I don't think the availability of 64 bits computers at a site would be much of a problem for the kind of applications that may benefit from 64 bit applications! 64 bits are only useful for scientific applications that need to process whooping chunks of unstructured data (pictures?) or for applications that might be harmed by memory address space fragmentation (can't imagine an good example for this one). I'm sure anyone dealing with +2Gb of application data (again, read +2Gb uncompressed images) is already using 64 bits so they can load the PC with more RAM.
The kind of applications used in most offices will never benefit from 64 bits. Office will never benefit from 64 bits and indeed, there's no 64 bit Office yet! (I'm using Office 2007 on a Vista 64 machines and I can clearly see in Task Manager that Outlook is a 32 bit application, not 64 bit). An accounting application will never benefit from 64 bits: I don't think an invoice will ever reach 1Gb in size. Also switching from 32 bit to 64 bit will be a huge jump for any developer, one that shouldn't be made unless there are clear benefits for the given application (not because "that's the trend"). Don't know about your coding style, but most of my applications would fail if my compiler would suddenly have SizeOf(Integer) <> SizeOf(Pointer). My applications would also be harmed by "SizeOf(char) = 2" as would be the case if strings turn Unicode but that's something I'm willing to go through, as my application's gui is in Romanian (ie: not English) so I've got a lot of problems with locales and non-English characters. This is why I consider 64 bit support a low priority and this is why I consider its inclusion as soon as the second half of next year to be "early" not "late". -- Cosmin Prund > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Ross Levis > Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2007 1:01 PM > To: 'Borland's Delphi Discussion List' > Subject: RE: Delphi RoadMap has been published > > I agree. 64-bit apps will only really be useful for developers writing > software for a specific firm who have decided to upgrade all their PC's > to > 64-bit. It's going to take a few years before more than 50% of PC's > out > there are 64-bit, so in the meantime you would have to provide both 32- > bit > and 64-bit compiles of your app, or just stick with 32 bit which runs > fine > on both platforms. > > I know of a high profile Windows 16-bit cashbook app that is still for > sale > and selling strongly after 15 years. Now that Microsoft decided to > stop > support for 16 bit apps in it's 64-bit O/S, they will have to move on > to 32 > bit. > > Ross. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf > Of Cosmin Prund > Sent: Friday, 22 June 2007 22:32 > To: Borland's Delphi Discussion List > Subject: RE: Delphi RoadMap has been published > > IMHO 64 bits is not really far away, it's actually closer than > expected! > I mean - the market for applications that specifically need 64 bits is > really, really narrow. And the 64 bit Windows is really far from what > it > should be. > > On the other hand, considering Vista's hunger for memory, 64 bit > Windows > will be used more and more, by more people, and that will create more > traction for it. I'm personally using Vista 64 bit so I can have +4Gb > RAM in my host system, so I can run a +2Gb XP 32Bit Virtual Machine - > and it's a pain, drivers are pour quality (if they exist at all). And I > learned the hard way that "supports all Windows versions, including > Vista" never means "Includes Vista/XP 64 bit support". > > I consider proper Unicode support in the VCL and generics to be much > more important features! > For me, 64 bit goes into the same category as dot NET: good technology > to be used at some distant point in time. > > Just my 2 cents, > Cosmin Prund > > _______________________________________________ > Delphi mailing list -> [email protected] > http://www.elists.org/mailman/listinfo/delphi _______________________________________________ Delphi mailing list -> [email protected] http://www.elists.org/mailman/listinfo/delphi
