XP was released when new computers would have been high end Pentium 3's or early sub 2.0ghz P4's. The original version of XP with the software at the time ran quite well on these platforms, and you can still nicely run XP on a Pentium 3
Try running Vista on the Pentium 3...
Thats my point.
It is not the way forward to make OS's more and more complex I don't think. A faster machine should be used to run whatever you want to use it for. It shouldn't be used up by the GUI and whatever else is going on underneath.
Any idea if Microsoft will ever build an Operating System from the ground up?