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Story: Windows XP outshines Vista in benchmarking test
For Windows Systems
Microsoft make a great deal about compatibility with existing software so even though these benchmarks were not probably not written specifically to run on vista this is still a very valid, there being no software currently around that is vista specific and probably won't be any for some time.
Vista is slower because it does a lot of background processing to keep all the eye candy and desk toys working so it is hardly surprising that is runs applications at half the speed. Microsoft misread the market for Vista and produced something that many people just don't want. However even given the feature set of Vista its performance seems to suggest a poorly engineered OS, which isn't going to be fixed by a service pack. Even programmers who worked on it don't seem to have a good word to say.
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