On Monday 10 March 2008, Dan Kegel wrote: > Geoff Streeter <geoff@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Funny, my view is the exact opposite. I first used 64 bit on a Dec > > Alpha in about 1993. I have been wondering ever since why anybody > > would want to cling to 32 bit. > > Abstractly, I agree. But there are so many gotchas and so little > payoff for desktop users in the switch to 64 bits that it seems > premature, at least for people who don't want to help ferret out > the remaining problems. > > > I had better declare my bias; I implement an APL interpreter. A > >significant number of my users are bouncing off address space > >restrictions and are being held back because their users are > > constrained to use 32 bit windows as a platform. > > Sure, your users have a real reason to go 64 bits. The > average desktop user doesn't. I have to say that I am with Dan on this one. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any *desktop* app that requires the full addressing capabilities of 64 bit. Come to think of it, I can't think of any desktop or notebook *machines* that have more than 4G of RAM installed. Plus, there are a whole slew of desktop apps that just don't work right on 64bit systems - starting with flash. In the general case on x86 cpus, 64bit desktops tend to supply the user with a whole large set of brand new shiny problems while solving no existing ones. There are always exceptions of course - sometimes I would like to demo two certain column-based database and an abstraction layer along with reporting tools, ETL stuff and have the whole lot delivered to the user from JBoss. Sadly, this lot will never run on a notebook, so the demo consists of dragging several machines in boxes off to the client's premises. But that's an obscure case... Servers - different story. I'm very close to the point where I simply will not support new apps deployed on new 32 bit systems. Current needs in *this* area for the majority of customers I have to deal with already go beyond what 32 bit can deliver. This isn't to say that there is something wrong with 32 bit code - there isn't. It's just that the code lying around for desktop use is written for 32 bit and also satisfies current and foreseeable future needs. -- Alan McKinnon alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com
