
      Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law ::: Love is the law, love under will
    2. Re:My best guess.... by operagost · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Or to turn it off when it's already on... BULLET TIME

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  2. The bigger announcement from MS today by afidel · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The bigger announcement was that they were dropping the stupid VDI licensing thing. Paying an extra $23/year on top of the outrageous fees we already pay for Select and Open licenses just for the privileged of using the desktop OS licenses in a virtual environment was just stupid and I'm very glad it was dropped, might make it a bit easier to find a positive ROI on a VDI project now.

    --
    There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  3. non VT runs dog slow by alen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    i've run the desktop version of VMWare on my laptop and it's very slow compared to the VT version of Windows XP Mode on the same laptop.

    it's the same old complaints. people want a feature but if it's not supported in hardware and runs extremely slow they will scream on the internets how stupid microsoft is for making it so slow on 6 year old hardware that otherwise runs Windows 7 very well

  4. Gah, politics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    One reason I'm glad I don't use Windows is because I don't have to get caught on the short end of the bullshit politics stick. Even if something shitty happens with my favorite distro/browser/app, there's others to choose from.

  5. Begs != raises by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The phrase "begs the question" does not mean "raises the question", or "makes us ask the question", though lots of people are using it in that sense. Begs the question means, it assumes the as true what it intends to prove. The Latin phrase "petitio principii" means, the answer (or the answerer) begs (petitions) the questioner to be accepted as true, to concede what is being contested.

    But this mistake is so common, so many people are using it this way, it is high time we start de linking "begs the question" from "petitio principii".

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact