Windows 8 could be 128-bit

[Ian]

PC Pro have an article which shows that Microsoft are working towards making Windows 8 an 128-bit operating system. This leak came from a MS employ via a social networking site (which just shows you should be careful what you write!):

The senior researcher's profile said he was: "Working in high security department for research and development involving strategic planning for medium and longterm projects. Research & Development projects including 128-bit architecture compatibility with the Windows 8 kernel and Windows 9 project plan. Forming relationships with major partners: Intel, AMD, HP and IBM."

Morgan's LinkedIn profile has now been pulled down, but a version remains in the Google search cache.

A move to 128-bit support would be a bold move for Microsoft. Many, including PC Pro's own Jon Honeyball, were urging Microsoft to make Windows 7 64-bit only, but the company continues to offer a 32-bit version of the forthcoming OS

You can read more here.

 

[DallasDad]

Good grief, they haven't even adapted all the software to 64 bit yet, and they're already talking about making it obsolete? Wow.

 

[Veedaz]

Windows 8 & 9 .... Windows 7 is not in the shops in the UK yet :s:

 

[Sycthus]

128-bit would be interest. However, this loud call for new processors.

But the do need to move past 32-bit now. 7 should be the last 32-bit OS; However, people are very attached to XP, so I think MS should work on a very stable 64-bit OS that can live up to XP's standards if they want to truly move past 32-bit systems.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Good grief, they haven't even adapted all the software to 64 bit yet

This is exactly what I was thinking when I read the first post.

 

[bern]

How much ram would 128-bit support? :lol: Is there any point in 128 bit software yet?

 

[olg207]

what whould this mean?
Apple like speeds for a change haha.

 

[danperteet]

128 Bit. Aww man this ruins my fun.
I just found out Yesterday that one of my old computers is 64 Bit and I was happy. Now I find out I'll have to get a 128 Bit computer in the future.

 

[clifford_cooley]

First of all someone would have to tell me the advantages of 128bit over the 64bit before I would even consider the 128bit. I am still currently 32bit and switching to 64bit. I see no reason why 64bit will not be all I need in the next few years to come.

After all what is the maximum memory for the 64bit anyway (2 ^ 64 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 //// 18,446,744 TB of Memory).

Other than memory issues what other advantages would there be to a 128bit OS?

 

[Thrax]

It’s hard to imagine 128-bit support being cooked into the desktop kernel, but it’s not unreasonable for Microsoft’s line of Server OSes. Several architectures, including Intel’s Itanium, Sun’s SPARC and IBM’s POWER line are expected to implement some semblance of 128-bit over the next five years. This timeline falls in line with Windows 8’s expected release date, which is no sooner than 2013.

128-bit processing would be good for encryption, compression, scientific modeling, genome sequencing, etc.

 

[Veedaz]

Hummmmmm 128bits IE, and 128bits freeware ?

 

[Kougar]

Ah, I hadn't read their article but Ars Technica did have a good piece on this too over here.

Good grief, they haven't even adapted all the software to 64 bit yet, and they're already talking about making it obsolete? Wow.

Honestly, at this point the only real 64bit issues I still hear about are with legacy hardware/software drivers, which shouldn't be a major issue for future systems. That has been my only problem since I've begun using Windows 7 64bit myself... most of the issues seemed to have been resolved in the time Vista was on the market.

128-bit would be interest. However, this loud call for new processors.

But the do need to move past 32-bit now. 7 should be the last 32-bit OS; However, people are very attached to XP, so I think MS should work on a very stable 64-bit OS that can live up to XP's standards if they want to truly move past 32-bit systems.

Windows 2008 Server R2 (Windows 7 version for servers) only supports 64bit processors, so one can expect 32bit versions of Windows 8 might not happen. Given Intel is finally phasing their 32bit processors out of the market Microsoft might just aim to remove 32bit versions for Windows 8...

As far as new processors go, you might be surprised. Nehalem-based CPU's can macrofuse 64-bit instructions together, in effect it can eat a single 128bit instruction in parts of the pipeline in one clock cycle.

As I understand it those SSE instructions one always hear about can actually be 128-bit already. Intel's next generation Sandy Bridge CPU's are reportedly going to introduce a more advanced version of SSE they are calling "AVX" (Advanced Vector Extensions) which will be 256-bits wide.

 

[Veedaz]

128 bit may be backwards compatible > http://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-7-128bit-next-generation,8827.html

 

[DallasDad]

Ah, I hadn't read their article but Ars Technica did have a good piece on this too over here.



Honestly, at this point the only real 64bit issues I still hear about are with legacy hardware/software drivers, which shouldn't be a major issue for future systems. That has been my only problem since I've begun using Windows 7 64bit myself... most of the issues seemed to have been resolved in the time Vista was on the market.

I like Adobe Photoshop Elements and I did some research and discovered this software doesn't get along with 64 bit. Some say they've ran it, many say it won't run for them.

I've read that Adobe does not offer support for PSE in 64 bit applications, but HP and Dell offer the software with their 64 bit Vista. Weird huh?

Seems odd that a company like Adobe would not address this issue, but this is the best info I've been able to come up with for this software. I use this software and I would not buy 64 bit till I knew for sure it would run reliably.
Anyone familiar with this issue?

 

[Veedaz]

Hi DallasDad

My wife has used Adobe Photoshop from CS2, CS3 and recently she bought CS4 ATM on her Computer she uses Windows 7 32bit RC1 and the Forum she is at for Photoshop advises using 32bit Windows 7, so later this month when Windows 7 is delivered my wife will be installing the 32bit version. Considering some of the apps i like to use i may go 32bit as well.

 

[Thrax]

I use Photoshop CS2, CS3 and CS4 on Windows 7 x64 with no problems whatsoever. Not only that, you'd be silly not to use it on x64 because of the program's advanced memory requirements. In fact, Photoshop is designed for workstation computers (two CPUs, x64, 8GB RAM, etc).

 

[Kougar]

Older versions of Photoshop Elements have had problems, but Photoshop Elements 8 should work fine to the best of my knowledge.

That said, if using Photoshop CS3 or CS4 there is no reason to not use a 64bit OS. The only reason I know of to not use the 64bit version of Photoshop CS4 is if the user has 32bit only Photoshop plugins. In fact, CS4 will install both 32bit and 64bit versions of itself on a 64bit Operating System. You can choose to run either of them, or both. I run both because I do have one 32bit-only Photoshop plugin.

I have personally had zero problems using Photoshop CS3 and CS4 (both 32bit and 64bit exe's) on 64bit builds of Windows 7.

 

[Veedaz]

I think plug-ins are the concern

I was disappointed that the genuine fractals plug-in does not work in the 64bit CS4, and my camera raw defaults are not holding when using either CS4 or Lightroom as they do in the the 32bit versions

 

[DallasDad]

Yeah it's possible PSE 8 might be OK with 64 bit, but I've tried to find information by Adobe about 64 bit and I've been unsuccessful. The only thing I've found was Adobe's forum, and I haven't found much good news there.

 

[DallasDad]

Hi DallasDad

My wife has used Adobe Photoshop from CS2, CS3 and recently she bought CS4 ATM on her Computer she uses Windows 7 32bit RC1 and the Forum she is at for Photoshop advises using 32bit Windows 7, so later this month when Windows 7 is delivered my wife will be installing the 32bit version. Considering some of the apps i like to use i may go 32bit as well.

I'm glad to hear I won't be the only one left using 32 bit! Haha