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Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

cloudblogs.microsoft.com

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Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#21

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

SimonPStevens wrote: post #19

Random conspiracy theory: This whole episode of CPU bugs and fixes that cause performance problems (most notably on older hardware) is exactly what the tech industry needed to stimulate consumers into refreshing their old hardware that was previously running fine. It's almost like planned obsolescence. Msybe it was orchestrated. (I don't think this actually likely, but it's interesting that it could be rather benefic…

And risk a serious drop in stock price?

Also new processors won't actually get better performance as a result of fixes. The problems arose in the first place because of a preference of performance over security.

Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#22

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #20
em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dealing with such a large number of versions must be a nightmare. A nightmare of Microsoft's own creation...

This is why I tacitly approve of forced (or pressured) automatic updates for Windows, macOS, and iOS. Everyone is probably safer when most efforts to fix Zero day exploits, General hardening, etc. are concentrated on fewer versions. When I want freedom to do what I want with my computer, I run Linux, but for my Apple devices I want auto updates.

I'm not talking about being a nightmare for ysers, but a nightmare for Microsoft, which had to develop and verify the fix works for every OS variant.

Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#24

Post by ENOTTY »

jzl wrote: post #2

"We currently support 45 editions of Windows. Patches for 41 of them are available now through Windows Update." Wow. I have to admit, that number larger than I would have guessed. (I probably would have said 20.) But ultimately not too surprising.

They might also be counting the 40 language packs. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufactur...

Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#25

Post by ComputerGuru »

This is pretty bad :/

With Windows 8 and Windows 7 on older silicon (2015-era PCs with Haswell or older CPU), we expect most users to notice a decrease in system performance.

That’s random end users. Not workstations and not servers. Wow.

Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#26

Post by ComputerGuru »

ENOTTY wrote: post #24
jzl wrote: post #2

"We currently support 45 editions of Windows. Patches for 41 of them are available now through Windows Update." Wow. I have to admit, that number larger than I would have guessed. (I probably would have said 20.) But ultimately not too surprising.

They might also be counting the 40 language packs. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufactur...

They’re not.

Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#28

Post by muyuu »

SimonPStevens wrote: post #19

Random conspiracy theory: This whole episode of CPU bugs and fixes that cause performance problems (most notably on older hardware) is exactly what the tech industry needed to stimulate consumers into refreshing their old hardware that was previously running fine. It's almost like planned obsolescence. Msybe it was orchestrated. (I don't think this actually likely, but it's interesting that it could be rather benefic…

A lot of IP advantage will be wiped off. It will benefit some people, but not the actors behind the errors themselves.

Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#29

Post by lawlessone »

SimonPStevens wrote: post #19

Random conspiracy theory: This whole episode of CPU bugs and fixes that cause performance problems (most notably on older hardware) is exactly what the tech industry needed to stimulate consumers into refreshing their old hardware that was previously running fine. It's almost like planned obsolescence. Msybe it was orchestrated. (I don't think this actually likely, but it's interesting that it could be rather benefic…

but they still have to design newer hardware without the bugs?

Re: Performance Impact of Spectre and Meltdown Mitigations on Windows Systems

#30

Post by benaadams »

SimonPStevens wrote: post #19

Random conspiracy theory: This whole episode of CPU bugs and fixes that cause performance problems (most notably on older hardware) is exactly what the tech industry needed to stimulate consumers into refreshing their old hardware that was previously running fine. It's almost like planned obsolescence. Msybe it was orchestrated. (I don't think this actually likely, but it's interesting that it could be rather benefic…

> It's almost like planned obsolescence. Msybe it was orchestrated.

Since 1995? 23 years seems a long time to wait

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