I Just want to start by saying I love Linux, I use Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS all the time and it's my prefered OS for servers. Having gotten that out of the way. Recently I had to make a couple of super low resource windows based VM's for a project and after I experimented with Windows 7, Windows 10 and found that all of which drank the RAM like it was going out of fashion. I then tried an old copy of XP that I had and was amazed at how little RAM it was using.
In a typical install I was getting 150MB RAM usage at startup and the total install was less than 4GB.
my windows 8.1 workstation typically starts the day at 4GB... I know it's slightly different scenario but it's still a giant difference.
I would like to know peoples opinion on if Microsoft rebadged and re-released Windows XP now with a windows 10 skin and minor compatibility tweaks what would you think? Personally I think it would be 1,000 x better than any of it's sucessors.
I think OS's have gone down hill ever since the amount of resources a typical new PC has is so abundant that they no longer think about how much they use anymore.
Windows XP with a 10 skin would be susceptible to a shit ton of viruses, use an outdated code base, DX12 and 11 are out of question, and newer games will no longer support the platform. While 10 suffers from being a resource and privacy hog, you just have to be smart about using it. Windows 7 consumed 2gb of RAM whilst idling, and 10 does the same for me so the changes that they did make under the hood must be rewrites or small tweaks if anything. If they updated everything in XP so that it could operate like 10 I bet you'd end up with the same resource hog. For its time though, yes, XP was the best version of Windows.
That aside, XFCE can be made to look a lot like it, and if resources are an issue there is Arch...
1.6GHz Atom (N270) 1.5GB of DDR2-533 Goes like the clappers.
Fresh install vs fresh install, Win7 doesn't stand a chance. Vista is faster and smaller on every piece of hardware I compared them on. It's also better looking and more suitable for power users than the more locked-down Win7. As for comparing it with XP ... try letting XP run for a month or longer at a time without having it lock up or crash.
Vista may have gotten a bad rep due to a bad launch, MS completely messing up the hardware requirements and manufacturers hence putting "vista-ready" badges on machines that could barely run XP, but IMO with SP2 Vista is the best Windows ever.
After that they went downhill fast. First they put a blind person in charge of the styling department when they were working on Windows 7, then a braindead person in charge of the general UI when working on Win8.
Actually my vision is good enough to read 36 font and above so I use the magnifier. Both of my eyes operate at less then 400:20 so I'm classified as legally blind.
Vista had a bad launch but runs fine when installed on a "powerful" xp-machine. At this point, with its very nice design, I would use it if I had to choose. Win7 is pretty good. The design is okay, could be better. Win8 looks like crap and works the same as a trash can... I hate it! Nothing that worked on Win7 works on 8. Win10 = NSA10, no need to say more.
I prefer Windows7 for now, Windows98 close behind.
Windows 95 was the only OS that blew my socks off. I actually queued up at a store for a midnight release. Staying inside windows 95 and playing a my dos games blew my mind.
Personally, I've been updating Windows to the latest version with the exception of ME. One of the things to take into consideration is that XP's minimum requirements are exceptionally low. Have you tried running it on a system that low-powered? It runs like a brick until you stick it on a system with resources many, many many times more powerful that the minimum. Compare that with Windows 7, for example. If you double the minimum requirements it should run pretty well. This is purely proportional, of course. However, some users have been successful in running Windows 7 (albeit to a crawl) on systems far below the minimum requirements. Heck, someone even got Windows running on a watch!
Currently I'm content with Windows 10 and I'm rather fond of the ability to (FINALLY!) use ctrl+c and ctrl+v to copy and paste text in the command prompt.
Windows is designed for the masses and tries to accommodate multiple areas of interest simultaneously. So, yeah, it becomes bulky over the years. Also, if you stick in compatibility for dual cores, SSDs, native drivers, etc, etc, etc you'd probably end up with an OS either larger than or around the same resource user as 7 or 10 anyway. Linux has also increased in system resource requirements, of course (remember installing it from CD?) so...
The entire sales system , and camera security system at our work runs on xp and is never shut off. It's even on during power outages. They been using the same system for about 7 years.
The longest uptime I ever saw on it was almost 13 months without a reset.
Of all the WIndows OS's Vista was arguably the annoying ugly dumb kid which surprisingly turned out quite good once it grew up. Unfortunately its old kindergarten reputation has stuck with it and is making it difficult for Vista to make new friends these days.
Most people suffered from having system that just wasn't built correctly and the confusing transition from 32 bit to 64 bit. The biggest issues i seen with vista most times was the OEMS pushing it out on under powered machines.
Was never a fan, the default system security settings were a nightmare. For anyone who would have to support customers or family members, this would've been a painful period. It did pretty much kickstart the entire AV and security software industry.
