Full disclosure: I personally subscribe to the philosophy that “benchmark = lie”, simply because there are so many factors which can influence results and typically the benchmark results have little bearing on actual practical use. That said, I know a lot of readers probably do not share my opinion and enjoy reading about – and performing – benchmarks.

So for those of you interested, here is an article which you might find interesting: Benchmarked: Ubuntu vs Vista vs Windows 7. The tests compared in this article are:

• How long does each operating system take to install?
• How much disk space was used in the standard install?
• How long does boot up and shutdown take?
• How long does it take to copy files from USB to HD, and from HD to HD?
• How fast can it execute the Richards benchmark?

First off, consider the source when reviewing the results. Additionally, you get some ‘colorful’ responses to the article which are pretty entertaining.

Of course, Windows 7 is still in it’s beta stages at this point, so any performance results are subject to change drastically before its release.

An anonymous reader on Slashdot wrote that based on exhaustive benchmark testing, the upcoming v8.10 of Ubuntu Linux is noticeably slower in some areas compared to previous releases (namely v7.04).

"Linux" and "Slower" never fall within the same sentence, but they do now.

To calm the masses out there, no, Ubuntu 8.10 will not be a crawling nightmare of computer slowness. Not by a long shot. It’s still going to be quite speedy in its operation overall, not to worry.

But it has been proven to be slower to its predecessors and therein lies the concern.

~ ~ ~

Reading the article about the benchmark testing just goes to prove that the other shoe has finally dropped, so to speak.

Windows Vista is slower compared to XP. Mac OS X Leopard wasn’t exactly stellar in its performance over Tiger. And now the arguably most popular Linux distribution Ubuntu is showing early on that slowness with new releases can’t even escape the mighty Linux.

Linux zealots would scream loudly that "UBUNTU ISN’T THE ONLY DISTRO, YA KNOW.." Yes, I know this. There are 300+ distros in existence presently – but Ubuntu is the one people pay attention to the most. So go back to your Slackware – I already know that’s fast.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel to all this.

Newer releases of operating systems – no matter whom it comes from – will be lighter in the future. All OSes at this stage in the game are at their fattest and that’s simply not where computing is going.

It’s probably safe to say that Linux and Microsoft will be cutting the fat first, followed shortly afterwards by Apple.

On the Microsoft side it’s already been reported with Windows 7 that it will not be bundled with specific apps to trim it down to get to what matters (and be able to release it quicker).

Linux already has super-light distros. As a matter of fact you can go super-light with Fluxbuntu. (I’ve used fluxbox before and yeah, it’s tough to find a GUI faster than that.)

However, it would be nice if a very well known distro like Ubuntu had an official (as in from Canonical) Desktop Edition release like "Desktop Ubuntu Light" or something similar. I’m referring to an ISO people could download that has basically only the bare essentials without having to download an alternative distro or "build" it yourself, so to speak. And I’m referring to a true light Desktop Edition, not a Server Edition pretending to be Desktop.

People in the Linux know understand this wouldn’t be difficult to create or distribute at all because you’re just cutting the fat out of the distro.

Apple is also getting into the game of going lighter. Their own OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard page states "Taking a break from adding new features" and "Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X" which strongly indicates the OS doesn’t need anything new, rather it needs to cut the fat out and optimize rather than stuff it up with stuff nobody will use.

~ ~ ~

We’re going lighter, people. All the desktop OS offerings are heading that direction. It won’t happen this year but it may in late 2009 or early 2010.

We will go back to operating systems (no matter which you choose to use) that prioritize speed and efficiency first for a better computing experience.

Thankfully, the three major OS offerings will all be doing this. Even though they’re all too fattened up at the moment, sit tight because better stuff will be coming along.

Until then we’ll have to plod thru the slowness..

..even if you use Ubuntu.

When it comes to diagnostic and benchmarking programs, there is certainly no shortage. So why not point you to another one? Fresh Diagnose is just that.

The description from their website says:

Fresh Diagnose is a utility designed to analyze and benchmark your computer system. It can analyze and benchmark many kinds of hardware, such as CPU performance, hard disk performance, video system information, mainboard / motherboard information, and much more…

You can use Fresh Diagnose to gather detailed information on your system hardware, but if you are going to use it as a benchmark tool, of course you will want to make sure you use the same program on any other systems you are benchmarking for accurate comparison.

Fresh Diagnose is a free utility, so if you are in to quantitatively measuring your system’s capability, this might be worth a look.