Are 64-bit operating systems ready for the desktop?
I’ve been asking myself this for a while now. 64-bit has been a standard for several years now and still computers are sold with 32-bit operating systems. Why is this?
The only reliable 64-bit OS I’ve used was my MacBook Pro which I sold. It worked and I never really had any driver issues with it. So why are PC’s still sold with XP or Vista 32-bit. XP and Vista both have 64-bit versions and still vendors don’t supply decent drivers. Why? It makes me almost mad to be using a 64-bit OS only to notice I can’t get this or that working on it since there are no drivers. Which naturally makes me ask, has Linux passed Windows in hardware compatibility when it comes to 64-bit?
I recently got my Lenovo X200s and it came with Windows Vista business 32-bit. I ran it for a while but since it had 4Gb of RAM I wanted to try out Vista Enterprise 64-bit. Vista 64 has been a ride of ups and downs. The Intel graphics controller driver keeps crashing, even after several updates and the one thing I miss the most is my Targus USB-to-Serial cable. As I work with network appliances I need a serial connection and these days it’s almost impossible to get a serial port in a laptop so the fallback is a usb-to-serial cable. Targus does not supply 64-bit drivers for the cable so I have to keep an old IBM T42 for this purpose.
What is it that makes the normally fast moving computer industry to keep on feeding the 32-bit OS? Is it really to much to ask to get drivers for my 64-bit OS?
Do you have similar feelings or does your 64-bit computer work like a charm? Please comment.
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Comments
I actually tried to adopt 64-bit Vista at work. Unfortunately, I had to downgrade to 32-bit after I had all sorts of issues with older printer drivers. The drivers were only a few years old, but the manufacturer did not release 64-bit versions. I am running 64-bit Vista at home without any issues so far. Of course the software requirements are smaller and I tend to keep newer tech at home than at work.
I use XP X64 on my home PC, and have had very few problems. The most frequent problem I’ve encountered is with programs not recognizing it as XP. Bad programming. Most 32-bit stuff works great, and the 64-bit programs are very zippy.
Jason, let’s hope Windows 7 does this better. I can’t imagine the problems we might have at work if we migrated our computers to Vista.
Quadglacier, I haven’t tried XP 64 but Vista 64 mostly runs fine on a home PC, since the use is quite different from a business computer.