The Windows Vista + Office 2007 combination represents the largest jump in overall CPU and memory footprint ever recorded on the Windows platform. Not only is the new combination "fatter" than previous versions, it's also a great deal slower on comparable hardware. In fact, during OfficeBench testing we found that Vista + Office 2007 took over twice as long as the slowest Windows XP derivative: Service Pack 2 + Office 2003.

The introduction of another 512MB of RAM (for a total of 1GB) shows minimal impact on test script throughput, though most users agree that the OS at least "feels" more responsive with more memory. We noted that the base working set for Vista easily exceeds 500MB after initial boot-up and before loading any applications. Compared to Windows 2000, Windows XP and the previous incarnations of Microsoft Office, Windows Vista is easily twice as demanding and requires state-of-the-art hardware in order to perform adequately.

The introduction of Office 2003 saw script throughput drop significantly. It also saw both CPU and memory footprints grow causing users to begin complaining about sluggish behavior with only 256MB of RAM. This, in turn, drove memory upgrade sales and also caused a shift in default vendor system specs.

Moving to 512MB had minimal impact on script throughput, however, overall system responsiveness was improved and this quickly became the new RAM "sweet spot" for Windows. The introduction of Windows XP Service Pack 2 - and the resulting mini-refresh cycle for both software and hardware - also contributed to the demand for more memory.

The first set of Windows XP scenarios represent a Windows desktop circa 2001-2002. The introduction of Office XP meant only a marginal drop in throughput while overall memory and CPU footprints remained relatively constant. For most users, 256MB of RAM was the "sweet spot" for Windows XP during the pre-Service Pack 2 days.

As with Windows 2000/Office 2000, adding another 256MB of RAM to Windows XP results in only a modest impact on script throughput. Memory and CPU footprints remain relatively constant causing few users to go for the (at the time) expensive memory upgrade to 512MB.

This particular scenario is representative of a typical Windows desktop environment circa 2000-2001. Even with 256MB of RAM, the lightweight (by today's standards) footprint of the Windows 2000/Office 2000 combination yields tremendous throughput during execution of the OfficeBench test script while consuming minimal RAM and/or CPU time.

Adding another 256MB of RAM (for a total of 512MB) has minimal effect on OfficeBench throughput. Again, a modest RAM and CPU footprint shows why many users consider Windows 2000 to be the best performing version of the operating system ever delivered by Microsoft Corporation.