The more I use this little bargain-basement thrift shop Sotec laptop, the more I’m convinced that the real problem with it is XP … and perhaps an over-aggressive IT specialist.

Maybe I’m stepping out of bounds again, but a 450Mhz K6-2 doesn’t need a full-fledged copy of XP to be useful. Linux aside (and with it, the argument for using Linux at all), I really think this machine could be salvaged by using Win2K over XP.

After all, there isn’t anyone but me that uses it. It’s rarely turned on, unless I need it for something work-related. And since the wireless card is Hermes-based (I think), isn’t overkill to dump XP Pro on this machine?

On top of that, there’re the entire MS Office suite, a few proprietary applications, a rash of anti-virus and spyware scanners (which really should bear the brunt of blame for the crappy performance), etc., etc.

Computers don’t wear out, in the physical sense, like clothes or tires. Apart from fans or drive spindles or other moving parts, the physical wear and tear on a computer is relatively minimal.

The popular notion though, is that computers get older and slower as time goes by. I really don’t think that’s a fair analysis. This computer is operating at the same speed as it ever was. It’s the workload that has changed.

It’s a shame no one ever mentally makes that connection, and realizes that a computer like this, while tortured and teased by bloated code and pointless panicware (like the aforementioned virus scanners and spyware sweepers), is still working at the same speed, same rate and same capacity it always was. Take the load off, and it’s fine.