I work managing out-sourced technical support for a variety of companies, from video editing software through to internet security.
Minimum system requirements are a result of a fight between maketing (who want the lowest hardware requirements possible to avoid dissuading people from buying it), engineering, who actually know what they'd use to run the software, and support, who are the poor bastards who get it the neck when half the features don't work on hardware more than two years old. When I was a phone agent I used to coach people with W98SE PII's shutting down all unused programs so they could sucessfully capture DV to disc. Computers were so shit most of the video-editing software came with hardware to allow video catures as the PC's couldn't do it alone. Now you just jack a Firewire in. To this day I have nightmares about Derick Collins, a retired gentleman who had a similar effect on computers to the Electro-Magnetic Pulse from a nuclear detonation. I used to beg him not to chnage any settings after I'd got things working, but within a week or two...
It's like a Smart ForTwo is a car. It has two doors, two seats, a roof, a radio and an "engine". Don't be surprised if it is a little slow on motorways.
Some people would think there was a fault in software with recommended requirements of XP, 1Ghz and 512Mb if it was agonisingly slow on their (Mini Req) W98 PIII 450Mhz 256Mb.
God I am such a nerd...
