Windows XP Better Than Windows 7?

Tom’s Hardware compares performance between Windows XP, Vista and 7 on the same hardware. Their results show that Windows XP has the best performance of all three versions. It looks like Microsoft software is getting worse by the version. This confirms my sarcastic remarks about Windows 7 features that are somehow useless.

Windows Update: the real feature

Let’s face it, the only reason people should be using Windows 7 is that Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP. But since Windows is famous for stability and security issues, Windows Update are something that are necessary for any user. So stopping support for an older version of the OS, is the same as forcing people to pay for a new version. That’s why we have built the habit of automatically upgrading to new Windows versions because we know the old one is going to stop working after a while.

Microsoft business model

Microsoft’s business model was initially based on licensing a copy with every PC that is sold. I guess Microsoft adopted this strategy to rapidly gain strong market position. The thing is that adopting this strategy means having to come up with new versions of the OS to maintain cash flow. Of course, Microsoft has mouths to feed and it cannot eternally maintain a product by cashing in only once when a copy is sold. To be able to maintain a version for ever, there should be subscription fees for Windows Update, which will make it possible for indefinite maintenance of a version.  However, Microsoft is not really interested in adopting the subscription approach because the longer a version of Windows will be available, the more other operating systems could build compatibility with that version of Windows and slowly take away market share.

What Intel Giveth, Microsoft Taketh Away

But if Microsoft has to tax us every time it comes with a new version of Windows, why does it have to be one that performs less than the older version? The official answer to this question is that Windows 7 performs less that Windows XP because it has “more features”. But a closer look at these features will show that they don’t add any real benefit to the operating system and that they are more look and feel features that will never be able to compensate their cost with productivity gain. One example is the ‘Drag and snag windows’ feature that is more impressive than really useful as I often find myself having to struggle against the feature when I move windows on the edges of the screen.

While these features are of an aesthetic nature, they consume resources and that’s why it translates into performance losses. In other words, not only Microsoft forces people to buy new versions of the same non secure software, it forces us to pay for stronger hardware to be able to have the same performance as with the older version. What we get in return are a few ridiculous features that will be forgotten after a while along with the older, better version of Windows.