Windows 7 Is Here, BUT

if you buy it you get 2 separate discs,32 bit and the other 64 bit

I'm just waiting for the shutdowns to start every 2 hours, then I'll be installing Fedora 12 (scheduled release - Nov 2009) on the machine which I used for testing the beta and RC. I still can't get over the way you can't tell which folders are shared by just looking (sorry, no - I don't care to float the cursor over each folder one at a time), and the way the desktop manager shuts off every time an Aero-unaware program starts, making you run and step through the troubleshooter to re-enable it. et cetera.
Being able to run a virtual XP is not that attractive. The only program without a linux version that I care anything about is AutoCAD, so hopefully AutoDesk will wise up and get moving on a pure POSIX release and I can eliminate using WINE for that, too. SE-Linux still appears to have a better handle on security than windows, though 7 is an improvement (and I do like it better than vista).

I finally emailed Adobe Support concerning Adobe Photoshop Elements vs 64 bit; Adobe specifically stated that both "PSE 7 and 8 are incompatible with 64 bit systems." They offered no further explanation.

I didn't bother to email back and ask why you can order PSE 7 on a new HP or Dell Windows 7 computer that only comes in the 64 bit version.

Sounds like someone's left hand doesn't know what their right hand is doing, to say the least.

DallasDad... I downloaded and installed the Photoshop Elements 8 trial. It works fine on my 64bit Windows 7 system and I've not observed any problems with it. PSE 8 only comes in a 32bit version.

All recent versions of Photoshop work just fine on Windows 7 x64. I have tried PS 6.5, CS2, CS3 and CS4.

Because these are NEW systems. Most the computer makers and others are moving to x64 as much as possible. Its a better OS and utilizes the full capabilities of RAM.

Virtually all new CPU are x64 and so are the mobos for them.

Nearly all x86 software will run on x64 OS platforms since a folder called "Program Files (x86) is installed when the x64 OS is installed.

In a few years x86 will be a thing of the past. x64 is here to stay. Intel and MS are also looking at 128 bit CPUs and OS for the near future (about 4-5 years or so).

Thanks for the 1st hand report Kougar, I appreciate it.

Open a terminal window and (as root) run

yum install kernel-PAE

and your 32-bit linux will use up to 64GB of RAM... as long as your CPU supports the physical address extensions, and most dual core or better CPUs do.

I believe the majority of systems right now would get more performance boost out of their 32-bit programs being able to use over 4GB of memory than they would get from the (dearth of) 64-bit programs available so far.
That situation will probably flip-flop within a few years, of course.

Please note a 32Bit program can only address 4GB of memory even if it is installed on a 64Bit OS.

In order to address 64GB memory the OS would need to be atleast 36Bits wide. And this would not be possible on a 32Bit system. Please enlighten me if there is something I am missing here.

Possibly the obvious: more than one 32-bit program can be running at once.

And, that it's only 32-bit windows that has the 4GB memory limit.

As I said previously, I'll be installing Fedora 12 on the machine currently running Win7 RC. And I won't wait for its first major upgrade before doing so, either... as I've done with Win3 (waited for 3.11 W4W), Win95 (waited for SR2), Win98 (waited for 98se) and XP (waited for SP1). I never installed vista on anything.

I've been running Win7 for about 9 months now (betas, then RC), and they did not fix a single thing I've seen wrong with it, so why would I want to buy it or encourage anyone else to buy it? Maybe when its SP1 comes out I'll see what changes were made... but as it looks right now, when MS drops support for XP it will be the end of my windows days.