4 ms·

Does anybody have a reasonable explanation why windows 10 requires a SSD and so much ram? I wish a kernel engineer could give a good answer to that question.

by jokoon 6y ago

Does anybody have a reasonable explanation why windows 10 requires a SSD and so much ram? I wish a kernel engineer could give a good answer to that question. One side of the answer could be that the software that is bigger, but honestly that doesn't explain everything. I wish somebody could confirm Wirth's law is real and that there are valid example of it.

longtom 6y ago
Most likely explanation: Bad engineers getting into high positions via connections, elbows or peter principle.
Nursie 6y ago
Does it require an SSD? I've seen it working on a couple of older, non-SSD machines. But "working" is perhaps a strong term.
matsemann 6y ago
Is it bad that it requires much ram? I mean, as long as it's utilized well I don't really mind?
- gridlockd 6y ago
  The question is, what is it actually doing that requires that much RAM? Is it being utilized well? The experience of using the actual operating system isn't that far away from Windows 98, which ran on a few megabytes of RAM.
dm319 6y ago
The same trend can be seen with linux distributions. A lot is surely down to composited window management. There's also things that we didn't run as services back in Windows 98 days - network capabilities, bluetooth, low power states, file hashing for quick search, assistants and other ways of rapidly finding and launching programs, auto updates, telemetry, automatic mounting of connected devices. EDIT: and in the case of Windows 10, adverts/trialware and their associated animations.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  > A lot is surely down to composited window management ....how? That's handled on the GPU, and by GPU standards it's a nothing task.
  - dm319 6y ago
    That's an interesting point, but there was certainly an increase in CPU usage with the switch from gnome 2 to unity and gnome 3, even though they were GPU accelerated. I guess CPU is still needed.
seddin 6y ago
Probably it is being developed on really fast computers and not being optimized or tested on not that fast computers or laptops.
muazzam 6y ago
The same reason Facebook loads multiple MBs of JavaScript code for something that could have been not more than 1 MB. One can't help but wonder about nefarious purposes: either collecting user data or abusing the computing resources. For companies that tend to hire the best and the brightest, the 'software bloat' theory is not compelling. Curiously, major Linux distributions have also gotten significantly slower compared to early 2000s versions. I wonder, for a thought experiment, what if companies stopped development on software when it reaches certain stage of maturity, say Windows 2000, providing only necessary security updates or optional visual changes?
- rightbyte 6y ago
  I was very reluctant switching from win xp to win 7. Unless the 64bit era would have forced me I rather would have stayed put. New software is really not adding much to the table after some point of completion since the software companies seems to mostly add pet feutures and user hostile fads be it star menu, complete gui changes, 'enterprise' admin lookout or ads and tracking. E.g. Facebooks 1000s of developers seem to add a net of antifeutures to their site. On Netflix you can't even disable autoplay. It is the same really for software moving to remote mainframes. The companies rather hide and burry the old desktop versions deep.
polytely 6y ago
Does it require an SSD? I'm pretty sure my desktop pc doesn't have one and its running win 10?
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  It doesn't require an SSD in the strictest sense of the word, but it is developed with the strong assumption that you have at least something as fast as an SSD, so the experience of running it on a spinning rust disk is an exercise in patience.
cturner 6y ago
The anti-malware measures in modern Windows are at least part of the issue. There was an interesting conference video exploring this, about eighteen months ago. It was part of a project to make git faster on windows. I can't find it, maybe someone else will remember.

by jokoon 6y ago

longtom 6y ago

Most likely explanation: Bad engineers getting into high positions via connections, elbows or peter principle.

Nursie 6y ago

Does it require an SSD? I've seen it working on a couple of older, non-SSD machines. But "working" is perhaps a strong term.

matsemann 6y ago

Is it bad that it requires much ram? I mean, as long as it's utilized well I don't really mind?

gridlockd 6y ago
The question is, what is it actually doing that requires that much RAM? Is it being utilized well? The experience of using the actual operating system isn't that far away from Windows 98, which ran on a few megabytes of RAM.

dm319 6y ago

The same trend can be seen with linux distributions. A lot is surely down to composited window management. There's also things that we didn't run as services back in Windows 98 days - network capabilities, bluetooth, low power states, file hashing for quick search, assistants and other ways of rapidly finding and launching programs, auto updates, telemetry, automatic mounting of connected devices. EDIT: and in the case of Windows 10, adverts/trialware and their associated animations.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> A lot is surely down to composited window management ....how? That's handled on the GPU, and by GPU standards it's a nothing task.
- dm319 6y ago
  That's an interesting point, but there was certainly an increase in CPU usage with the switch from gnome 2 to unity and gnome 3, even though they were GPU accelerated. I guess CPU is still needed.

seddin 6y ago

Probably it is being developed on really fast computers and not being optimized or tested on not that fast computers or laptops.

muazzam 6y ago

The same reason Facebook loads multiple MBs of JavaScript code for something that could have been not more than 1 MB. One can't help but wonder about nefarious purposes: either collecting user data or abusing the computing resources. For companies that tend to hire the best and the brightest, the 'software bloat' theory is not compelling. Curiously, major Linux distributions have also gotten significantly slower compared to early 2000s versions. I wonder, for a thought experiment, what if companies stopped development on software when it reaches certain stage of maturity, say Windows 2000, providing only necessary security updates or optional visual changes?

rightbyte 6y ago
I was very reluctant switching from win xp to win 7. Unless the 64bit era would have forced me I rather would have stayed put. New software is really not adding much to the table after some point of completion since the software companies seems to mostly add pet feutures and user hostile fads be it star menu, complete gui changes, 'enterprise' admin lookout or ads and tracking. E.g. Facebooks 1000s of developers seem to add a net of antifeutures to their site. On Netflix you can't even disable autoplay. It is the same really for software moving to remote mainframes. The companies rather hide and burry the old desktop versions deep.

polytely 6y ago

Does it require an SSD? I'm pretty sure my desktop pc doesn't have one and its running win 10?

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
It doesn't require an SSD in the strictest sense of the word, but it is developed with the strong assumption that you have at least something as fast as an SSD, so the experience of running it on a spinning rust disk is an exercise in patience.

cturner 6y ago

The anti-malware measures in modern Windows are at least part of the issue. There was an interesting conference video exploring this, about eighteen months ago. It was part of a project to make git faster on windows. I can't find it, maybe someone else will remember.