[wplug] (OT) 32 more bits

[Tom Rhodes]

On Wed, 27 Apr 2005 11:43:46 -0400 (EDT)
Drew from Zhrodague <drew at zhrodague.net> wrote:

> > In my opinion, the reason you're seeing slow adoption of 64-bit arch is
> > that it's just not in big demand.  The move from 16bit to 32bit was a big
> > deal because everyone was doing 32bit math anyway.  But very few apps are
> > doing 64bit math right now, so the improvement isn't very notable.
> > 
> > The two big advantages that will come from 64bit arch:
> > 1) As noted by others, the addressable memory will extend far past 4G.
> >    This _can_ be a big deal on many servers, but doesn't mean much to
> >    the average desktop yet.
> > 2) Systems that do a lot of 64bit math will see significant performance
> >    gains.  Of course, there are very few systems that _have_ to do 64bit
> >    math, so not many people care.
> > 
> > Overall, I think 64bit architecture will eventually replace 32bit, but I
> > doubt it will ever be a big deal.
> 
> 	Us old Sun and Alpha people are STILL waiting for PCs to catch up!

Heh, not with those endian issues.  :P

-- 
Tom Rhodes