64 Bit technology has been around for some months now so we should be able to use it in general apps – should we not? – answer is NOT.
A few weeks back I thought I would give the new 64 bit technology a go and bought a 64 bit CPU and motherboard and the M$ Windows Xp Pro 64 edition – I am now very sorry I did that. Most of the 32 bit software will not run on the system, the 64 bit Windows will not allow it to be loaded, and the same with most drivers.
My M$ 5 button Intellimouse with the very latest drivers can not work properly as there are no 64 bit drivers for it (and no info as to how long before there will be) and the M$ Windows automatically over rules any 32 bit drivers with any 64 bit generic driver in its database that is within 10 lightyears of the one needed, thus the reboot sees the 32 bit driver dumped as being defective and a generic 64 bit 3 button mouse driver loaded. And I cannot force the system to run the 32 bit software.
I have exactly three programs that run perfectly within the M$ Windows XP Pro 64 edition – M$ Office 2003, Firefox and Thunderbird. Forte Agent, Starcraft Broodwar, and Diablo II LoD work at an acceptable level – about on par with my old Win 98 system; and not as well as within WINE on Fedora Core 4 on a 32 bit P4.
I will shortly be trying Fedora Core 4 on the system – it cannot be any worse than the MS Windows.