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Facebook Goes To 64 Bit User IDs

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the internet-users-on-mars-or-europa-can-expect-to-sign-up-soon dept.

NewsCloud writes "Facebook has announced to developers that they are moving to a 64 bit user ID in November. At 32 bits, the current ID allows nearly 4.3 billion user accounts. Yet, despite having only 47 million users today, Facebook's move to 64 bits will allow it to have more than 18 quintillion (18,446,744,074,000,000,000) user accounts. Of course, there are currently only about 6.5 billion people in the world. Is Facebook setting their sights beyond Earth or just trying to avoid what happened when Slashdot ran out of space for comment IDs last year. Perhaps they are planning to implement personas."

24 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. Facebook? by Gabest · · Score: 1, Funny

    Never heard of it, but I already want my own account, or two.

  2. Reminds me of a Facebook group by langelgjm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reminds me of a Facebook group: "If this group reaches 4,294,967,296 it might cause an integer overflow."

    --
    "Anyone who [rips a CD] is probably engaging in copyright infringement." - David O. Carson
    1. Re:Reminds me of a Facebook group by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 3, Funny

      "If this group reaches 4,294,967,296 it might cause an integer overflow."

      Obviously that group number wasn't computed using Excel.

      --
      "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  3. Facebook loners rejoice! by Bruce+McBruce · · Score: 5, Funny

    You can be your own 5000 best friends.

    1. Re:Facebook loners rejoice! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're assuming I can stand myself...

  4. Population growth by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 3, Funny

    Facebook's move to 64 bits will allow it to have more than 18 quintillion (18,446,744,074,000,000,000) user accounts. Of course, there are currently only about 6.5 billion people in the world. Is Facebook setting their sights beyond Earth ...?
    My assumption is that Facebook is betting on the success of the Vatican's campaign against birth control. I just cannot imagine extra terrestrials being willing to put up with the multi-year latency required to post and retrieve photos from an earth-based server.
    1. Re:Population growth by foobsr · · Score: 2, Funny

      I just cannot imagine extra terrestrials being willing to put up with the multi-year latency required to post and retrieve photos from an earth-based server.

      They have invented instant messaging.

      CC.

      --
      TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
  5. thank god by friedman101 · · Score: 5, Funny

    finally I can register my bacteria colony!!

    staphylococcus aureus #19392133943904 is in a relationship with staphylococcus caprae #93939394839483934

    1. Re:thank god by Firehed · · Score: 5, Funny

      What the hell? That's my S. caprae, the dirty slut!

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    2. Re:thank god by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Can germs get V.D.?

  6. Two-Faced by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clearly this is meant to accommodate two-faced people, people of multi-faced discrimination, and Hexadecimal.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
  7. i for one. by sh3l1 · · Score: 2, Funny

    I for one will take go with Facebook's initiative to welcome our new alien overlords who will certainly see Facebook's superiority to Myspace.

    --
    Help Me! I'm trapped in the tubes! Oh noes! Here comes a internet!
  8. Re:News? by Joe+U · · Score: 5, Funny

    HTML, not [i][b]BBCode[/b][/i]. OK?

  9. Spammers by kryten250 · · Score: 2, Funny

    They have to do something, what with all those pretty girls wanting to get to know me and give me private shows...

    --
    FlyingPizzas.com, for the tasteful hermit
    1. Re:Spammers by dricci · · Score: 4, Funny

      I think you're confusing Facebook with MySpace, which doesn't have this problem as they appear to still use a flat-file database updated in notepad.

  10. I guess they believed the hype by pushing-robot · · Score: 3, Funny

    64 bits are WAY FASTER than 32 bits!

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  11. Re:News? by larry+bagina · · Score: 2, Funny

    or at least change the name from firehose to high velocity diarrhea.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  12. but... by RockoTDF · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...is it backwards compatible with web 1.0...?

    --
    There is more to science than physics!

    www.iomalfunction.blogspot.com
  13. Finally by Romicron · · Score: 2, Funny

    Finally, a little sensitivity for those of us with DID [wikipedia.org]

  14. No worries by CSMatt · · Score: 2, Funny

    We can all just join "If this group reaches 18,446,744,073,709,551,616, it WILL cause an overflow"

  15. This is the dumbest article... by ChronosWS · · Score: 2, Funny

    So they changed the column type of userId from INT32 to INT64. Who gives a fuck? It would be much less expensive for Slashdot to simply post SQL change logs than to have editors on the clock.

    We need the ability to mod stories, so that the editors can more clearly see when they aren't doing their job.

  16. In other news... by suv4x4 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I just changed the type of column "content" on my blog from "text" to "mediumtext". I'm ready to give a press conference as to the reason behind my decision to all interested.

  17. Re:It's funny. Laugh. by msormune · · Score: 2, Funny

    Geeks get lost in the details, because it's their job to get lost in the details, and find their way out. Suits manage the bigger picture. If a geek starts to worry about the big picture, he/she is in danger of becomng a suit :)

  18. Re:getting pussy goes 64 bit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Mod Correction: gay == flamerbait

    so close