On Friday, 16 December 2011 at 12:14:50 UTC, a wrote:
Jakob Ovrum Wrote:
On Friday, 16 December 2011 at 09:56:47 UTC, Jonathan M Davis
wrote:
> considering that there are no x86 chips sold these days
> which aren't x86_64, I find it rather baffling that
> Microsoft even sells a 32-bit version of Windows.
This is simply not true. I don't know about processors sold
separately, but many netbooks and laptops still come with 32
bit processors.
New laptops and netbooks don't. Even recent (less than two
years old) versions of intel atom are x86_64.
The keyword here is "sold", and besides, IA32 is still extremely
common on cheap netbooks and laptops, even some recent models.
The Atom line having 64 bit models doesn't mean a whole lot for
the present reality.
32-bit x86 is definitely disappearing, but there is a long road
ahead and 32 bit x86 is still ubiquitous.
And I bet if you counted all the offices using Windows around the
world, you'd find the vast majority of them using 32-bit
hardware. There's no reason Microsoft shouldn't offer upgrade
opportunities for that userbase as long as their new OS' work
fine on old hardware.
