Dear Laplink Customer,
In the history of the PC, the release of Windows 95 takes its place as the moment which brought PC users out of the old world of DOS and into the modern Windows-based PC world.
Windows 95 brought an important technical change – the upgrade from 16-bit to 32-bit processing. This change caused nearly every software company in the world to build new, more powerful versions of their software in order to be compatible with and take advantage of this new processing power. Microsoft supported this new operating system with their biggest and most expensive promotional campaign ever (even going so far as to be the first advertiser with approval to use music from the Rolling Stones). To the tune of “Start Me Up”, a revolution was at hand!
It is now 13 years later and unnoticed by many, another major technological shift is underway – the change from 32-bit to 64-bit processing.
Back in 2001 (with little fanfare), Microsoft released a 64-bit version of Windows XP. And Windows Vista, from its beginning, has been available in both 32 and 64-bit versions.
But even though 64-bit microprocessors have been standard in desktop and notebook PCs for several years now, the hardware manufacturers (OEMs) have continued to ship nearly all PCs with 32-bit versions of Windows (fully compatible with 64-bit microprocessors). This has helped users avoid even minimal compatibility disruptions, even when moving to Windows Vista.
This is now changing - fast. PC manufacturers are rapidly moving to establish Vista 64-bit as the default operating system. In fact, this change is so fast it has surprised many industry analysts and software companies.
A 32-bit operating system is limited to directly addressing no more than 4 GB of RAM. That means if a user wants to properly utilize more than 4 GB of memory, they must switch to a 64-bit version. Plus, the Windows Vista 64-bit operating system (and 64-bit applications) are specially designed to take advantage of 64-bit processing power, greatly improving the user’s experience.
And so, driven by the availability of cheaper memory and a desire for Vista to run faster and smoother, we are witnessing this rapid movement to Vista 64-bit.
Changing to Vista 64-bit means you will get a better performing PC that can run more applications simultaneously, faster, and with greater stability.
While most applications will run in the 32-bit mode of Vista 64, some applications will not run properly (or at all) and some will not even install. This incompatibility is especially likely for older software that has non 64-bit drivers or other outdated hardware-specific components. If you have any problems with Vista 64 usage, you should check with the appropriate software publisher or hardware manufacturer.
The potential bad news is that consumers and businesses may be unintentionally purchasing new PCs with a Vista 64-bit operating system – and their existing software which they intend to use on the new PC is not compatible.
All of us at Laplink are excited about this move to 64-bit. Just as Windows 95 launched a new era, we think Vista 64 will do the same as PCs become more powerful, more useful, and even more important in our daily lives. That’s why we are working very hard to make all our applications fully 64-bit compatible. As of now, both PCmover and PCsync provide full Windows Vista 64-bit support and our other titles are following quickly. Please visit www.laplink.com/vista64 for the most up-to-date status of all Laplink products.
For those among you who are interested in more technical details about this transition to Vista 64, I recommend reading the two articles below.
Good luck with your new PC!
For additional reading:
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/07/windows_memory.html
http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx
Best regards,
Thomas Koll
CEO
Laplink Software
