Virtualized Windows XP coming to Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate users

Color us intrigued. The gang at SuperSite for Windows have revealed what they know about a pretty awesome Windows 7 feature: XP Mode, a virtualized copy of Windows XP with Service Pack 3. It’ll reportedly be a free download for Professional and Ultimate Edition users, a shame it won’t be coming to all versions. Unlike many other Virtual PC options, the environment won’t require a separate workspace so you can run the individual apps as you would alongside those native to 7 — in the example pictured, that’s Word 2003 in XP mode next to Word 2007. It all sounds vaguely similar to the XP compatibility mode found in Vista, but if we’re understanding this right, XPM should make legacy compatibility much less of a hassle. We haven’t heard any reports of it being found in the leaked Release Candidate build , so if you’re antsy to get a glimpse now, hit up the read link for a gallery. [Thanks, Axel]