The consumer has been largely oblivious to the resolution of their OS, or the rev olution within: browse any of the major PC ranges, such as those of Dell or HP, and you'll find the 64-bit version of Window s 7 installed by default. Sales of 64-bit Windows operating systems now outstrip 32-bit ones by about four to one. Recent sales figures (from the second quarter of 2010) indicate that about half of the Windows 7 installations in use are 64-bit, and this is increasing all the time. Like Vista, Windows 7 shipped last year with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Mac OS X caught up in 2007 with 10.5 'Leopard', and in 2009, OS 10.6 'Snow Leopard' introduced Apple's 64-bit kernel as default, with all the included applications migrated to 64-bit native. It triumphed over the XP version because of its ability to run 32-bit applications within theĦ4-bit environment. The first sign of a workable 64-bit OS came with the release of Vista in 2006, which shipped with both 32-bit and 64-bit versions in the retail box. At around the same time, Apple offered command-line access to 64-bit processing through OS 10.4 'Tiger', but no one really noticed. There was no 32-bit emulation mode, so if it wasn't a fully coded 64-bit application, it wouldn't run. On the OS side, Microsoft released Window s XP Prof essional 圆4 Edition in 2005 to take advantage of the 64-bit hardware, but very few hardware drivers were av ailable, and compatible application software was virtually non-exist ent. Intel followed suit a year later, and since then all desktop architecture has been more or less 64-bit compatible. On the hardware side, 64-bit processors have been around for decades, but it wasn't until AMD introduced the Opteron and Athlon 64 in 2003 that they made it into the mainstream desktop. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() To take full advantage of a 64-bit environment means to run 64-bit native applications on a 64-bit processor within a 64-bit OS. W e'll also look at how to manage the transition, mixing 32-bit and 64-bit applications, and ask manufacturers about the challenges involv ed. In this article we'll be looking at the advantages of the 64-bit environment and running some tests to show what this could mean for audio production software. 64-bit platforms, the time has come to dig around and consider the promises.
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