There is no precise definition, but I think most reasonable people agree that the Wii U OS performance is subpar.
I agree it's slow. I was mainly referring to some folks who remark it didn't bother them / they didn't notice the slowness they hear others referring to. For some, the current load times won't trigger impatience; others will notice right away that the OS feels unoptimized.
I'm not too up on technical details, but isn't the 2GB of ram this system has meant to help with faster loading times? What the heck has Nintendo been doing since they announced the system 2 E3s ago...?
"Fast loading time" was never something mentioned or talked about that I saw. More that a gig of ram was (for now) reserved for OS usage. That doesn't necessarily mean reserved to create super fast loading - it could be for complex applications, loading multiple applications at once, running complex services in the background (like Miiverse).
As for what Nintendo has been doing - personally, I'd figure they've been working on the fundamentals of the technology by launch. With all that's come to light about the nuance and complexity of making the gamepad work right, it seems a great deal of resources when there. On the OS front, whether we like it or not, all of this stuff involves Nintendo spreading out into unfamiliar territory. Network technology, multitasking operating systems, etc, is a new business. It seems pretty clear that they were and are working on the OS full tilt, constantly.
One point of interest: for all that people point to the Xbox OS / Xbox Live as the "gold standard" for modern game consoles, it doesn't often seem taken into account that it was designed by a company that specialized in operation systems, networking, and internet. That's a powerful advantage to have on your side, such a pool of experience to draw from. If anything, Microsoft has a nearly
unfair advantage over everyone else (not just Nintendo) in this area.
