64-bit Applications. When will they dominate?

When will 64-bit applications completely replace 32-bit the same way 32-bit applications completely replaced 16-bit not long after the introduction of Windows 95?

Will the next Microsoft OS 64-bit only?

 

32 bit replaced 16 bit probably because they overcome many limitations in 16bit applications

while in 64bit cases , most apps still doesnt encounter any limits/difficulties in 32bit thus making migration to 64bit slower

 

We are already seeing Win 7 x64 pre-installed in numerous laptops/systems overall.

It's possible that Windows 8 might be x64 only ... then again, I wouldn't hold my breath for it because it's also very possible an x64 only Windows OS won't come by until say Windows 9 (or however it ends up being called).

x64 is more and more pushing it's way to the surface, so it's possible it won't be until 2 more versions of Windows before it becomes as the only one.

 

Possibly a long time, aren't some legacy 16Bit applications still around?

And as devilcm3 said - most applications don't hit any limits with 32Bits.

It only specialist applications that are written for 64Bit that will benefit.
Example:
Photoshop CS
Another one: Excel 2010 - this will be useful for people who use huge datasets.

However, things like browsers, media players - they have zero gain from 64Bit.

 

How about games? Wouldn't it be beneficial to have a game that can use 8GB RAM just for itself?

 

I don't game I think Intel graphics is good for games
Does that answer the question?

I suppose in theory if you had a RAM intensive game, then potentially yes - but thinking back, Empire Earth 2 used about 300MB maximum and that's not a "simple game" - so I don't think RAM is a bottleneck in games, or if it is, then the developer did something wrong.

Also - think about how much RAM consoles have - less than today's computer and they run decently.

 

Rarely if ever does system memory become a bottleneck for games.
People don't realize that, as far as gaming is concerned, system memory is comparatively slow for gaming applications.

I dont' see 64 bit only adoption for a long time. For one, people are still stuck in the mindset that a smaller OS is better, so there is little incentive to create features and programs that take full advantage of the computing resources available.

Two, today's software interfaces have to be updated otherwise we are stuck like we are still using 16 bit computers.

 

If they've been offering 32-bit for so long, it doesn't shave much cost of design off if it's exclusively 64-bit, i doubt 64-bit will take over anytime soon as standard, just like there won't be 128-bit capable processors anytime soon, because 128-bit doesn't really do much for us... perhaps address more memory, but 64-bit address space is like, i think terabytes possibly and 128-bit would just add a few more terabytes of addressable RAM so it's no real problem for any of us, at least the ones that don't own world simulation computers.

 

As I think others here have said, the transition to 64-bit apps will be slow but real.

When we all have 16 gb of RAM in our laptops, we won't want each app limited to 2 gb anymore.

 

i remember saw an article said , windows 7 would be the last 32bit OS , so expect the software developers to start develop 64bit softwares to prepare for the rainy season

either the next generation windows still support 32bit virtualization or not still unknown

 

I still don't understand why 32-bit won't be offered... it's not like it will become some sin to run 32-bit in the 2010's.

 

Since W7 is the last 32 bit OS, I expect 32 bit to be alive for about ~5 more years.

 

Well, even if Windows 8 (or however it ends up being called) is put out as x64 only ... 32bit applications will still work on the said OS (for the most part).

That will delay the time for the transition to x64 ... and software companies/individuals will start to write their programs in x64 version as well.

It will happen, but I do not expect it to happen very suddenly (although, anything is possible).

 

Yes, it's the sofeware that's the weakest link. That's mostly the reason why we've stopped at 4 cores for the most part. It is an exponentially more intensive process to create software that is optimized to use it. Still, from what I know of gaming (i.e. read), RAM speed would be significaly more important than total amount.

 

So what do we do then when RAM speed equals processor speed?

 

We make faster CPU's lol

 

Well Microsoft has started the shift with all of their products. Most of their 2010 softwares including MSE, Office 2010, Project 2010, Visio 2010, Sharepoint 2010 and all the like have x64 versions.

However, I don't think all softwares will move to x64 any time soon. As stated, very few softwares would genuinely benefit from the shift enough to warrant the effort it takes to make said shift.

A guess of 5 years is decent I'd say.

 

LOL, evern that's no longer a necessity. The latest line of Intels CPUs proves that.

 

Exponentially more intensive process to create software that is optimized to use more cores? - What nonsense is that???

No, its not more difficult - it just requires you to break a task up into several smaller tasks - and Photoshop does this nicely - it could use more than 4 cores easily.

Or if you want something simple - look at WPrime.

Its only "useless" when a task cannot be broken down into individual steps - in that case 2 cores are still useful - 1 for the OS, one for the task.

 

Actually that was a paraphrase from an article out of Laptop magazine of an interview with one of the multi-core developers. If you disagree, your beef is with him.

I don't make anything up Jeeves. And you are welcome to ask for references and/or sources at anytime.

 

Exponentially is most likely the wrong word. It's probably more linear.

 

I am in a picky mood - source link then?

I'd say depends on the problem.
If a problem is easily broken down into multiple threads then its going to be easy to split it up.
It when you get a process that is really 1 task and need to move it to several cores that it can be difficult or impossible.

 

That was specifically the word he used. Contact the developer (or interviewer) if you have issue with it. The magazine does take readers comments.

Well first, I'd have to look through 8 months of back issues. And second, provided I even still have the article, I'd have to scan it and post it to prove anything. Assuming I did all that, what's in it for me?

 

Not for awhile, most apps don't take over ~3.3 GBs (the ram limit of 32-bit applications).

 

Depends on the OS. 32bit apps are actually limited to 2GB of address space on 32bit Windows unless you use the /3GB switch when booting the OS, which can cause lots of other issues and is typically very much recommended against, and even then only allocates up to 3GB to an app, reserving 1GB of address space for the OS. On 64bit Windows a 32bit app can use up to 4GB of RAM, the full 32bit address space due to the way things are re-aligned.

 

Even with only 2 GBs, only real programs that use more than 2 GBs are professional programs (Photoshop, professional video editing programs, etc.) and some of the newest games (even though they are rare).

 

Just for the record:



Windows 7 system requirements

If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:

*

1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
*

1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
*

16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
*

DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

 

bah
that's too much trouble...

Can't you read the articles online (I know, paper is nice for your eyes) - if you have a part of the text to quote, try googling it - but don't spend a lot of time on it.

 

Well spend well over an hour going through all the back issues magazines I could and couldn't find the one with the gaming quad-core issue. The good new is I found several other great articles of interest that were still current.

The bad news is that of all the issues I wanted to save that was one of them. I still have a few unopened boxes (yes moved recently) and I'll go through and see if I put more magazines in them. As you may know anybody that moves wants to get rid of any excess weight, and old magazines are one of the first things to go.

Still, I'd be disappointed if I lost that one, especially since I relish the opportunity to put a naysayer to shame.

Agreed. Most likely this will be the last OS that will be released in 32 bit. Expect a solely 64bit W8 around 2014.

 

UPDATE: I found the article (Laptop magazine Jan.2009). It was referring to the future of quad-core, not 64-bit. Please forgive this oversite. I've read a lot of articles since Jan. 2009.