More than just Windows.When it comes to swaying mass markets, Microsoft is king, regardless of how they go about doing it. What better way is there to encourage the switch to 64-bit computing than to release native 64-bit versions of some of their largest applications along with Windows, and then continue the switch-over well into 2006 with more applications? Among the list are SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, Exchange, Biztalk Server, and Virtual PC 2004 SP2.
Intel's infamous Itanium (often referred to ever-so-lovingly as "Itanic") is getting the cold shoulder from Microsoft. Only four out of the twelve applications that will be made available for x86-64 are being made available for Itanium. It definitely looks like these are the last days for Itanium, with even IBM dropping their Itanium server product line.
Very soon (not in 2007 or later) there will be no more desktop and server systems that are not capable of running a 64-bit OS," said Microsoft employee Volker Will, a member of the company's partner strategy and platform group, on his blog recently.
I don't know about that -- I'd say it's a little optimistic. Most of my friends are still on Pentium IIIs and Athlon/Athlon XP systems, with no intention to upgrade in the forseeable future. I don't see the soccer moms and grandparents upgrading their solely-for-E-mail systems just yet.
On the upside ... Virtual PC x86-64? That could be interesting. I'm still waiting on PearPC to get some x86-64 loving going under Windows XP 64-bit/Linux. The extra registers ought to make PPC emulation on x86 a lot less painful.
Article Link: Microsoft Preps for the 64-Bit Wave
Microsoft 0, Google 1 (2005-03-04)