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by ameoba 4627 days ago
You can't talk about Windows XP like it's a single, fixed point in the release cycle. XP was released in 2001, giving you your 12 year number, but there were also major service packs released in 2002(SP1), 2004(SP2) & 2008(SP3). The last release of XP was only 5 years ago - more recently than OS X 10.4

Of the new software that still claims XP compatibility, much of it requires SP3.
1 comments
NicoJuicy 4626 days ago
SP 3 is free (Service Packs) and it's just because the .Net framework requires SP3.

So actually, XP = XP SP3.

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ameoba 4626 days ago
Yes, it's free but that doesn't mean it's painless. Going to SP2 and SP3 broke backwards compatibility with some drivers and software. It increased the RAM/CPU requirements for running the OS comfortably. They weren't just harmless stacks of collected bug fixes.
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