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Microsoft To Dump 32-Bit After Vista

SlinkySausage writes "Microsoft has used its annual hardware engineering conference to announce that Windows Vista and Server 2008 will be the last versions of Windows capable of booting on 32-bit CPUs such as Intel Pentium 4 and Core Duo. AMD, which introduced 64-bit CPUs early — much to the derision of Intel, which said there was no use for them at the time — must be delighted with Microsoft's decision. Owners of first-generation Intel Macs that used (32-bit only) Core Duo CPUs may not be so happy knowing that Vista will be the last Windows they will be able to run."

11 of 527 comments (clear)

  1. as the owner of a first gen intel mac.... by catbutt · · Score: 5, Funny

    ....I assure you, I'll be alright.

  2. New operating system by Mantaman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean that MS are going to inflict another operating system on us in the near future?

    1. Re:New operating system by timelorde · · Score: 5, Funny


      Depends on what your definition of "near" is...

    2. Re:New operating system by An+ominous+Cow+art · · Score: 5, Funny

      Also depends on what your definition of "new" is...

    3. Re:New operating system by Mercano · · Score: 4, Funny

      Also depends on what your definition of "operating system" is...

      --
      #include <signature.h>
    4. Re:New operating system by mypalmike · · Score: 4, Funny

      Most importantly, it depends on what your definition of "operating" is.

      --
      There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
    5. Re:New operating system by PHPfanboy · · Score: 4, Funny

      .... so we have no disagreement that it will be inflicted

      --
      29 mpg. YMMV.
  3. Re:Is there a tangible reason to drop 32-Bit? by 19thNervousBreakdown · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... a 16-Bit dictionary.

    Abridged, I assume?

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    <xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
  4. I suppose that's possible... but by anss123 · · Score: 5, Funny

    But running an emulator just for a quick game of Missile Command, Asteroids, Centipede, Battlezone, tempest, Tetris, etc, etc, is annoying.

    The other day I put Win 3.11 up against Windows Vista at Chess. Just to clarify I played Chess Titans up against Chess.exe from the Microsoft Entertainment pack, at expert level.

    With Vista being the newcomer Titan's got to play first. After about 30 seconds of thinking, Vista made it's _first_ move, in which chess.exe responded to immediately. From there a furious battle across the board started, with chess.exe taking more and more time to think along the way.

    After about a half an hour of playtime the game ended with Windows 3.11 crashing, In some sort of ironic twist, one move from checkmating.. Vista.

    Heh.

    Chess.exe might have had an advantage in that it is thinking on the opponents turn, but I'm still surprised Chess Titans was beat out by a fifteen year old program made for a computer a thousand times slower. Go Microsoft!

  5. Re:Vista's replacement has a name!!! by Hotawa+Hawk-eye · · Score: 4, Funny

    I heard Vista's successor was named Microsoft Windows Forever. It was supposed to be out last month, but they decided to rewrite it to use a new engine. Shouldn't be long now ...

  6. Re:Sure... by SEMW · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is this really an issue? I mean, isn't XP Pro the last reasonably respectible OS Microsoft made? 2007

    Yes.

    2002

    What? Windows XP Pro is crap, bloated, and has ridiculous hardware requirements. Wasting system resources on a Fisher-price UI? No thanks! 2000 is the last reasonably respectible OS Microsoft has made.

    2000

    Windows 2000? I think not -- it requires 64MB of RAM for god's sake; and recommends 128MB! Who has that much RAM? Bloated piece of crap. 98 is the last reasonably respectible OS Microsoft has made.

    1996

    Windows 98? I think not! It barely does more than Windows 95 did, but have you seen how much bigger the sysreqs are due to bloated crap like active desktop and IE4? No, 95 is the last reasonably respectible OS Microsoft has made.

    1995

    No, Windows 95 is crap, bloated, and has ridiculous hardware requirements. Can you believe it needs a 32-bit CPU? What applications need 32-bit, anyway? None! Bigger isn't always better, you know; and that's certainly true for 32bit/16bit. 3.11 is the last reasonably respectible OS Microsoft has made.

    1992

    Windows 3.11? Crap, bloated, and has ridiculous hardware requirements. What use is a GUI, anyway? I can do things faster at the command line. Give me MS-DOS 5 and-day.

    1991

    MS-DOS 5? Crap, bloated, and has ridiculous hardware requirements. COMMAND.COM is over 47kB, can you believe it? I long for the good old days of 2.0 and 3.0.

    1983

    MS-DOS 2/3? Bah. Who needs the bloat? Give me something lean and mean like CP/M any say.

    1976

    CP/M? A general purpose operating system? Who needs it? Everyone knows it's more efficient to have different machines to do different tasks. Do one thing and do it well, I say.

    etc., etc.
    --
    What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.