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Microsoft Developing Windows for Low-End Machines

Posted by Zonk on from the no!-make-them-buy-new-hardware! dept.

Jeff writes "According to the Washington Post, Microsoft is developing a version of Windows to run on old machines that currently run 95 or 98. It would be very similar to XP, but run faster on the older hardware. The move is to appease businesses and universities that don't want to scrap the old hardware. This is likely aimed at preventing Linux from gaining market share where MS is currently alienating their customers."

3 of 610 comments (clear)

  1. Can it run on my beige G3? by Gilmoure · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    No? To hell with it!

    --
    I drank what? -- Socrates
  2. Do us a favor... by xENoLocO · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    .... report it, and keep your damn opinion to yourself.

    --
    "The need to build the internet comes from something inside us, something programmed... something we can't resist."
  3. Linux great on slow hardware - a myth now? by Cyburbia · · Score: 1, Flamebait
    This is likely aimed at preventing Linux from gaining market share where MS is currently alienating their customers.

    I've got an ancient 200 MHz Pentoum MMX-based PC with 96 megs of RAM and a two gigabyte hard drive, that I use for a "guinea pig" of sorts. Newer Linux distros using KDE or Gnome -- Fedora, Ubuntu, and even Vector -- crawl to the point where the computer is almost unusable. Any GUI action takes a few seconds or more just to register; click a mouse, and wait to see the button image depress. Windoes 2000 runs just a bit sluggish, but it's responsive, and the computer actually seems uable, even though it's slow.

    Maybe in 2000, using what would have been considered old hardware at the time, Windows-based operating systems seemed slow and compared to Linux distos of the time. Back then, Linux was always recommended as a way to extend the working life of an older PC. Now, though, when a Linux installation seems slow on an elderly box, the alternative is to repalce it with Windows 98 or 2000, or make it a power-hungry router or firewall -- a waste of computing power, considering that when the computer was built, it was intended to be every bit as functional as the PCs of today.

    I know someone will chime in and say "What about TWM/FVWM?" For a school, non-profit, or church, you know the answer is "no."