Why Windows is so slow?
Wednesday, March 29th, 2006Read an interesting post on /. by The New York Times about why Windows is so slow.
I personally like the comments highlighting that Apple abandoned OS 9 (The first Mac I used was on OS 9) and actually moved to a new technology, OS X; leaving behind no further support for software written for OS 9 Classic except by firing up the old OS seperately. I can remember previously how I had to either choose to run Classic on the new Mac OS X to run some old apps or even shutdown and boot to Classic to run them. Of course at that time, Mac ships with both OS bundled.
On the contrary, to quote: “Microsoft feels it can’t get away with breaking compatibility,” said Mendel Rosenblum, a Stanford University computer scientist. “All of their applications must continue to run, and from an architectural point of view that’s a very painful thing.”
“Windows is now so big and onerous because of the size of its code base, the size of its ecosystem and its insistence on compatibility with the legacy hardware and software, that it just slows everything down,” observed David B. Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “That’s why a company like Apple has such an easier time of innovation.”
Anyway, this is really an interesting read… If you have the time. Check it out here.
Cheers~!