64-bit Windows imminent

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Microsoft is planning to offer long-awaited 64-bit versions of its Windows operating system next month.

Speaking at the Intel Developer Forum on Tuesday, Windows chief Jim Allchin said the desktop version of the souped-up Windows would come at the beginning of April, while the server version would come at the end of the month.

"We're locked on to 64-bit," Allchin said, encouraging developers to start tailoring their applications to include the ability to take advantage of the extra processing power.

Last month, Microsoft released a second, near-final "release candidate" version of the operating system. The company had promised a final release would come by the end of June.

The 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 have been a long time coming, particularly for chipmaker AMD, which has offered such chips for roughly two years in the server market and 18 months in the desktop PC market.

Talkback

Oh goodie another piece of bloated virus-ware from Microsoft. So many questions come to mind.

How badly will I be robed / extorted this time?
How many years before the thing is useable?
Will it be released with it's own set of thousands of worms and spy-ware or will I have to wait a few months?
Will native applications arrive before the end of this or the next decade?
Why is the industry's claimed "leader" always LAST to deliver anything?

The only question one doesn't have to ask is "Are there a ready supply of incredibly stupid people ready to throw away money on this new Microsoft abomination." of course there are.

People don't suddenly become intelligent, especially the profoundly stupid who have been Windows drones for ever. Those cases require desperate measures to rehabilitate. Don't believe it just ask any one of them if they will continue to buy the worst OS on earth that has the whole malware world infesting them and they will tell you they are going to continue their stupidity in spite of all indications that it will continue to be exponentially worse. Soon nine out of ten work hours will be dedicated to Windows maintenance and repair. But that other hour will be somewhat productive, we hope.

via Facebook 2 March, 2005 20:41
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Since no retail version is planned this is useless to those who have bought or built 64-bit systems over the last 2 years.

via Facebook 4 March, 2005 13:39
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It's a shame they stalled this because Intel didn't have a 64 bit chip ready....

via Facebook 13 March, 2005 12:26
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Who cares? We have 64-bit GNU/Linux, not to mention 64-bit FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD. For those who haven't tried out SuSE Linux 9.x Professional, you should; I find it very easy to use as a desktop OS. *VERY* easy. And yes, I came initially from a MS Windows background.

For servers, Windows shouldn't even be getting used. What about "user-friendliness", the MCSE's will ask? User-friendliness doesn't matter as much in a server, because end-users aren't sitting at the server console; properly trained sysadmins are. If they're not, then there's a much bigger problem, regardless of platform, that neither Windows, GNU/Linux, *BSD, OS X, or any other operating system can solve. I make sure to put knowledgeable people on my servers, regardless of what OS the server is running.

via Facebook 14 March, 2005 16:47
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