Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 18th Aug 2009 18:46 UTC
Even though Apple has been hyping up the 64bit nature of its ucpoming Snow Leopard operating system, stating it will be the first Mac OS X release to be 64bit top-to-bottom, reality turns out to be a little bit different so far. With the current Snow Leopard seed, only Xserve users get the 64bit kernel and drivers - all other Macs default to 32bit. By holding down the '6' and '4' keys during boot, you can to boot into full 64bit mode - that is, if your Mac supports it. As it turns out, some Macs with 64bit processors cannot use the 64bit kernel because the EFI is 32bit. Note: I should have included in the article that 64bit applications will run just fine (including benefits) on a 32bit kernel in Mac OS X. Since this was already possible in Leopard, I assumed people were well aware of that. Turns out some were not, so my apologies for that.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
So, currently 3rd party people and companies have only had a few months to get their apps converted to 64 bit.
I bet companies like HP with their printer drivers and companies that make audio drivers for third part devices haven't fully gotten their drivers to 64 bit yet. So what is Apple to do? Turn everything to 64 bit with a magic wand that fixes all 3rd party drivers?
Obviously that isn't going to happen so they do the next best thing. They make their "from the ground up 64 bit OS" boot in 32 bit mode until most of the companies get their act right and then one day, without the user knowing it, the next time they do an update their computer will magically boot up in 64 bit mode and ... everything will appear to be exactly like it was when it booted in 32 bit mode.
The only ones that will truly notice are those that use apps with large amounts of memory. And then only a little bit. Only once 64 bit has been around a bit (no pun there) longer and companies take more advance of OpenCL and so forth will you see things really start to ramp up with speed and effects.
Personally I can't wait to see what happens in iMovie (sorry I'm not a pro at video or audio) and other apps. But I bet developers, now that they've gotten their apps to 64 bit mode, will be able to start taking advantage of that.
Meanwhile, Windows 64 and Linux 64 bit still are not polished either. I wouldn't go bragging about being fully 64 bit. I have friends that have cough cough Vista 64 bit and now Windows 7 (which sucks less than Vista for sure) and there are definitely issues with 64 drivers or lack of them.
Nothing to brad about there. By the way. What is the rating for 64 bit Windows and Linux right now?
Yes I use a Mac. I also like eComstation and Haiku (coming out in Alpha soon to a computer near you). Mac is something I use. It's a tool. So is my camera, and screw driver, and car and ... get a life Windows people.