Windows 7 32/64 question

[Mind_Reader7]

What is the point in releasing a 32bit operating system?

[Mr.Scott]

Easy.....there's still alot of people out there running older equipment. No point in shutting yourself out of a potential market.

[Defcon1_Admi]

It still should be phased out by now. Win 7 should have only been x64. We need to compeltely remove x86 OS's, it sholdve been done with vista. 32 bit is a thing of the past. And lets be honest, people with p4's are likely not going to make the switch to Win 7 or Vista anyways, so why not go x64 only.

[Mr.Scott]

Some will. It's all about money.

[davidhammock200]

Originally Posted by Mr.Scott

Some will. It's all about money.

Right as always Engineer, some will!

[krone6]

It all leads down to money... You know, the green paper that buys you stuff. Sad but true. Why not is the answer. Why not make a 32 bit version and make more money then only 64. Hope this helps.

[Moraa]

I wondered the same thing for a while, then someone told me that some of the old laptop CPU's is 32-bit versions instead of 64-bit, which we see in every desktop CPU, so the OS wouldn't work on those. Can anyone confirm?

[Mr.Scott]

some of the old laptop CPU's is 32-bit versions instead of 64-bit, which we see in every desktop CPU, so the OS wouldn't work on those. Can anyone confirm?

It's most certainly true. It falls under the same thing I said, "There are a lot of people still running older hardware out there."

[PommieB]

I was surprised when win 7 was being released in 32b, they didn't seem to give a stuff when they moved from 16 to 32b, but I guess the numbers are too great now.

[Carozzeria]

Originally Posted by Mr.Scott

It's most certainly true. It falls under the same thing I said, "There are a lot of people still running older hardware out there."

Hey, that's me.

[LMHmedchem]

A 64-bit OS has a much larger memory footprint, so users with limited RAM (2GB or less) would have issues.
(yes, another angle on Mr. Scott's "older hardware" comment)

For example, the java JRE takes up almost twice as much memory in 64-bit as compared to 32-bit. There are also applications that by their nature run faster in 32-bit (or 16-bit). Mac has put substantial effort in Snowleopard to allow 32-applications to run in native 32-bit, and 64-bit to run native in 64-bit, so you can have the best of both worlds. I think they just have 2 different versions of all their OS dlls etc. In vista, 32-bit apps run with some emulation and may perform less well. If you have allot of expensive 32-bit software, you may just want to stick with 32-bit for the better performance.

Many applications run faster in 64-bit, so things will trend in that direction, but not everyone has 4-8GB of RAM, and I have friends with $5000+ in 32-bit software who are planning on staying with 32-bit until they upgrade their apps.

LMHmedchem

[Josie Wales]

It is essential that Vista 7 is attractive to corporate and government clients if MS is to secure those markets. These market segments tend to purchase hardware and software on a defined replacement schedule. Until corporate and government clients have predominately made the switch to 64bit hardware they will not begin to schedule the transition to 64bit software. If MS can induce them to absorb the transition costs to 32bit Vista 7 it will be very profitable for MS today and make the future transition to 64bit less expensive for these market segments.

[Bazman]

Originally Posted by Mr.Scott

It's most certainly true. It falls under the same thing I said, "There are a lot of people still running older hardware out there."

You don't have to be on the bleeding edge to be hardcore, right Scotty?

[Orac]

dont forget people can be scared of change, i spoke to someone while back and it was something along the line of "why do i need that, there is no point and why should a change"

its not just old hardware to get rid of but old thoughts of how thing should be.

[Carozzeria]

Also a lot of great games from a few years ago were never tested on a 64 bit OS like Halo and Battlefield 2142. I dual boot most of my machines and actually run a virtual 32bit os on the server.

[Mr.Scott]

Originally Posted by Bazman

You don't have to be on the bleeding edge to be hardcore, right Scotty?

So very true.

[davidhammock200]

Vista 7

Please JW, it is Win 7, I and many others want to forget all about Vista, just as many wanted to forget about ME.

[Orac]

Originally Posted by Carozzeria

Also a lot of great games from a few years ago were never tested on a 64 bit OS like Halo and Battlefield 2142. I dual boot most of my machines and actually run a virtual 32bit os on the server.

you can run a virtual PC on pretty much any system providing the host has the recources to give, i played through half life on a win XP Virtual PC on orac 2.1

[Carozzeria]

Originally Posted by Orac

you can run a virtual PC on pretty much any system providing the host has the recources to give

I know this. Having excessive amounts of resources is nice though. Lol

[moosteve]

Originally Posted by davidhammock200

Please JW, it is Win 7, I and many others want to forget all about Vista, just as many wanted to forget about ME.

i had forgotten about ME until it got brought up....

worst. os. EVER!