[acqq]

Is it rational to claim that if you upgraded a Pentium III computer to Windows 7 you aren't in "the smallest fraction" of users of old computers?

[exue]

The point is having a Pentium III Win 7 machine covers using a Pentium 4, Athlon XP, and all those other old computers to install IE9 - covering the biggest fraction of users through backward compatability.

[eropple]

Correct, thank you.

You can run Windows 7 on pretty much anything that will run Windows XP. "It costs money to upgrade" may prevent you from doing so, but at this point, after a decade, it's not Microsoft's problem if you're not willing to spend the money. They're not obligated, nor should they be obligated, to avoid using their new stuff (Direct2D, for example) in order to continue to target XP users.

[yuhong]

To be more precise, not everything, but yes generally most Win2000-era and later hardware.