Quote Originally Posted by Freelancer View Post
I'm still missing the point where this is so much better than a regular VM... Also, I keep getting random "Hardware Disconnected" sounds on my laptop while using the RC.
Well, a "regular VM" requires users to have a window open with the other OS in it and then launch applications and arrange windows within that window - moderately annoying.

XP Mode is transparent to users once configured. They won't even know they're running a VM when they opened up their old XP-only LOB application and it comes up next to their Office 2010.

Yes, other VMs have those features, but the point is this is free for the people who will actually need it and is relatively quick and easy to setup. It's also a Microsoft-supported solution, which is very important for many businesses that have service contracts with Microsoft. So it isn't really meant to be "better" than VMWare or another VM, it's meant to just work for the people who need it at no extra cost.

Also, I would say this is the first step into the future of backwards compatibility for Windows. Gone will be the shimming of versions past, replaced by system-wide VMs for prior kernel version that give each application its own sandbox; at least, that's my bet.

Nick