C8 said:
gavind5uk said:
C8 said:
gavind5uk said:
The lack of M$ rallying companies to upgrade their drivers to 64 bit for Vista 64/XP64 has being the biggest problem for upgraders imo. Having got around those i do prefer vista to xp, the sidebar alone is worth it. I'm looking forward to the improvements on media centre the most in windows 7, the rest can stay the same, i dont need an OS throwing pointless 3D menus at me. |
Starting with Vista (i.e. 2 years ago) MS refused to sign drivers unless they pass WHQL for both x32 and x64. So unless you're in the habit of using custom hardware with no signed drivers, getting drivers for x64 really isn't much of an issue anymore. XP64 was another story entirely because it was never sold to mainsteam consumers - take a look at Dell.com or other major sites, half their PCs ship with Vista x64 these days by default - home pcs, not just business targeted machines.
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Ive come across quite alot of hardware drivers and software lacking 64bit compatibility, i think it os more prevalent than you may believe, even the likes of companies like nvidia have not upgraded some of their projects.
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Drivers only. Microsoft does not sign Windows applications. Do you know of an nVidia product that has a signed vista (MS WHQL) 32-bit driver but no 64-bit driver? For that matter, any vendor with a signed 32-bit Vista driver (older pre-vista drivers ... nothing I can say there) but no 64-bit driver? Unsigned drivers, also nothing you can do there - but major vendors produce signed drivers.
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Well its a moote point, the compatibility for both hardware and software of 32bit is vast compared to 64bit for the obvious reasons. People shouldnt have to be in the position of having to buy premium products to ensure compatibility with a modern OS, its ludicrous. And alot of Major vendors for cheaper hardware (wireless card for example) on part of their range have forgone 64bit signed (or unsigned for that matter) drivers having decided they no longer want to support it.
On the software side there are an absolute ton of niche products that people use everyday that they need to keep 32bit for to keep using, people with 64bit system just dont have the unlimited range of options a 32bit user has.
