Is Windows/Office getting slower with each new version?
by moose
Over at InfoWorld, Randall C. Kennedy wrote an interesting review. He tested the performance of various flavors of Windows and Office on different PC configuration.
His conclusion:
Fat, fatter, fattest: Microsoft:
The conventional wisdom regarding PC evolution, that Microsoft devours every Intel advance, continues to hold true right up through the current generation of Windows Vista and Office 2007. What’s shocking, however, is the way that the IT community as a whole has grown to accept the status quo. There is a sense of inevitability attached to the concept of the Wintel duopoly, a feeling that the upgrade treadmill has become a part of the industry’s DNA. Forces that challenge the status quo – such as Linux, Google, and Apple – are seen as working against the very fabric of the computing landscape.
Basically, as hardware gets faster, Windows and Office gets ever so slower. Yes, that is true. And my own experience working in a DELL+Windows-only workplace confirmed this: every time I would get a new version of Win/Office I would get a new and more powerful machine at the same time, only to get disappointed because it felt more sluggish.
One thing I have always liked with OSX is that every new version feels faster on the same machine. OK, maybe it is because the OS started by being REALLY slow (think OSX 10.0 on a G4), but since then it’s always gone better and faster, at least until Leopard.
One thing I really liked in the article is the “The Great Moore’s Law Compensator” concept: “What Intel giveth, Microsoft taketh away”.
