MED-V Virtualises Non-Compatible XP/2000 Apps In Vista

Windows Vista only: Microsoft’s Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) tool, offered as a free public beta, creates a low-profile virtual machine that runs XP/2000 apps in their own environment, right on your desktop. It’s not an app you can just install and fire away with, and you’ll have to fill out a short survey at Microsoft’s “Connect” area to get to the download (and, with a light sigh, install their File Transfer Manager to grab it), but once you’re up and running, MED-V runs as a background app that launches XP/2000 applications from their own folder in your Start menu. It’s a free beta right now, and the first full release is expected to drop in 1.0 form in the first half of 2009. We tried running MED-V on the Windows 7 beta at Lifehacker East, but it’s pretty strict on launching only from Vista with SP1 installed. To get a better feel for what MED-V does and runs like, check out Microsoft’s introductory video or demonstration. MED-V is a free download for Windows Vista systems with SP1 installed only. If you gave it a try with some of your Vista-resistant apps, tell us how it performed in the comments.