Comments on: Going 64-Bit: A Cautionary Tale

By: 6 Reasons to Choose A2Hosting | Reich Consulting

6 Reasons to Choose A2Hosting | Reich Consulting — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:17:52 +0000

[...] My blog has had a long and proud tradition of sounding off about products that suck. Just this once I decided to get behind a [...]

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:16:27 +0000

Just because you can solve the problem doesn’t mean it’s not a problem, people.

The issue here is that most consumers wouldn’t know where to start for a working understanding of 32bit vs 64bit. There is no NEED for the average consumer to have a 64 bit system. So why in the world would a major manufacturer start shipping 64bit operating systems on laptops they KNOW people are going to buy without a 64 vs 32 bit education?

The only people that need a 64bit OS know where to find it.

Shipping a consumer level laptop with a 64 bit OS is stupid, and is most certainly inviting the consumer to have multitudes of issues.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:08:18 +0000

Well, you cautioned, but some just want to rant. As far as solutions, are you able to host a 32bit OS in VMWare on this machine that will work with the software and hardware? If so, you can do that and also preserve an image so the client will always have a working “machine.”

By: Brian Reich

Brian Reich — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:39:35 +0000

Thanks for the criticism folks, constructive or otherwise. I had a lot to say in response so I just wrote another post in response. It's called Going 64-Bit, Revisited.

By: Going 64-Bit, Revisited | Reich Consulting

Going 64-Bit, Revisited | Reich Consulting — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:34:25 +0000

[...] my last post I expressed my frustration with HP’s lack of 32-bit OS support on a laptop purchased by one [...]

By: Bubak

Bubak — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:31:22 +0000

Did you actually __tryed__ installing those apps? 32 bit emulation is very good and it may work fine.
Also upgrade to Windows 7 may be cheep solution.

By: KL

KL — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:20:43 +0000

Sorry, but this is a terrible story for the title. I thought it was going to be an analysis of the state of 64 bit systems, etc, etc. But it’s a story about someone purchasing (most likely accidentally) a 64-bit computer, and you (the author) are saying it’s the manufacturers fault? This article has little relevance to 64-bit architecture.

It’s like saying a man went in to buy a Diet Coke, but instead walked out with a regular Coke. Is Coke jumping the gun and adding sugar unnecessarily?

I’m with JP on this.

By: Gene

Gene — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:51:40 +0000

Sounds like he just bought a laptop that wasn’t suited to the task. Would you have blamed HP if the user’s software was all Linux-based? The first step in buying hardware is making sure it will support the software you need it for.

By: JP

JP — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:21:31 +0000

So, the technology should not evolve because there are some legacy applications out there? If the laptop had windows vista 64 bit as advertised (and they DO advertise it), it is a well known fact that you won’t have 16 bit support. Its not like there aren’t any laptops with xp or vista 32 bit. So, if someone made an ignorant choice, now is the manufacturer’s fault?
Btw most of these issues can easily be solved using vmware, virtualbox or something like it. If the laptop’s cpu has VT support, a vm will be a lot faster than a 4 or 5 year-old computer.