Microsoft made first public beta of MED-V available for download by anyone interested in trying it on January 15.

The basic aim behind the premier release of MED-V is to allow Windows XP and Windows 2000 apps to run on Vista machines and this is done by the product by running the older Windows versions virtually (using Virtual PC) on a Vista machine.

The officials reported, “The first release of the product won’t support any other legacy versions of Windows and is tailored to work on Vista only. Microsoft is planning future versions that will work on Windows 7.”

Microsoft expects that by the second calendar quarter of 2009, the final version of MED-V would be available.

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V), Asset Inventory Service, Advanced Group Policy Management, Dianostics and Recovery Toolset and System Center Desktop Error Monitoring are included in other MDOP products.

“The company has sold 11.5 million seats of MDOP during the three years it has been available. Existing MDOP customers will automatically get the final MED-V bits this year for no additional charge,” the statement added.