Win XP Home/Pro will software written for W98SE run under XP?

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Guest

Dear Sir or Ma'am:

The purpose of this message is to gain specific information
regarding a feature of Windows XP Home and Professional editions.

I am currently running Windows 98 SE and considering upgrade of my existing
hardware (new home system and laptop) which would be loaded with the Win XP
Home edition.

All of my currently owned and loaded software are for Win 95 and Win 98 SE.

I have been told and shown by sales reps (and by a Microsoft support person)
that a feature within in XP Home edition is supposed to allow a machine
loaded exclusively with Win XP to run programs requiring earlier Windows
versions in a manner similar to to Apple computer OS that permits it to run
earlier versions of its own (Apple Mac Intosh) operating system.

Example: Win XP machine (frsh install) with Adobe Photoshop 5.0 (for Win
98SE) loaded after - will it run?

There are conflicting opinions among store sales associates as well as
Microsoft support and I would like to know the answer before investing in new
hardware as the upgrading to XP compatible versions of my current software
inventory will be expensive. If I load the new machines with Win 98 SE, this
defeats the purpose of upgrading since I would not be able to use the OS
supplied with the laptop and desktop
unless I run a multiple boot system.

My questions are:

1) Does Windows XP (Home or Professional edition) support programs written
for any or all versions of Windows prior to Win XP? (Similar to "Virtual PC"
for Apple iMac systems?)

2) If this feature DOES exist, where is it found within the Program or
Configuration options within the Win XP menus?

Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,
Brian
 
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Brian said:
Dear Sir or Ma'am:

The purpose of this message is to gain specific information
regarding a feature of Windows XP Home and Professional editions.

I am currently running Windows 98 SE and considering upgrade of my
existing
hardware (new home system and laptop) which would be loaded with the Win
XP
Home edition.

All of my currently owned and loaded software are for Win 95 and Win 98
SE.

I have been told and shown by sales reps (and by a Microsoft support
person)
that a feature within in XP Home edition is supposed to allow a machine
loaded exclusively with Win XP to run programs requiring earlier Windows
versions in a manner similar to to Apple computer OS that permits it to
run
earlier versions of its own (Apple Mac Intosh) operating system.

Example: Win XP machine (frsh install) with Adobe Photoshop 5.0 (for Win
98SE) loaded after - will it run?

There are conflicting opinions among store sales associates as well as
Microsoft support and I would like to know the answer before investing in
new
hardware as the upgrading to XP compatible versions of my current software
inventory will be expensive. If I load the new machines with Win 98 SE,
this
defeats the purpose of upgrading since I would not be able to use the OS
supplied with the laptop and desktop
unless I run a multiple boot system.

My questions are:

1) Does Windows XP (Home or Professional edition) support programs written
for any or all versions of Windows prior to Win XP? (Similar to "Virtual
PC"
for Apple iMac systems?)
Click to expand...

Yes, but there's no guarantee on which will or won't run and because it may
run on one system it might not on another. What the people in the store and
Microsoft reps were referring to was the "Program Compatiblity Wizard" found
in XP under Start\All Programs\Accessories. This utility gives added
compatiblity but it won't necessarily work in all cases. You need to
understand, your talking about applications that not only weren't designed
for this environment but weren't designed for the hardware. There may be
conflicts with various drivers, printing issues, some features that work
while others that don't or the system may otherwise crash or become
unstable.

The above is of course a worse case scenario and while most Pre-XP
applications, at least the 9x versions should work either natively or with
the above mentioned compatibility wizard, a lot depends upon the demands and
the requirments of the application.
2) If this feature DOES exist, where is it found within the Program or
Configuration options within the Win XP menus?
Click to expand...

Answered in my response to Question #1.

That said, I strongly disagree with your premise about upgrading. Sometimes
a dual boot scenario is both necessary and prudent for precisely the reason
I mention. If a user must move to a new setup yet the user has mission
critical applications that cannot be immediately upgraded or for which there
is no later version available, dual booting can save give the user a
transition period until other options are found. Also, there is a product
called Virtual PC that will allow the running of multiple operating systems
at the same time. This product is not a part of XP and would be a separate
purchase.

Some things that will definitely need to be upgraded and cannot be resolved
by dual booting or the use of Virtual PC are firewalls, antivirus software,
disk tools, CD burning software; all such software will have to be upgraded
as versions meant for previous versions of Windows are not compatible with
XP.
 
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