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Who says Win7 is better than WinXP?

I think it all comes down to a matter of what you need the computer to do. It is pretty much a given each new versions of a Windows OS requires more resources than the previous version. Does it do more? Probably. Does it do more things which are important to you? That is a much more important question.

If the older OS does everything you need (and let us remove the internet from the discussion as it's rabid appetite for resources is outside your control), why upgrade?
 
I only keep one computer for accessing the internet. The only reason I have had to keep replacing that machine with faster machines is because the older machines struggle as the internet becomes more resource intensive. Remove my need to access the internet and I probably have 5-7 less machines.

The only reason I would move that machine to Windows 7 is when Win XP can no longer access my favorite websites.

Joe
 
I find Windows 7 a better development platform thanks to the improvements in virtualization support. Makes testing a lot easier.

I suspect long term that the increasing memory requirements of browsers will force all to 64-bit OSes and the final abandonment of XP. Only so many 100+MB windows that can squeeze into 2 GB of address space.
 
So, basically the Win7 vehicle performs better than XP when you put in a bigger engine and fuel tank? :huh:

You're missing a power curve/break-even point. On a P4, XP wins. But put the exact same OSes on a 12G Core i7, and W7 wins. I know this from experience, having built a 12G Core i7 six years ago, put XP on it, then upgraded to W7 and noted quite a few effective speed differences (for the better).

There are other reasons to run W7 or W10, such as memory protection. Some bad programs could take down all of XP; in W7, bad programs typically only take themselves down.
 
Eh? XP has memory protection - it's the 9x series that could be obliterated by an errant process (and that was mostly due to trying to maintain compatibility with ill-behaved Win16 software.) It even has an option to enable the NX bit on non-code memory, IIRC.
 
In any case, it hardly matters--as I've mentioned, my primary OS is Linux. It's gotten a lot easier than it used to be with more vendors shipping Linux-based development tools. I have XP (and 98SE) in VirtualBox sessions when I need them. The nice part is that the setup is relatively insensitive to hardware changes. No need for re-installation or driver CDs just because I'm changing the machine--and the VB machines can be cloned between hardware systems with a simple copy.

Heck, my mailserver even runs Linux--and it's a little Allwinner H3-based ARM PCB. Not even a monitor nor a keyboard.

It's been a long way since the time I was running a 486 tower and NT 3.51 and UUCP to handle mail. It was hooked to a 1.5KVA UPS, which I still have. Now, I can slip the server into a shirt pocket.
 
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