is XP SP3 still a good OS for today's computing?

[fillup]

are games suppose to perform better on XP than on Vista/7 ?

I don't know but I found the latest Steam Survey interesting. More people have Vista installed than XP. Only 23.37% use XP. 23.63% use Vista. And a whopping 47.83% using Windows 7......with 64bit Windows 7 being the most popular.

[Seizure1990]

I don't find that surprising at all. Gamers are much more conscious about their system then the average home user.

[Quillz]

XP SP3 is certainly usable as a day-to-day OS, but then so is Windows 95. If you can run Windows 7, you should be running it. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to willingly choose XP in 2011 unless you are running some mission-critical software that requires XP.

[Seizure1990]

I dunno, I think having to get all my software through specialized archival websites would annoy the crap out of me.

[LiveAndFight]

I dunno, I think having to get all my software through specialized archival websites would annoy the crap out of me.

Than maybe its time to upgrade your software?

[mrp04]

So you're using 100% of your memory all the time? Thought not. Then I guess your logic failed you. Most people don't need to utilise 100% of memory all the time. Sometimes I use 90+, sometimes I use 10%. It's there if I need it. That's the point. There's no justification for the OS to gobble it all up unnecessarily. Of course in Windows Vista/7's case, it's used to conceal performance problems relative to the previous iteration - XP.

Insults - the last recourse of a weak mind ;)

It does pretty much use all the RAM all the time. Everything cached isn't listed as "used" RAM in task manager. Yes, the "used" RAM is also more on 7, but that "used" RAM can also be reduced if you start filling up your RAM a lot.

Most new computers have 4GB+ RAM nowadays. Does it REALLY matter if your OS uses 200MB more RAM? It uses the extra RAM to keep more things loaded and to support all the awesome new features. I have 8GB in my desktop and 4GB in my laptop. I never have to worry about RAM usage on either machine because it is so plentiful. I even have it installed on my old laptop with a Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM. I don't worry about RAM usage on that either. And guess what? The more RAM the machine has, the more "base RAM usage" Windows 7 has. That tells you there is something else going on.

Windows 7 has a ton of extra features over XP and looks much better, too. There is just absolutely no reason to run XP on modern machines other than old software or hardware with compatibility issues, which is not something most home users will encounter.

[medicnick83]

I would use Windows XP with SP3 (and all the updates) anyday!

[mrp04]

I would use Windows XP with SP3 (and all the updates) anyday!

There's no convincing some people. Oh well, eventually you won't be able to use XP.

[Guest]

There's no convincing some people. Oh well, eventually you won't be able to use XP.

XP law coming in or something?

[Jen Smith]

There's no convincing some people. Oh well, eventually you won't be able to use XP.

Nah, you'll still be able to use it, shoot I still occasionally hear about people still using Windows 95 for whatever absurd reason. It's not going to expire, curl up and die or explode on you.. it's just a really bad idea to be running an unsupported legacy OS. Support is going to disappear in the near future (2014 is creeping up on us), no security patches either, some vendors already won't support it for new software either, Microsoft included. Sooner or later hardware drivers will stop being produced for it, games will eventually stop supporting DX9, etc etc. For now, it's workable and still getting security updates, but it's in the transition stage, going from old into legacy/history.

[Stingray]

Most definitely. I don't see myself "upgrading" for the next decade unless MS realizes their mistake and makes a lite OS.

:laugh:

[+jamesyfx Subscriber²]

Microsoft did make a lite OS. It's called Windows CE. I'm sure you'll love it. :whistle:

[Seizure1990]

My repair shop gets machines running Windows 2000 every now and then. We've had a couple 98s. I haven't seen 95, but I'm sure I will eventually.

So yea, XP isn't gonna disappear for a VERY long time. So I hope all you haters can keep up all that rage for the next 20+ years. :p

[Frylock86]

My repair shop gets machines running Windows 2000 every now and then. We've had a couple 98s. I haven't seen 95, but I'm sure I will eventually.

So yea, XP isn't gonna disappear for a VERY long time. So I hope all you haters can keep up all that rage for the next 20+ years. :p

We wouldn't be raging if people would stop installing it on new machines, using it for benchmarking new software, AND thinking it's OK to continue using XP to judge Microsoft by. Tech pundits LOVE using it inside of VMs to do just that. They're still in a tizzy IE9 won't run on it, and a few members here on neowin seem to think no one will be upgrading because Office 15 will run on it, and if they continue to use it, Microsoft will have no choice but to pull it out of "extended support".

[Windsinger]

Honestly I would prefer to use XP for gaming, working or watching movies over W7. Balmer changed WAY too many things for me to enjoy W7. Two of the most important things to me were windows explorer, search and the quicklaunch bar, which they summarily nuked. I blame Balmer for that, not Gates. It is a wonder to me that he hasn't been FIRED for his frequent f*& ups working for Microsoft.

[Frylock86]

The superbar is the quicklaunch bar. ;)

[Seizure1990]

How were explorer, search, or quiucklaunch nuked?

As mentioned, pinning programs to the taskbar IS the quicklaunch, W7 search is superior to XPs in my opinions (though if you feel differently, why do you think so?), and Windows Explorer.... is still there?

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

There is NO reason to XP nowadays, if you have legacy software that runs better on XP you can always just run it in a virtual machine.

Well someone here talks crap. Tell me how my accelerated audio hardware is gonna run under a virtual machine. Tell me how my global hotkey support would run? You know what, don't bother because I've tried, and they don't.

Please refrain from posting until you have a clue as to what you are talking about!

[Jen Smith]

The superbar is the quicklaunch bar. ;)

If you really prefer the old style, you can also add a quick launch bar that's identical to the one in XP through Vista, make the icons smaller and not stacked, add text etc etc, more or less the same. I did that for a couple hours after switching to 7, then bit the bullet and really tried the new superbar, and fell in love with it really quick. It really is a huge improvement. I do like the new search as well, especially federated searches, the start menu integration, etc etc.. being able to do an MSDN search right off the start menu for example is handy as hell.. but I do agree a "regular" file search is a bit trickier until you get the hang of the keywords.

[Pam14160]

Guess what gang, I'll bet anybody that mine is "BIGGER" then yours, and that is a fact. . . :laugh:

[neo158]

Well someone here talks crap. Tell me how my accelerated audio hardware is gonna run under a virtual machine. Tell me how my global hotkey support would run? You know what, don't bother because I've tried, and they don't.

Please refrain from posting until you have a clue as to what you are talking about!

Well, it's like I said, you need XP to run the hardware and software you use, not sure if a Windows 7 version of the software is available, which means you can't upgrade.

[Frylock86]

Guess what gang, I'll bet anybody that mine is "BIGGER" then yours, and that is a fact. . . :laugh:

:huh:

[maccy1990]

Yea XP is the base from what all others came from...... 90% buisiness users still on XP today............why change when it aint broke and dont require fixing. Better be have i have not long passed 70-270 lol

[sc302 Veteran]

passing 70-270 must make you a god.

[Frylock86]

Yea XP is the base from what all others came from...... 90% buisiness users still on XP today............why change when it aint broke and dont require fixing. Better be have i have not long passed 70-270 lol

Do you really wanna use a 10 year old OS that can't take advantage of today's hardware? Windows 95 wasn't broke either, but do we still use it? Nope.

And no, XP is not the base of Vista or 7.