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What if OSes dropped support for 32 bit software?

Mihle
By Mihle
in Operating Systems
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What if OSes dropped support for 32 bit software?

 

If also all programs was 64 bit, would the computers run noticeably faster in any way?

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Posted

chrome is 32 bit

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1 minute ago, SquintyG33Rs said:

chrome is 32 bit

It's been 64 bit by default for a year now. 32 bit was undoubtedly reducing how much of your RAM it could waste. xD

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4 minutes ago, Mihle said:

What if OSes dropped support for 32 bit software?

It would lose compatibility with a lot of software. You're probably using some right now.

4 minutes ago, Mihle said:

If also all programs was 64 bit, would the computers run noticeably faster in any way?

No. There's practically no difference.

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2 minutes ago, JoostinOnline said:

It's been 64 bit by default for a year now. 32 bit was undoubtedly reducing how much of your RAM it could waste. xD

holy shit it is.... my bad, but honestly that took them a while -_-

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Yeah, a lot of programs would break. There's no good reason to drop support. 32 bit programs are more portable, and easier to code since most compilers/languages use 32 bit values by default. As a developer, at least I have the mentality of making code as portable as possible. Which means 32 bit unless I have a compelling reason not to do so.

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Some OS' have already dropped 32-bit hardware support (e.g. ArchLinux), but I don't think dropping 32-bit software support is going to happen anytime soon.

 

Steam, for example, uses 32-bit libraries. If you're running Windows, look in your C:\Program Files (x86) directory, those are all also 32-bit software.

 

I don't think there would be any performance improvements gained from dropping 32-bit software support, except for programs that consume a lot of memory (Chrome, for example), which would definitely benefit from being able to address more than 4GB of memory.

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If anything, the biggest reason to go 64-bit isn't for performance reasons, it's to have a larger virtual memory space. Despite the fact that a lot of 32-bit processors made from the mid 90s on had provisions to address more than 4GB of RAM, the virtual memory space is still 4GB.

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Some open source distros  likely would, I’m guessing new Mac OS has already. 

 

As for windows, likely no chance in hell they’ll completely drop support as windows is built around backward compatibility being a MAJOR selling point. Additionally when AMD invented 64 bit, they opted for 32 but support for the above valid reason Windows is backward compatible. 

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