If you mean resources as in System Resources that was the bane of many DOS based Windows users' existence, then XP is a completely different beast. It's based on the NT kernel, which shares absolutely no ancestry with DOS. It's also why there are some compatibility issues with XP and some older Windows and DOS apps, but you can read up on that on your own.
If you mean resources in a more generic way... XP is generally much more hungry for RAM and CPU time. Same with apps for XP, which often model themselves after the Microsoft example, of chucking in every conceivable feature, that someone, somewhere, some time, might in some way use. Or as I call it, the Kitchen Sink Development Model, because the kitchen sink is probably in there somewhere if you look hard enough... I actually think there was an easter egg in Word 6 that was an image of a kitchen sink, but don't quote me on that, I could be confusing it with some other app.
I used to get rid of a bunch of stuff in startup when I was using Win 98. People told me that I could get rid of pretty much everything, at one time. I don't know if XP is a different animal or not when it comes to resources.
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