The Computer Buzz

September 3rd, 2009

Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
 

What About 64-bit?

The PC industry thrives on change. For many years their “planned obsolescence” kept us buying new computers every two to three years. It was driven by the rapidly evolving technology in CPUs, memories, and all the other hardware that make up PCs. Operating systems (OS) began to drive the obsolescence in the mid 90s. Every three years Microsoft brought out a new OS and the entire PC industry experienced a surge in hardware and software sales. Then came Vista.

XP had been around for five years when Vista was released in early 2007. Microsoft knew it was in trouble from the outset. Vista offered no significant tangible benefits. It was slower than XP and had compatibility issues with common use software and drivers. Microsoft released Vista anyway. The major PC sellers immediately switched to Vista. The whole industry tried to force users to accept Vista. The result? Now 2 1/2 years later, XP still dominates with 67% of the installed base and Apple has increased its market share by 50%.

Why did Microsoft do it? They simply believed that they could force users to accept anything they produced. They forgot the lesson of Windows ME.

Had the public accepted Vista, the industry would have experienced a wave of new peripheral sales and software upgrades. Since Vista failed to catch on, the entire industry suffered. Now Microsoft is ready to introduce Windows 7. Win 7 is really Vista service pack II. Wary of repeating the Vista disaster with Win 7, Microsoft has a secret weapon. The 64-bit OS.

In the past couple of months the PC industry has quietly converted to the 64-bit OS (operating system). All but entry level PCs on retail shelves today are equipped with the 64-bit Vista OS. When Win 7 is introduced in October we will see the same plan. People are buying these 64-bit Vista PCs without knowing that their software and peripherals may not be 64-bit compatible. Many will be forced to upgrade hardware and software in order to accommodate the 64-bit OS. In addition, the PC industry has been slow to rewrite software and drivers for the 64-bit OS. This will light a fire under those companies that have lagged in developing 64-bit support software.

This is a good thing. It will force the entire PC industry to adopt 64-bit programming and that will eventually pay dividends in making PC faster and more capable. We feel that the PC industry is about a year short of providing adequate support for any 64-bit OS. We advise our business and home customers, whether they buy new or upgrade existing PCs, stay with XP for at least the next 12 months.

Over 60% of our customers are small to medium businesses. Many of our home users are seniors. These two groups tend to have no nonsense attitudes toward their PC systems. They simply don’t like be forced to change the way they do things on their computers, especially when the changes offer no benefits. We’re on their