IE & IE (64 bit)

[Alex Clayton]

I rarely use Internet Explorer but now and then run into something that will
not work well with Firefox. I just noticed the other day that it offers IE
and IE (64 bit) when I go to use it. Out of curiosity I tried both on a
couple sites I use a lot, and could see nothing different I could spot. So
what is the difference?

 

[Seth]

I rarely use Internet Explorer but now and then run into something that
will not work well with Firefox. I just noticed the other day that it
offers IE and IE (64 bit) when I go to use it. Out of curiosity I tried
both on a couple sites I use a lot, and could see nothing different I
could spot. So what is the difference?

Up until very recently there was no Flash for 64bit is one example of a
difference. Even now I think the Flash64 is still beta.

 

[Tester]

One is 32 bit and other is 64 bit. Apart from that there is absolutely
no difference in functionality except that you can only run 64 bit on a
64 bit operating system. You are therefore limited to these Oss:

•Supported Operating Systems:Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 x64
Edition;Windows Server 2003 x64 editions;Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

•Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition;
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) x64 Edition; Windows Server
2003 x64 editions.

I have to say I have not seen Windows XP 64 bit in practice yet so I
can't recommend you to use it.

hth

 

[Alex Clayton]

One is 32 bit and other is 64 bit. Apart from that there is absolutely no
difference in functionality except that you can only run 64 bit on a 64
bit operating system. You are therefore limited to these Oss:

•Supported Operating Systems:Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 x64
Edition;Windows Server 2003 x64 editions;Windows XP Professional x64
Edition

•Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition; Windows
Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) x64 Edition; Windows Server 2003 x64
editions.

I have to say I have not seen Windows XP 64 bit in practice yet so I can't
recommend you to use it.

hth

I kind of figured it was here because this is a 64 bit system, I was just
wondering why a browser had to offer both. Firefox as far as I know just is
Firefox?

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

I kind of figured it was here because this is a 64 bit system, I was
just wondering why a browser had to offer both.

The browser doesn't offer both, the 64 bit operating system does. It
offers the 32 bit version of IE for backward compatibility because 64
bit versions of Flash and other ActiveX controls are not yet available.

Firefox as far as I know just is Firefox?

No, there are both 32 and 64 bit versions of Firefox, too.

 

[Tester]

I kind of figured it was here because this is a 64 bit system, I was
just wondering why a browser had to offer both. Firefox as far as I know
just is Firefox?

I have continued using 32 bit version in Windows XP (partly I don't have
a choice) and 64 bit version in my windows 7 (because it came with my
Dell system). However, I still use 32 versions of Microsoft Office
programs in my Windows 7 (like Office 2007) and I am likely to continue
using them for sometime because I am trialling Open Office and other
Open Source applications.

I have started to believe that most operating systems and Applications
will be on-line within the next 5 years and so we should start preparing
for the transition. Google will bring out their operating system in the
second half of this year and it will be all on-line. You will need an
Internet Connection to use the Netbook designed specifically for Google
Operating system.

 

[Alex Clayton]

Alex Clayton wrote:
snip

No, there are both 32 and 64 bit versions of Firefox, too.

I looked at Mozillas site and they are claiming they do not yet make a 64
bit version????????
This is from their site:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using Firefox with a 64-bit Operating System

Firefox will work on 64-bit versions of Windows, but it is not a 64 bit
application. See system requirements for details on all supported systems.

For details on how to install, see Installing Firefox on Windows.

Firefox will work on 64-bit versions of Mac OS X, but it is not a 64 bit
application. See system requirements for details on supported systems.

For details on how to install, see Installing Firefox on Mac.

Firefox will work on 64-bit versions of Linux, but it is not a 64 bit
application. See Installing Firefox on Linux for details on obtaining the
proper version of Firefox for your Linux distribution.

Mozilla is working on providing 64-bit versions, but no schedule is set.

 

[Geordie]

I looked at Mozillas site and they are claiming they do not yet make a 64
bit version????????
This is from their site:

<snip>

It is called Minefield and is still work in progress, although the
4.09b pre-en release works well, as does the Flash beta from Adobe.

 

[GTS-NJ]

It's purely for compatibility reasons. Many add-ons and plug-ins were (and
often still are) not yet compatible with the 64 bit IE version. Otherwise
there's generally no significant functional difference between using one
version or the other. The 64 bit version can address a greater address
space which in theory might be of value for something down the line (e.g.
perhaps buffering a large video presentation or caching more data for some
other type of application).
--

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

<snip>

It is called Minefield and is still work in progress, although the
4.09b pre-en release works well, as does the Flash beta from Adobe.

I don't use Firefox so I didn't know the 64 bit version was still in
beta. I just knew it was available.
http://www.favbrowser.com/firefox-32-bit-x86-vs-firefox-64-bit-x64/

 

[Alex Clayton]

It's purely for compatibility reasons. Many add-ons and plug-ins were
(and often still are) not yet compatible with the 64 bit IE version.
Otherwise there's generally no significant functional difference between
using one version or the other. The 64 bit version can address a greater
address space which in theory might be of value for something down the
line (e.g. perhaps buffering a large video presentation or caching more
data for some other type of application).

OK thanks that makes sense, or at least clearer for me. I was wondering what
was going on.

 

[Joe Morris]

It's purely for compatibility reasons. Many add-ons and plug-ins were
(and often still are) not yet compatible with the 64 bit IE version.
Otherwise there's generally no significant functional difference between
using one version or the other. The 64 bit version can address a greater
address space which in theory might be of value for something down the
line (e.g. perhaps buffering a large video presentation or caching more
data for some other type of application).

Same issue as for Office 2010. Microsoft *strongly* recommends not using
the 64-bit version of 2010 unless the user has a need for the huge memory it
supports (primarily for Excel and maybe Access where there is a huge data
file). The reason is the same: incompatibility with various add-ons that
haven't been updated to support 64-bit applications.

Joe Morris