Windows 8 could be 128-bit

[Sycthus]

More plentyful at the moment, yes, but soon they will be in the minority. What I'm saying is if people pay the money their lives will be easier because they won't have to worry. I admit I don't have MS Office 07 yet, but I want it and I will have it soon.

 

[catilley1092]

I agree with you, it is my assumption that 32 bit programs are being pushed is because of all of the older systems still in use. Many of them are XP systems, and a lot of them cannot be upgraded (I have two of them). Only when the majority of them hits the junkpile, 64 bit programs will be seriously pushed.

 

[Veedaz]

catilley1092 wrote

Only when the majority of them hits the junkpile, 64 bit programs will be seriously pushed.

I tend to agree, I work on mostly on 32-bit systems and many people just cant afford the upgrade in Hardware / or a new system to run 64-bit, also new 32-bit systems are being sold today.

 

[Sycthus]

All true; also, I think people have so many bad memories of upgrading and they don't know exactly what 64-bit is, and as a result they are scared to move along. I think if people knew about what was going on more then more people would go.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Maybe if all the 64-Bit user's started Parading through the streets.

Nah, I don't see that happening.

 

[catilley1092]

No, me either. The way the economy is, most people are making do with what they have. I was just fortunate enough to get my new computer, it took me a month to find the deal that I wanted. No wonder there are so many Mac's for sale. 10.5% unemployment makes people think about the necessary things. I'm glad that I no longer have to worry about a job. I've been disabled since January 2006. I draw disability, but with my medical expenses, a real expensive computer was out of my budget. The way Microsoft skips between good and bad OS's, I'll wait at least until Windows 9 to go any further. Mabye by then there will be enough 64 bit programs to go around with all the 128 bit capable computers on the market.

 

[Wiser2001]

Ya, it's pretty expensive and time-consuming always surfing the leading edge. I've always found that when buying computers, the best value lay at around 3rd place. Don't get the newest batch, nor the 2nd newest, the 3rd newest will often do the trick and ease the burden on your wallet.
But 3rd in the bit-race is 16bit, and that's just not gonna cut it. I do a lot of photo and video editing, and I really want 64bit compatibility so I can install 8GB of ram and use it. Even with 4GB, Windows 32bit will split it into two chunks of about 1.7GB, the remainder is unusable.

However my installation attempts have all been thwarted. I have a reasonable system, and at one point I worried that it was my power supply, so I bought a new one, incurring about $100. But that didn't solve my situation. So do I spend even more? Do I just buy a completely new system? The system is only 6months old. I don't have the money to fork out for another system. It's very frustrating.

So I'm sticking with 32bit for now.

 

[catilley1092]

Windows 32 bit OS's will use around 3GB if you have 4GB installed. If your system is only 6 months old, there's no reason to worry. Don't spend to the point that you could get yourself a 64 bit system in upgrading it, because there's still plenty of programs that you can use perfectly fine. Stick with what you have for a while, you may as well get some mileage out of it. As long as you have a modern OS (like Windows 7), you're in good company.

 

[Kougar]

Right now, I think the largest issue with 64bit is twofold...

1) It is not understood. People assume 32bit programs won't work at all, when in fact the majority of software people use everyday on a 64bit OS is actually 32bit.

2) Just to look at browsers, 64bit browsers exist. But most plugins (Java, Flash, Firefox Plugins, even ActiveX plugins, etc) do not work with 64bit browsers, or in most instances they don't work properly yet.

This example goes beyond simply browsers though, almost any program with plugins has similar issues. Regularly use Photoshop and several plugins? Most are only going to be 32bit plugins. The list goes on...

 

[catilley1092]

I think that this 128 bit deal will be limited to servers and business use. There are still a few 32 bit computers on the market and 32 bit programs will continue to be developed until 2014, the end of XP support. Until the XP era ends, there will be plenty of 32 bit apps to go around. At the end of the XP era, developers will begin to take 64 bit seriously and make more apps. There are many who will ride that era until the wheels fall off. But as long as we have apps to work with, why worry about it? My 64 bit PC runs 32 bit apps better than 32 bit computers do. I think this 128 bit deal is way overblown.

 

[DOA]

Windows 8 - 128-bit. Thats got to be BS. When did 32-bit PCs come mainstream? 1989 or something?

Software (read Microsoft) has been lagging behind hardware for a long time here. There are some real advantages to 64 and 128 bit OS other than RAM addressing. But I don't think the programmers are there yet. Programmers want to write in high level languages and compile. Justifiably so, but you cannot stay up with leading edge hardware waiting for new generations of compilers before you write your code.

If no one writes better 128 bit code a 128 bit OS will simply address a ton of ram, no more.