What is this program files x86 stuff anyway?

[Tim Slattery]

As I recall, every 80486 had the integrated floating-point processor.

They did, but in the SX the FPU was disabled. You "activated" it by
plugging in what they called an FPU (if I recall), but it was actually
a fully-functional 486 with the FPU activated. And if you took the now
useless SX chip out, the computer wouldn't work!

 

[Dale]

This seems to explain it:
http://helpdeskgeek.com/windows-7/windows-7-64-bit-two-program-files-

folders/

Thanks. I put their summary below.
I wonder why they didn't just call it "program files 32-bit", which
is what it apparently is (which has nothing, per se, to do with X86).
Dale

"If you have the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional,
or Ultimate edition, you may have noticed that there are two Program
Files folders on your hard drive.

One is simply labeled Program Files and the other is labeled Program
Files (x86). The first folder is the default location for all of your 64-
bit programs. It does not have an extra label at the end because as a 64-
bit operating system, it is assumed that you will have only 64-bit
applications installed on your computer.

The second folder labeled Program Files (x86) is the default location for
all of your 32-bit applications. In a sense, it is a folder designed for
legacy software that is left over from the days of 32-bit operating
systems. The x86 portion of the folder name refers to the x86 32-bit
architecture upon which the first 32-bit processors were developed such
as the 386, 486, and Pentium CPUs.

To help make the transition easier, Microsoft has designated that all 32-
bit application should, by default, be loaded into the Program Files
(x86) folder rather than getting mixed in with true 64-bit applications
in the regular Program Files folder.

 

[Dale]

If it were, then 32-bit programs installed in C:
\Program Files would fail, but they don't.

This confuses me. I understand your statement, which is
that no matter WHERE I install 32-bit apps on a 64-bit
Windows 7 system, they still work.

So, the fact they work has NOTHING to do with where
they are installed.

So, I must ask (although I fear I won't understand
the answer) ... if it's not the fact of where they're
installed, then ...

HOW DO 32-bit apps know NOT to load 64-bit DLLs anyway?

 

[Dale]

Dale cross-posted to alt.comp.freeware, a newsgroup unrelated to the
alt.windows7.general newsgroup, then tried to rudely yank the discussion
away from the freeware newsgroup that *he* chose to cross-posted (but
which was thwarted by using the original Newsgroups in my reply):

I have no choice.
My nntp posting host REQURES a single followup.

If you know a way around that, I'm all ears as I PREFER
to not even specify a followup.

 

[Dale]

Yet every program you installed defaulted to that location, didn't it?

I've never once installad a program into c:\program files, in my entire
life, and, as I said, I predate all Windows operating systems by a decade
(having run JCL and coded in Fortran before Fortran 77 ever existed!).

The ONLY programs that go into the idiotically organized program files
directory are those programs that either (a) existed prior to me owning
the computer, or (b) those programs that are so badly coded that they
owners couldn't conceive (or care?) about decent coding habits.

Mainly I find those horrid programs to be ones from the big outfits
such as Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, and the like.


PS: I'm FORCED by my free nntp news server to have a single followup;
so please feel free to respond to whatever groups you feel appropriate
(I have no choice).

 

[Dale]

He's no programmer. He'll never work it out.

I'm an accountant. Retired. Programmed way back in the 70's
(Fortran & Cobol) and then gave it up for spreadsheets.

I belatedly realized, from this discussion, that the name
of the program files x86 directory is a misnomer. It's really
just a directory of 32-bit applications, and, they could just
as well have gone into program files or into c:\programs (which
is where I put all my programs anyway).

So, in my c:\programs directory, I have both 32-bit and 64-bit
applications ... which seem to co-exist perfectly fine.

Since they co-exist perfectly fine, I wonder *why* Microsoft
bothered to cordon them off separately?

 

[FromTheRafters]

I'm an accountant. Retired. Programmed way back in the 70's
(Fortran & Cobol) and then gave it up for spreadsheets.

I belatedly realized, from this discussion, that the name
of the program files x86 directory is a misnomer. It's really
just a directory of 32-bit applications, and, they could just
as well have gone into program files or into c:\programs (which
is where I put all my programs anyway).

So, in my c:\programs directory, I have both 32-bit and 64-bit
applications ... which seem to co-exist perfectly fine.

Since they co-exist perfectly fine, I wonder *why* Microsoft
bothered to cordon them off separately?

I recall something perhaps unrelated, but even so *might* shed some
light. Running Windows some time ago I had "sol.exe" and "freecell.exe"
with Freecell in a separate folder so that I could avoid a DLLhell
situation with "cards.dll". Maybe having the 64s and the 32s in
separate directories allows you to have two identically named DLLs
where one is located by default in the same directory so the OS
looks no further for the DLLhell copy in the system directory.

 

[RJK]

Yes, but it wasn't just the CEs who used them. The operators also used
them to IMPL the machine.

Ah, thanks, Ken. Two things I never got involved with were running the
machine, and learning the intricacies of JCL.
--
Robin Bignall
Herts, England

After wading throught this thread, and noticing that everyobe here appears
to be 80, or thereabouts, I feel quite young at 57 !!! ,
....now, where did I put that Seagate 10mb hard-disk on ISA card ? ...I need
to plug it back into my old Amstrad 1512

regards, Richard

 

[Mirror of TRVTH]

Censorship is the raison d'être of most Cost?Free servers; to wit:
dropping "Content-Type: text/HTML" posts and imposing newsgroups on you.

Usenet is a text medium. If you wish to post in HTML, see
the www.

Any nsp who censors you does the rest of us a service.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Usenet is a text medium. If you wish to post in HTML, see
the www.

Any nsp who censors you does the rest of us a service.

Check the history of posts by Jeff Relf in news.software.readers