Windows XP can partially run on Vision Pro hardware in emulation

You can uncross those fingers: Windows XP will run on Vision Pro

While it is at least many months before the Vision Pro is released, developers are working with Apple's visionOS development kit and using it for purposes Apple probably didn't consider. Such as installing and running Windows on it.

Specifically, Turing Software, maker of UTM Virtual Machines for Mac, has installed Windows XP. That would be the same Windows XP that Microsoft ceased supporting in 2014.

The demo shows Windows XP booting up to its desktop and so far not running any Windows apps. UTM notes that it doesn't yet connect to keyboards or other input devices, so it's not a practical system yet.

UTM Virtual Machines for Mac is intended for Apple users to be able to install many different versions of Windows, or Linux, and so have access to the massive array of apps written for those platforms.

"UTM employs Apple's Hypervisor virtualization framework to run ARM64 operating systems on Apple Silicon at near native speeds," says the company on its website. "In addition, lower performance emulation is available to run x86/x64 on Apple Silicon as well as ARM64 on Intel."

One casualty of Apple's move from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon was that Mac dropped its Boot Camp feature. This was the ability to reboot a Mac and have it running Windows natively.

In February 2023, the Parallels company managed to get its Desktop app running Windows 11 on Apple Silicon.