I agree with you, but let's think 2006 (Longhorn release date). 256 RAM will be a think of the past and I would almost bet 512 will be the norm. Of course, just assumptions, but according to the progression so far (and looking at the events when XP was released) things tend to go hand in hand and meet each other. Whether that is MS influene or not, who knows

www.blackviper.com

EDIT: scratch that, for some unknown reason his site is down... for the first time in years. I'll see if I can find a google cache.

EDIT: found the important google cache paged from his site:

Quick Read - Service List:
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Long Read - Service List, Explaination, and Results:
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Various other tweaks:
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache...hl=en&ie=UTF-8


Head there first and follow their XP service configuration tutorial to start you out. It will run you through an entire list of what each XP service does, what it depends on, how much RAM it eats up, and if it is safe to disable or not.