14 DAY TRIAL // Following news that not all of Intel's currently shipping processors will be able to support the “XP mode” feature that will be enabled in Microsoft's next-generation Windows 7 operating system, the processor family from rival AMD has also been put under the limelight. As it turns out, the majority of processors that the Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices is currently shipping are capable of delivering hardware support for the XP mode feature that is already available in Microsoft's Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1).
According to details made available by the Redmond, Washington-based software giant, the Windows XP Mode inside the Windows 7 Release Candidate milestone, “allows users of Windows 7 Professional and above to launch many older Windows XP productivity applications directly from their Windows 7 desktop. The Windows XP Mode stand-alone feature is specifically designed to help small businesses that are using Windows XP applications move to Windows 7.”
In order to take advantage of this feature, computer users will first have to check if their computer system is capable of delivering the necessary hardware support. This essentially means that the system's processor and BIOS have to be virtualization-ready. In Intel's case, all CPUs that are featured with the chip maker's Virtualization Technology, or Intel VT, will be capable of delivering support for the aforementioned feature, granted the system BIOS also has support for said technology. With AMD, the technology is called AMD-V and has been enabled on all of the company's currently shipping processors, except for Sempron. In the case of those processors that aren't currently shipping, but are available to market, the company said that: “With the exceptions of Sempron-branded processors and pre-Rev F Athlon branded processors, all of the desktop processors shipped by AMD include AMD-V and therefore support Windows 7 in XP mode.”
AMD has collaborated with Microsoft to ensure that computer users will be offered the opportunity to take full advantage of Microsoft's next Windows operating system. The chip maker has already announced the availability of the WHQL-certified Windows 7 drivers for its line of Radeon 2000, 3000 and 4000-series of graphics processing units.