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Ask Slashdot: Best 32-Bit Windows System In 2012?

Posted by timothy on from the looking-backwards-fondly dept.

First time accepted submitter justthinkit writes "I have a number of applications that will not run on 64-bit Windows, but I would like to gain the benefits (most better caching) of having more than 4GB of RAM. Am I stuck with these Windows operating systems? And why is Windows Server 2008 Datacenter and Enterprise not included on that page? Should I go with a Linux or Win 7/8 system, and run a VM of Windows XP? Is this a solved problem or a lost cause?"

6 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Windows 7 compatibility mode by pak9rabid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What's wrong with running Windows 7 x64, and running your 32-bit applications in compatibility mode?

    1. Re:Windows 7 compatibility mode by Spad · · Score: 5, Informative

      Or they have shoddy legacy code that checks for 64-bit systems and refuses to run on them in the same way that a lot of older websites still keep insisting that you upgrade to IE6 in order to view them in their full glory because someone did a != instead of a =

    2. Re:Windows 7 compatibility mode by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      For all you know he's got a 15 year old piece of industrial kit that needs 15 year old software to interface with it. Assembly line equipment maybe, oil drilling gear, CNC stuff, who the hell knows. A lot of this stuff is unsupported or the original vendor has vanished. Maybe this hardware still has years of life left in it, and the replacement value could be in the millions.

  2. Depends on the 3D by Krneki · · Score: 5, Informative

    Do you need 3D accelerated graphics? If not, VM is the way to go. Just RDP to the machine and do what you have to do.

    --
    Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
  3. Your answers with as much detail as you provided. by djsmiley · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Yes
    2. Dunno
    3. Yes
    4. Yes
    5.... errm yes?

    --
    - http://www.milkme.co.uk
  4. Windows 7 x64 with XP Mode by TrekkieTechie · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was briefly mentioned earlier, but I wanted to state clearly and concisely:

    Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate all include licensing for Windows XP Mode, a 32-bit virtualized instance of Windows XP SP3. It is an additional download (actually a couple downloads), but it is free. I use it every day at work (on my 64-bit Win7 machine) to run a 16-bit app that was written in 1992, while I wait for that app's replacement to be written. It works perfectly, in fact much better than VirtualBox did for the same use case (there was laggy/odd redrawing issues with VirtualBox, no matter how many resources I allocated to the virtual machine).