Randall C Kennedy at Infoworld sets the record straight on Vista and its performance. Here is the final word on Microsoft Vista performance relative to other Microsoft operating systems – go to the site for the complete story and documentation:
Vista runs 40% slower than Windows XP
Vista runs 17% slower than Windows Workstation 2008
So here is the performance transitive equation:
Windows XP is faster than Windows Workstation 2008 which in turn is faster than Windows Vista.
Not included in the equation – Linux is faster than Windows XP and also runs with at least 1/2 less memory. What I don’t understand is why Dell or HP or Acer or some other OEM is not offering a PC desktop or notebook loaded with Xen or VMWare virtual machine that runs Linux as the base and Windows XP as a VM. The best of both worlds – Linux for speed, reliability and optimum memory utilization – Windows XP for breadth of application programs and devices supported. There is opportunity here- but of late American software enterprise has lost its enterpreneurial chutzpah. So I really don’t expect, for example, VMWare CEO Paul Maritz [a former Microsoft executive]to take up the challenge.