# I'm gonna kill a computer! Win XP help needed! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2003, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-gonna-kill-a-computer-win-xp-help-needed/201757 "2003-09-15T17:47:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-gonna-kill-a-computer-win-xp-help-needed/201757/21 "2003-09-17T22:48:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rex Fenestrarum \* > \*\*Windows XP **does** boot and run as fast on my old P3-933 as Win98SE does. In fact, XP boots around 12 seconds _faster_ than 98 on that box. And your “guarantee” idea is **idiotic**. So MS should “guarantee” that software written for DOS - and probably not even written by Microsoft itself - should work on XP? That’s stupid. And not possible. I guess that I should sue Sony because I can’t play an 8-track in my CD player! Don’t get me wrong, backwards-compatibility is a good thing when possible, but I don’t run any software old enough to _require_ 9x or 3.1 and perhaps you shouldn’t either. > \*\* Why on earth would you measure the boot speed of a computer as some sort of useful statistic? It just so happens that XP boots faster and shuts down slower than 98, so what. Once it is up and running, for some things XP will be faster, and for others it will be slower. The general user interface (desktop) is significantly slower, because Microsoft wanted to make it prettier. As for backward compatibility, that has been the cornerstone of the entire PC market since the beginning. Before the PC, new models of computers were rarely compatible with older models, and consumers were forced to get new software every time they got a new computer. Backwards compatibility is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to many people. Sure it doesn’t make much difference if all you do is surf the net, but there are a lot more uses for a computer than that. I have a circuit board design package. Upgrading it to the XP version would cost me about $10,000. Maybe you have that kind of money just laying around to toss into the wind, but I don’t. Just to make it absolutely clear, we’re not talking about something difficult, like playing an 8 track in a CD player. What we are talking about is something that microsoft INTENTIONALLY did not do, when it was very easy for them to do so. Microsoft’s policy has always been to make the operating system “better” in their minds when faced with a choice of breaking backwards compatibility. For the same amount of effort on their part, they could have chosen the other path. Because of this, XP won’t run about half of the programs that I use. It’s not like trying to run an 8 track in a CD player. It’s more like you being forced to rewire your house because they are making improvements to the power grid, or being forced to buy a new telephone every 10 years. It is far from impossible for Microsoft to maintain backwards compatibility. They simply chose not to. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rex Fenestrarum \*\*\* > Jeez - I usually think of the SDMB as a place for intelligent people to talk, but the FUD and ignorance in this thread is amazing! > \*\* People in glass houses… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-gonna-kill-a-computer-win-xp-help-needed/201757.md?page=1)