Exploring legacy tools in Windows 8

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	BRIEFING SESSION Exploring legacy tools in Windows 8
	By Katherine Murray Microsoft’s colorful, work-in-progress Windows 8 made a big splash at the Microsoft BUILD conference. But if you’re concerned about where Windows 8’s flashy new approach leaves users of legacy systems, the news isn’t bad.

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The full text of this column is posted at http://windowssecrets.com/briefing-session/exploring-legacy-tools-in-Windows-8/ (paid content, opens in a new window/tab).

Columnists typically cannot reply to comments here, but do incorporate the best tips into future columns.[/td]

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I believe that a different VM such as Virtual Box would allow the use of a virtual Win XP (assuming you have a valid XP key) with Win 8. I have not specifically tried this but when I have the time I may. Does anyone else have info on this possibility?

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Microsoft announced a few weeks back that Hyper-V 3.* will be included in Win8. It will be the full fledged version of Hyper-V, the same version found in the server version of this OS. You can read about it here on ars technica. however it appears it will only run on 64 bit versions, that will keep atom using netbook lovers from using it. long live AMD where everything is 64bit and has AMD-V

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Reviews like this one make me a little confused and frustrated. As far as I can tell, Win8 will be pretty much useless to those without a touch screen. True or false?

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Reviews like this one make me a little confused and frustrated. As far as I can tell, Win8 will be pretty much useless to those without a touch screen. True or false?

False, there is still a standard desktop interface included in Windows 8, and it will look very familiar to Windows users, and will look very much like the Windows 7 desktop.

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As hinted in the Ars Technica reference in this thread, there’s more good news. According to This Article in Extreme Tech, Windows 8 will support (at least in some versions) an important component necessary for running other OSes as Virtual Machines within Windows 8:

In an interesting twist, Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 8 will feature the first-rate, enterprise-echelon Hyper-V machine virtualization hypervisor. This will mean that Windows 8 users will be able to run almost every other operating system inside a window, including Windows 7 and XP, SUSE and Red Hat Linux, and more (including Ubuntu) with a little hacking. Prior to Windows 8, Hyper-V was only available in Windows Server 2008 or as a standalone.

What “with a little hacking” means, I have no clue.

This means that any real Windows XP Applications can as a last resort be run on a Windows XP virtual machine inside of Windows 8, with Win8 as the host OS. Exact Virtual Machine applications are still under development, but there is clearly support from Microsoft for running legacy OSes under VMs in Win8 (at least some Win8 versions).

I am glad to learn that a Desktop Theme will be available, for Mouse and Keyboard compatibility. I think the new Windows 8 Desktop will have a bit more Ribbon in its Taskbar than Windows 7, but otherwise would be quite familiar. I’m betting that at least the Win8 Pro version will include VM support as an option for business users. Atom, NVidia CPU and ARM users need not apply. This includes most consumer-focused new tablets, all-in-ones and low-end laptops.

The advantage of the less-capable processor based systems is that they will get users onto the Web with lightning speed. The disadvantages include a lack of true applications. And no legacy applications for the low-powered systems. Little or no local file access either. But for casual users, convenience always trumps capability.

-- rc primak

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