Windows 10: Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Will Work on Vista PCs

Microsoft MVP's get a free MSDN subscription. *Cool I don't get the actual DVD's but I can download the ISO's and get product keys for personal use. It's a very nice perk that Microsoft offers us. To me, just being able to download nice clean unmodified ISO's is a life saver. Every time I worked on a PC for somebody finding clean install media that you could trust was a chore. I can't thank Microsoft enough for making me an MVP and giving me access to all these resources. Add to that the info I get here and it just doesn't get any better than that.
*Thumbs

 

Compatibility mode has been a part of Windows since Windows 2000. Microsoft has a long history of bending over backwards to make old applications run on newer operating systems, even when the developers engaged in practices they were specifically warned against. Some of this is visible in the compatibility mode settings, most is not. I don't see compatibility mode going away as long as older applications have problems running on newer operating systems.

As for something like XP mode available in some editions of Windows 7 (not Windows 8), don't expect to see that again.

 

I have to give you guys and gals a big thumbs up for sticking with 8-8.1 I had to hold my nose reloading that one again yesterday to prepare for the tool kit,
I'll have to leave it alone till then otherwise I'll end up using start8 or classic shell again *Wink
Classic shell changes Way too much by default :/

I'm not sure what we'd do without y'all MVP's I'm pretty sure we'd all be lost *Tongue
Cheers.

 

And the hardware requirements are certainly less than those required by Vista, even (I believe that Vista x64 required 1GB of ram and recommended 2GB's +--Win7 cut that in half, IIRC...) PAE, NX and SSE2...got to have a really *old* cpu that doesn't support those....

What made Vista's requirements so onerous at the time for some people was that ram was still $30-$50 a GB or so, IIRC. I'm pretty sure that even most of these cpus will run Win10:

Athlon 64 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's going back 13 years, (but I'll always reserve the right to be wrong)... Although only in the formative beta stages, Win10 so far seems if anything more backwards-compatible than Win8/8.1--for instance, I have an old Windows game, Rune HoV, that while it ran fine under 8 x64 won't run at all under 8.1 x64 unless I turn off DEP for the Rune executable. But, in the latest official Win10TP beta, 9879, as in plain-Jane Win8.0, the game runs fine with DEP turned on. There are a few other older programs that I can run fine under the 10 beta that don't run under 8.1.

Also, I've thoroughly investigated whether these incompatibilities are related to differing versions of Direct X--they're not, as I run DX9-11 on 8/8.1 & 10...same versions. Hopefully, when DX12 incarnates it won't cause any specific backwards compatibility problems--though that may be a neat trick...

 

I like 8.1, I'd still be running it even if I wasn't an MVP. It would just be Core instead of Pro on my laptops. That's what they came with. I will say I did not like Windows 8.0 all that much. The changes they made in 8.1 turned that around for me. I'm not anti-metro and like the Start Screen. If I don't like something I won't use it, even if it is free. Hopefully Windows 10 will be something I want to use.

 

The article says:

... so what does that mean for my laptop that came with XP but I since upgraded it to Windows 8.1?

 

Bought twin HP Quad Core computers with Vista just before Win7 came out. Upgraded them to Win7 (gratis, thank you HP) and then upgraded one to Win8 and Win8.1.1. Now dual booting with Win10 without any issues. When Win10 is released, I will probably buy a new desktop if I can find "a good deal". Until then I am quite content with my upgraded "Vista machine".

Rich

 

I've been running Win10TP on a Dell Inspiron 530S since I first downloaded it. It has a 2.20GHz CPU and 4GB RAM and originally came with Vista, still have the COA sticker on it. It was a resurrected turned extra computer and I did a clean install of Win10TP, never have dual-booted or VM'd BETA Operating Systems on my computers.

 

Compatibility mode has been a part of Windows since Windows 2000. Microsoft has a long history of bending over backwards to make old applications run on newer operating systems, even when the developers engaged in practices they were specifically warned against. Some of this is visible in the compatibility mode settings, most is not. I don't see compatibility mode going away as long as older applications have problems running on newer operating systems.

As for something like XP mode available in some editions of Windows 7 (not Windows 8), don't expect to see that again.
Hi there.

the best way to use a near equivalent (and IMO a STREETS ahead better method) of XP mode for Windows 7 is to use a VMWARE virtual machine in "Unity mode". Convert your running W7 to a VM with vmware's free converter tool and power on the VM. just enter unity mode and you'll see all the menus from your HOST desktop.

I believe VBOX might also have similar - called desktop integration or similar -- I'm not sure as I don't use VBOX but I'm sure it's doable.

Cheers
jimbo

 

Many rigs that run XP/Vista cant run 7/8/8.1 because of the way the OS handles video hardware.

Let's wait and see !

*Smile

~edit~

Almost there...

 

Hi there

That's why using a VM is often a good idea - para-virtualisation as opposed to full virtualisation can supply drives like virtual video drivers - that's what VMware does when you install VMware tools on the host -- that's how you can get things like Win 95 running in full screen mode on a 60 inch monitor (I think the max native video drivers around at the time of Win 95 were VGA (640 X 480) or something like that).

Cheers
jimbo