In a move that will be of particular interest to small and medium businesses (SMBs) which keep a tight leash on their IT spending, the barrier for XP Mode virtualization in Windows 7 has been lowered – with Microsoft doing away with the requirement of hardware virtualization technology for running it.

However, though the recent change made to Windows 7 XP Mode is a clear indication of the increasing competitiveness in the virtualization field, the elimination of the hardware barrier still excludes the consumers from leveraging the XP Mode functionality.

In a Thursday post on the Windows Team Blog, Brandon LeBlanc said: “We're announcing an update to Windows XP Mode today that will make it a more accessible to PCs in small and midsize businesses who want to migrate to Windows 7 Professional but have applications that still require Windows XP. Windows XP Mode will no longer require hardware virtualization technology to run.”

The post further elaborated that the change introduced by Microsoft – which has also struck a new partnership with Citrix Systems – would facilitate the SMBs’ use of Windows XP Mode to address any application incompatibility bars obstructing their migration to Windows 7.

In addition, the LeBlanc also said in the post that the XP Mode will continue to use hardware virtualization technology like “Intel VT (Intel Virtualization Technology) or AMD-V if available.”