WinXP to be Eliminated from Windows Live Essentials

The relationship that Microsoft shares with their Windows XP operating system can be likened to the same kind of relationship shared between Dr. Frankenstein and his monster: what began as a beautiful creation must now be destroyed at all costs.

While a tad extreme, this is essentially the message that Microsoft is sending out to the world after announcing that the next version of the free Windows Live Essentials software will not run on XP.

In a recent blog post, Microsoft Corporate Vice President of the Windows Live Experience Chris Jones confirmed the news, although web-based versions of Windows Live services such as Hotmail and SkyDrive will still run on XP.

New Graphics Platform Helps Phase Out XP

The blog also noted that "Windows XP is nearly 10 years old and simply doesn't provide the same level of platform support for graphics. We (Microsoft) recognized that we could do much more in our software on a modern graphics platform. As a result our new version of Essentials will require the new graphics platform and controls that are only available on Windows 7 or Windows Vista and therefore will only run on these platforms." (Source: computerworld.com)

Among its many features, Windows Live Essentials includes the photo organizing and editing tool 'Photo Gallery', and the video creation and editing tool 'Movie Maker'.

Windows Live Wave 4

Essentials is a part of what Microsoft is calling "Windows Live Wave 4", the next revision of their "Live" line of software and services. The improvements Microsoft hopes to make with Windows Live Wave 4 include easier ways to connect to social networks, shared photos and videos, and synchronized photos and videos among PCs, phones, and other devices.

The decision to not run Windows Live Essentials software on XP comes about a month after it was revealed that Internet Explorer 9 also will not run on XP. Microsoft reasoned that IE9 uses hardware acceleration via Direct2D and DirectWrite. Neither API is available on XP. (Source: computerworld.com)