Windows super-sleuth Long Zheng keeps his eye on the Microsoft jobs listings and discovers some information about a potential new feature for the thus far super-secretive Windows 7 OS - native support for Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs):
Do you want to join the team that is bringing virtualization into the mainstream? In Windows 7, our team will be responsible for creating, mounting, performing I/O on, and dismounting VHDs (virtual hard disks) natively. Imagine being able to mount a VHD on any Windows machine, do some offline servicing and then boot from that same VHD. Or perhaps, taking an existing VHD you currently use within Virtual Server and boost performance by booting natively from it.
And so it goes on …
If this feature actually survives to RTM (and let’s face it, that’s a very big if … history is littered with great ideas that never saw light of day) then this will be a really neat feature. In fact, I can think of a good dozen situations where this feature would be dead handy right now.
Anyone want to take bets on whether this feature actually makes it to RTM?
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
First Look at the ‘Core’ of Windows 7
On October 13, Microsoft’s distinguished engineer Eric Traut gave a presentation at the University of Illinois about Microsoft’s virtualization technology and also mentioned Windows 7 - the next version of Windows after Vista. And believe it or not it was on video. Whilst the presentation is not directly about Windows 7, it does contain a demonstration of MinWin - an internal project to build the most efficient Windows kernel which will in turn be used in Windows 7.
The whole presentation (WMV) goes for approximately 1 hour and includes a very deep look into hypervisors. I’ve clipped out the 8-minute segment which Eric focuses on Windows 7 specifically to make it easier to watch. Because Eric goes into a lot of detail as well as background information about what is presented, and because it’s 2AM, I won’t regurgitate it. All I’ll say is that if you think Windows at its core is bloated, think again.
The whole presentation (WMV) goes for approximately 1 hour and includes a very deep look into hypervisors. I’ve clipped out the 8-minute segment which Eric focuses on Windows 7 specifically to make it easier to watch. Because Eric goes into a lot of detail as well as background information about what is presented, and because it’s 2AM, I won’t regurgitate it. All I’ll say is that if you think Windows at its core is bloated, think again.
Windows Server 7 : Direct Connect
Microsoft IT (the internal IT organisation) is currently running a pilot called "Direct Connect". Direct Connect is like Outlook Anywhere where you connect to the internal Exchange Server from outside the corporate network without a VPN connection but through RPC_over_HTTPs) Direct connect uses IPv6 and IPSec to build a tunnel from outside the corporate network to any resource that needs to access internal network (file shares, LOB applications) This pilot will end up as feature in the server edition of Windows 7. It will require a trusted identity like smartcards
Windows 7 Tablet Features
Hilton Locke, Tablet PC Test Engineer at Microsoft, recently commented on his impressions of the "touch features" of the Windows 7 comparing it against those seen on the iPhone from Apple.
Hilton says in his blog "I will say that if you are impressed by the "touch features" in the iPhone, you’ll be blown away by what’s coming in Windows 7. Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales."
It will be interesting to see how those translate in the RTM produc
Hilton says in his blog "I will say that if you are impressed by the "touch features" in the iPhone, you’ll be blown away by what’s coming in Windows 7. Now if only we could convince more OEMs that Windows Touch Technology is going to drive their sales."
It will be interesting to see how those translate in the RTM produc
Blog divulges OS details of ‘Windows 7'
For the second time in five weeks, information about a key upcoming Microsoft product has come to light because of a presentation placed on the company’s Web site by an employee in Denmark.
According to a PowerPoint presentation download PDF created by a technical staffer at Microsoft Denmark, the software vendor plans to invest in four major areas in the next client version of Windows after Vista. Microsoft has already begun working on its next OS, and one executive indicated last month that the company hopes to ship the follow-on during 2009 — although Microsoft later issued a statement saying that it is “not giving official guidance to the public yet about the next version of Windows.”
The PowerPoint presentation, which is dated January 31 and can be accessed via Microsoft’s download.microsoft.com site, was publicised on Aeroxperience, an independent blog aimed at Windows Vista developers.
The Aeroxperience posting says that two slides in the presentation contain information that “more than likely applies to ‘Windows Seven,’” the codename that Microsoft is said to be using internally for the successor to Vista.
According to the slides, planned areas of investment for end users in Windows Seven include making it easier to find information and improving mobile connectivity. For example, a detailed list of future Windows features includes converged local, network and internet search capabilities and improved wireless connectivity, management and security.
For IT professionals, the presentation indicates, planned improvements include added security measures, such as extending data protection and management capabilities to peripheral devices and expanding usage monitoring capabilities for compliance purposes. Cutting PC operating costs will also be a priority, via new features such as simplified provisioning and upgrading of systems, according to the slides.Last month, Aeroxperience was the first to report that Microsoft planned to spend US$1 billion per year on development of the next version of Office, which is referred to by Microsoft employees as Office 14 and is expected to be ready for release in the first half of 2009.
In the Office-related posting, Aeroxperience cited a different PowerPoint presentation apparently created by another Microsoft Denmark employee that was also hosted on the download.microsoft.com site. That presentation has since been taken down by Microsoft, although Aeroxperience still has copies of some of the slides on its web site.
Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the various blog postings related to Windows Seven.
According to a PowerPoint presentation download PDF created by a technical staffer at Microsoft Denmark, the software vendor plans to invest in four major areas in the next client version of Windows after Vista. Microsoft has already begun working on its next OS, and one executive indicated last month that the company hopes to ship the follow-on during 2009 — although Microsoft later issued a statement saying that it is “not giving official guidance to the public yet about the next version of Windows.”
The PowerPoint presentation, which is dated January 31 and can be accessed via Microsoft’s download.microsoft.com site, was publicised on Aeroxperience, an independent blog aimed at Windows Vista developers.
The Aeroxperience posting says that two slides in the presentation contain information that “more than likely applies to ‘Windows Seven,’” the codename that Microsoft is said to be using internally for the successor to Vista.
According to the slides, planned areas of investment for end users in Windows Seven include making it easier to find information and improving mobile connectivity. For example, a detailed list of future Windows features includes converged local, network and internet search capabilities and improved wireless connectivity, management and security.
For IT professionals, the presentation indicates, planned improvements include added security measures, such as extending data protection and management capabilities to peripheral devices and expanding usage monitoring capabilities for compliance purposes. Cutting PC operating costs will also be a priority, via new features such as simplified provisioning and upgrading of systems, according to the slides.Last month, Aeroxperience was the first to report that Microsoft planned to spend US$1 billion per year on development of the next version of Office, which is referred to by Microsoft employees as Office 14 and is expected to be ready for release in the first half of 2009.
In the Office-related posting, Aeroxperience cited a different PowerPoint presentation apparently created by another Microsoft Denmark employee that was also hosted on the download.microsoft.com site. That presentation has since been taken down by Microsoft, although Aeroxperience still has copies of some of the slides on its web site.
Microsoft didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the various blog postings related to Windows Seven.
Windows 7 FAQ
Paul Thurrott updated his Windows 7 FAQ today. Information below. Again note his beliefs that Microsoft will ship Windows 7 as 64 bit only.
Q: Is Microsoft working on an operating system after Windows Vista?A: Yes. The next client version of Windows was originally codenamed “Blackcomb,” though the company renamed it to “Windows Vienna” in early 2006 and to “Windows Seven” or “Windows 7? more recently. I prefer Vienna, so I’ll continue to refer to it by that name here.
Q: Why Windows 7?Since Windows Vista is really Windows 6.0, Vienna will presumably be version 7.0.
Q: I heard that Windows Vista will be the last major OS release from Microsoft. Is that true?A: No. Windows-based PCs will continue to form the center of our digital lifestyles, and as Microsoft executives have noted in recent days, there are still plenty of areas in which Microsoft can improve Windows. Some obvious examples include voice recognition and storage.
Q: So is Vienna going to be a major Windows version?A: No. Windows Vista was a major release, and Vienna will be a relatively minor, or interim, update. Microsoft is currently on a development path where every other Windows version is a major release.
Q: When will Vienna ship?A: Microsoft currently plans to ship Vienna in 2009, about two to two and a half years after Vista. The next major release of Windows is expected two years after Vienna, in 2011. (Windows Server updates are on a similar cycle.)
Q: What features will be included in Windows Vienna?A: Microsoft hasn’t publicly committed to any features for Vienna and the company is currently still deciding what this next Windows release will look like. We do know a few things about Vienna, however: It will include a new version of Windows Explorer that is being built by the same team that designed the Ribbon user interface in Office 2007. It will likely include some form of the “Hypervisor” (Windows Virtualization) technologies that will ship shortly after Windows Server “Longhorn”. It will also likely include the WinFS (Windows Future Storage) technologies, though they won’t be packaged or branded as WinFS.
Q: That’s it?A: Remember, it’s early yet and Microsoft is being very secretive about future Windows versions. However, the company has publicly issued a bit of information about the broad capabilities it intends to include in Vienna. This information comes from a publicly-available Microsoft slide deck:
Easier. Vienna will make it easier for users to find and use information. Local, network and Internet search functionality will converge. Intuitive user experiences will be further advanced. Automated application provisioning and cross-application data transparency will be integrated.
More secure. Vienna will include improved security and legislative compliance functionality. Data protection and management will be extended to peripheral devices. Vienna will advance role-based computing scenarios and user-account management, and bridge the inherent conflicts between data protection and robust collaboration. It will also enable enterprise-wide data protection and permissions.
Better connected. Vienna will further enable the mobile workforce. It will deliver anywhere, anytime, any device access to data and applications. It will enable a robust ad-hoc collaboration experience. Wireless connectivity, management and security functionality will be expanded. The performance and functionality of current and emerging mobile hardware will be optimized. The multiple device sync, management and data protection capabilities in Windows will be extended. Finally, Vienna will enable flexible computing infrastructures including rich, thin and network-centric models.
Lower cost. Vienna will help businesses optimize their desktop infrastructure. It will enable seamless OS, application and data migration, and simplified PC provisioning and upgrading. It will further efforts towards non-disruptive application updating and patching. Vienna will include improved hardware- and software-based virtualization experiences. And it will expand the PC self-help and IT Pro problem resolution diagnostics in Windows.
Q: Will Windows Vienna be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions like Vista?A: Vienna will almost certainly ship only in 64-bit versions. This is in keeping with Microsoft’s x64 migration schedule.
Q: Will Microsoft release any Windows updates between now and Vienna?A: Yes. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1, codenamed “Fiji”) will ship simultaneously with Windows Server “Longhorn” and will include a new kernel version that makes that release up to date with the kernel version in Longhorn. Fiji will almost certainly include a revision to the Media Center software in Windows Vista as well. For these reasons, we might consider Fiji a major release for a service pack. Certainly, no previous service pack has ever included a major
Q: Is Microsoft working on an operating system after Windows Vista?A: Yes. The next client version of Windows was originally codenamed “Blackcomb,” though the company renamed it to “Windows Vienna” in early 2006 and to “Windows Seven” or “Windows 7? more recently. I prefer Vienna, so I’ll continue to refer to it by that name here.
Q: Why Windows 7?Since Windows Vista is really Windows 6.0, Vienna will presumably be version 7.0.
Q: I heard that Windows Vista will be the last major OS release from Microsoft. Is that true?A: No. Windows-based PCs will continue to form the center of our digital lifestyles, and as Microsoft executives have noted in recent days, there are still plenty of areas in which Microsoft can improve Windows. Some obvious examples include voice recognition and storage.
Q: So is Vienna going to be a major Windows version?A: No. Windows Vista was a major release, and Vienna will be a relatively minor, or interim, update. Microsoft is currently on a development path where every other Windows version is a major release.
Q: When will Vienna ship?A: Microsoft currently plans to ship Vienna in 2009, about two to two and a half years after Vista. The next major release of Windows is expected two years after Vienna, in 2011. (Windows Server updates are on a similar cycle.)
Q: What features will be included in Windows Vienna?A: Microsoft hasn’t publicly committed to any features for Vienna and the company is currently still deciding what this next Windows release will look like. We do know a few things about Vienna, however: It will include a new version of Windows Explorer that is being built by the same team that designed the Ribbon user interface in Office 2007. It will likely include some form of the “Hypervisor” (Windows Virtualization) technologies that will ship shortly after Windows Server “Longhorn”. It will also likely include the WinFS (Windows Future Storage) technologies, though they won’t be packaged or branded as WinFS.
Q: That’s it?A: Remember, it’s early yet and Microsoft is being very secretive about future Windows versions. However, the company has publicly issued a bit of information about the broad capabilities it intends to include in Vienna. This information comes from a publicly-available Microsoft slide deck:
Easier. Vienna will make it easier for users to find and use information. Local, network and Internet search functionality will converge. Intuitive user experiences will be further advanced. Automated application provisioning and cross-application data transparency will be integrated.
More secure. Vienna will include improved security and legislative compliance functionality. Data protection and management will be extended to peripheral devices. Vienna will advance role-based computing scenarios and user-account management, and bridge the inherent conflicts between data protection and robust collaboration. It will also enable enterprise-wide data protection and permissions.
Better connected. Vienna will further enable the mobile workforce. It will deliver anywhere, anytime, any device access to data and applications. It will enable a robust ad-hoc collaboration experience. Wireless connectivity, management and security functionality will be expanded. The performance and functionality of current and emerging mobile hardware will be optimized. The multiple device sync, management and data protection capabilities in Windows will be extended. Finally, Vienna will enable flexible computing infrastructures including rich, thin and network-centric models.
Lower cost. Vienna will help businesses optimize their desktop infrastructure. It will enable seamless OS, application and data migration, and simplified PC provisioning and upgrading. It will further efforts towards non-disruptive application updating and patching. Vienna will include improved hardware- and software-based virtualization experiences. And it will expand the PC self-help and IT Pro problem resolution diagnostics in Windows.
Q: Will Windows Vienna be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions like Vista?A: Vienna will almost certainly ship only in 64-bit versions. This is in keeping with Microsoft’s x64 migration schedule.
Q: Will Microsoft release any Windows updates between now and Vienna?A: Yes. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1, codenamed “Fiji”) will ship simultaneously with Windows Server “Longhorn” and will include a new kernel version that makes that release up to date with the kernel version in Longhorn. Fiji will almost certainly include a revision to the Media Center software in Windows Vista as well. For these reasons, we might consider Fiji a major release for a service pack. Certainly, no previous service pack has ever included a major
Will Windows 7 Be The First x64 Only Windows Client?
This is the question on everyone’s lips at the moment. There has been some differing reports on it floating around the internet, it’s hard to tell who is right until an official statement is made. And I bet it’s a hot topic in many of the meetings that will be attending right now. This previous post talks about why should we bother moving to x64 right now? And it’s true; there is no main driver in migrating to x64 for the everyday Windows user just now. In fact it’s just a headache with some applications not being supported. And while Microsoft continue to support x86, it will continue to be the same. In fact, the only reason people would feel compelled to jump to x64 just now would be a specific application requiring more than 4GB of memory space……how many applications are going to boast to being that hungry for memory?So Microsoft will be mulling this over again….back to the drawing board. Do we make Windows 7 x86 compatible or draw the line in the sand?
I think you can bet your bottom dollar that Microsoft has this exact conversation with the banking establishments and in the end x86 Windows 7 hit’s the shelf in the coming years.
The great x64/x86 debate is quite comparable to the TCP/IP v4/v6 one. TCP/IP v6 might offer great scalability, greater this and great that. But at the end of the day it’s going to both cost a lot of people a lot of time and money to adopt it for what would seem negligible benefits on the most part. On the other side of the coin you can see why Exchange 2007 benefits from x64 architecture, it’s a resource hungry application, but until we see those kind of stakes on the desktop, don’t expect to be using those x64 instructions on your processor anytime soon….if at all.
Goodbye, ‘Vienna.’ Hello ‘Windows 7'
It’s February 1: The first “official” day of the Steven Sinofsky Windows era.
Yes, I know Senior Vice President of Windows and Windows Live Engineering Sinofsky has been working on Windows Vista and Windows Live for the past several months. His re-org stamp is already visible on a number of divisions and projects. But given that January 31 was former Windows chief Jim Allchin’s last day, I’m counting today as the first day of the new post-Allchin Windows world.
That means, for one, it’s time to move beyond the vista-themed family of codenames and begin using the more boring and sanitized ones that we’re all going to have to get used to, going forward.
First off, it’s time to stop with the “Vienna” stuff. Those in the know need to start using “Windows 7? to refer to the next full-fledged version of Windows client. (Why 7? I guess because it follows NT 6.0?)
Not so coincidentally, numbers are back in vogue — like they are on the Office side of the house, which, as Microsoft watchers have known for a while, is working on “Office 14? (not “13? — bad luck), the next version of Office.
What other changes are in store from the new Windows regime? Over in my regular Redmond Magazine column, I mention (tongue planted in cheek … sort of) a few of the ways Microsoft could and might make Windows development and testing more like that done by the Office unit.
Among my suggestions:
* Stop talking about unreleased products. Don’t share publicly a list of promised features/functionality before the product is totally locked down. Punish transgressors both inside and outside the company.
* Cease sharing any information about delivery milestones or dates. Never talking about ship targets means never having to say you’re sorry.
* Ban historical references. Anyone mentioning “WinFS,” “Cairo” or “Hailstorm” gets put in the penalty box.
Other changes you’re expecting in the brave new Windows world?
Yes, I know Senior Vice President of Windows and Windows Live Engineering Sinofsky has been working on Windows Vista and Windows Live for the past several months. His re-org stamp is already visible on a number of divisions and projects. But given that January 31 was former Windows chief Jim Allchin’s last day, I’m counting today as the first day of the new post-Allchin Windows world.
That means, for one, it’s time to move beyond the vista-themed family of codenames and begin using the more boring and sanitized ones that we’re all going to have to get used to, going forward.
First off, it’s time to stop with the “Vienna” stuff. Those in the know need to start using “Windows 7? to refer to the next full-fledged version of Windows client. (Why 7? I guess because it follows NT 6.0?)
Not so coincidentally, numbers are back in vogue — like they are on the Office side of the house, which, as Microsoft watchers have known for a while, is working on “Office 14? (not “13? — bad luck), the next version of Office.
What other changes are in store from the new Windows regime? Over in my regular Redmond Magazine column, I mention (tongue planted in cheek … sort of) a few of the ways Microsoft could and might make Windows development and testing more like that done by the Office unit.
Among my suggestions:
* Stop talking about unreleased products. Don’t share publicly a list of promised features/functionality before the product is totally locked down. Punish transgressors both inside and outside the company.
* Cease sharing any information about delivery milestones or dates. Never talking about ship targets means never having to say you’re sorry.
* Ban historical references. Anyone mentioning “WinFS,” “Cairo” or “Hailstorm” gets put in the penalty box.
Other changes you’re expecting in the brave new Windows world?
Microsoft: Vista follow-up likely in 2009
With Vista just out the door, Microsoft is now drawing up plans to deliver its follow-up client operating system by the end of 2009, according to the executive in charge of building the product’s core components.
That would be a much faster turn-around than Vista, which shipped more than five years after Windows XP, but Vista was exceptional, said Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft’s Windows Core Operating System Division this week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Microsoft originally planned for its XP follow-up to include a number of radical changes to Windows, including a new file system and a reinvented user interface, but after the company’s products were hit by widespread worm outbreaks in 2003, Microsoft redirected almost its entire engineering effort to locking down Windows with the XP Service Pack 2 release.
“We put Longhorn on the back burner for awhile,” Fathi said. “Then when we came back to it, we realized that there were incremental things that we wanted to do, and significant improvements that we wanted to make in Vista that we couldn’t deliver in one release.”
Vista shipped about two-and-a-half years after XP SP 2, and Vista’s follow-up is expected to take about the same amount of time, according to Fathi. “You can think roughly two, two-and-a-half years is a reasonable time frame that our partners can depend on and can work with,” he said. “That’s a good timeframe for refresh.”
That time line would put Microsoft’s next client operating system out by the end of 2009.
Last year, Microsoft said that the code name for this Vista follow-up is Vienna, but Fathi said he could not disclose the current name. “We’ve been told not to use it publicly,” he said.
So what will be the coolest new feature in Vienna?
According to Fathi, that’s still being worked out. “We’re going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe its hypervisors, I don’t know what it is,” he said. “Maybe it’s a new user interface paradigm for consumers.”
“It’s too early for me to talk about it,” he added. “But over the next few months I think you’re going to start hearing more and more.”
That would be a much faster turn-around than Vista, which shipped more than five years after Windows XP, but Vista was exceptional, said Ben Fathi, corporate vice president of development with Microsoft’s Windows Core Operating System Division this week at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Microsoft originally planned for its XP follow-up to include a number of radical changes to Windows, including a new file system and a reinvented user interface, but after the company’s products were hit by widespread worm outbreaks in 2003, Microsoft redirected almost its entire engineering effort to locking down Windows with the XP Service Pack 2 release.
“We put Longhorn on the back burner for awhile,” Fathi said. “Then when we came back to it, we realized that there were incremental things that we wanted to do, and significant improvements that we wanted to make in Vista that we couldn’t deliver in one release.”
Vista shipped about two-and-a-half years after XP SP 2, and Vista’s follow-up is expected to take about the same amount of time, according to Fathi. “You can think roughly two, two-and-a-half years is a reasonable time frame that our partners can depend on and can work with,” he said. “That’s a good timeframe for refresh.”
That time line would put Microsoft’s next client operating system out by the end of 2009.
Last year, Microsoft said that the code name for this Vista follow-up is Vienna, but Fathi said he could not disclose the current name. “We’ve been told not to use it publicly,” he said.
So what will be the coolest new feature in Vienna?
According to Fathi, that’s still being worked out. “We’re going to look at a fundamental piece of enabling technology. Maybe its hypervisors, I don’t know what it is,” he said. “Maybe it’s a new user interface paradigm for consumers.”
“It’s too early for me to talk about it,” he added. “But over the next few months I think you’re going to start hearing more and more.”
What’s holding you back from going down the 64-bit road?
A week ago George Ou made a very good post which took an objective look at choosing between x86 32-bit edition or x64 64-bit edition of Windows Vista. It’s a good post and if you’ve not read it yet, I encourage you to do so. But there’s one point that George didn’t consider - why aren’t computer users who could run a 64-bit OS (that is, they have drivers for everything in place already) not already doing so?
I think that the reason can be summed up by two words - why bother.
Seriously, while there might be advantages to making the leap from a x86 32-bit operating system to an x64 64-bit OS for servers or certain specialized workstations, for the average desktop user, there’s little or no advantage. Sure, you can boost the amount of RAM that you can utilize from 4GB all the way up to 128GB, but how many desktop or notebook users need more than 4GB of RAM?
On a side note, I’d suggest that for best performance that you double the amount of RAM that you fit into a system that’s going to run a 64-bit OS, so if you’re been used to running Vista 32-bit with 1GB of RAM, boost that to 2GB when running a 64-bit OS.
Nope, while the 64-bit road is open to all that have the right hardware (and compatible drivers), but there’s little in the way of incentive to take it. While all your existing hardware might be compatible, you never know when you’re going to pick up a scanner or printer that’s not compatible, and then you have some serious headaches.
But (there’s always a but), even if you’re not planning on making the jump to 64-bit right now, it’s time to start planning for the future. There’s already a good chance that the next version of Windows (Vienna, Windows 7, whatever you want to call it) will ship as 64-bit only so slowly eliminating hardware that doesn’t have 64-bit drivers might be a good idea (although if take-up of 64-bit Vista remains low, and hardware manufacturers continue to ignore x64, Vienna might also come in 32- and 64-bit flavors after all).
Oh, and it’s also worth bearing in mind that this isn’t something that only Windows users need to think about. 64-bit Linux distros are widespread. The 64-bit desktop PC is certainly coming, it’s just hard to know when.
Thoughts? Are you already using a 64-bit OS on desktop systems? Do you have any plans to make the switch? Are you eliminating hardware that has 32-bit only drivers in preparation for future migration?
I think that the reason can be summed up by two words - why bother.
Seriously, while there might be advantages to making the leap from a x86 32-bit operating system to an x64 64-bit OS for servers or certain specialized workstations, for the average desktop user, there’s little or no advantage. Sure, you can boost the amount of RAM that you can utilize from 4GB all the way up to 128GB, but how many desktop or notebook users need more than 4GB of RAM?
On a side note, I’d suggest that for best performance that you double the amount of RAM that you fit into a system that’s going to run a 64-bit OS, so if you’re been used to running Vista 32-bit with 1GB of RAM, boost that to 2GB when running a 64-bit OS.
Nope, while the 64-bit road is open to all that have the right hardware (and compatible drivers), but there’s little in the way of incentive to take it. While all your existing hardware might be compatible, you never know when you’re going to pick up a scanner or printer that’s not compatible, and then you have some serious headaches.
But (there’s always a but), even if you’re not planning on making the jump to 64-bit right now, it’s time to start planning for the future. There’s already a good chance that the next version of Windows (Vienna, Windows 7, whatever you want to call it) will ship as 64-bit only so slowly eliminating hardware that doesn’t have 64-bit drivers might be a good idea (although if take-up of 64-bit Vista remains low, and hardware manufacturers continue to ignore x64, Vienna might also come in 32- and 64-bit flavors after all).
Oh, and it’s also worth bearing in mind that this isn’t something that only Windows users need to think about. 64-bit Linux distros are widespread. The 64-bit desktop PC is certainly coming, it’s just hard to know when.
Thoughts? Are you already using a 64-bit OS on desktop systems? Do you have any plans to make the switch? Are you eliminating hardware that has 32-bit only drivers in preparation for future migration?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
