XP was the first one that had proper memory protection so that badly written programs would just crash instead of taking down the whole system.

It was a dramatic step forward compared to 98, where you’d be lucky to go a whole day without bluescreening. There’s a reason XP hung on for so long. It was the first Windows version that was really good enough for most people.

It’s DSL, so the speed depends on line length. To reliably get 250M you’re probably doing fibre to the footpath outside the building.

The market isn’t growing due to demand, though. AI is being pushed by businesses and investors hoping that demand will appear in the future. They’re burning through tons of cash, not growing naturally due to user interest.