Among the factors to consider, as companies ponder Windows 7 migrations, is whether to run a 32 bit or 64 bit version of the operating system. We look at the reasons why and what companies are saying.
Cost isn’t the biggest consideration for Compassionate Care Hospice CIO Jeffrey Bolden when it comes to upgrading his 1,650 employees to Windows 7. Rather, in a “recession-proof business,” Bolden is focused on moving toward a 64-bit environment.
Compassionate Care, the nation’s fourth largest hospice care provider with locations in 12 states, is presently running Windows XP and Windows Vista desktops and a half dozen server configurations. Their migration plans will occur on an as-needed basis, as well as when new staff are added, Bolden says. Foremost on his mind, when a full-blown migration does occur, is moving to a 64-bit environment. He’s looking for the ability “to run certain distributed database applications in the field that are currently running in a more centralized way,” he explains. “You’re going to design applications entirely differently because you’ll have much faster processing speeds.’’
Bolden is far from alone in his thought processes. As companies plan their migration strategies, the cost of upgrading is just one factor they should be contemplating. Since most new computers today come with 64-bit processors, companies need to upgrade their infrastructure as part of their move to Windows 7 desktops.
The 32- or 64-bit architecture refers to the memory address length that can be referenced by the processor. A 64-bit PC can handle larger amounts of information than a 32-bit system. Since it can use more RAM—4 gigabytes and up—a 64-bit computer can be more responsive when running several programs at the same time.
Simply installing the faster operating system doesn’t necessarily guarantee the application will run faster, since most software has traditionally been optimized for a 32-bit OS. All Windows applications must be tested on a 64-bit platform, experts emphasize, and companies need to make sure they have the latest hardware and drivers available before deciding to step up to 64-bit.
“I don’t think it’s sunk into everyone’s consciousness what’s going on with 64-bit and what they should do about it,’’ says Michael Surkan, a Bellevue, Washington-based IT consultant, and a former Windows program manager at Microsoft. “Every program anyone writes … you need to make sure it runs well on a 64-bit machine.”
A 64-bit computer can run 32-bit software, but it’s not an optimum condition, notes Michael Cherry, research vice president of Operating Systems, at Directions on Microsoft, an independent analysis firm that examines Microsoft strategy and products. “So if you buy a new machine today and it comes with a 64-bit processor and 4 GB of memory, which is a pretty common configuration, if you run a 32-bit [program] on that configuration then the 32-bit operating system can only address the first three gigabytes of that RAM,” Cherry says. “You’re not using all of the resources you’ve paid for.” Since there aren’t many computer systems still being sold with 32-bit operating systems, most enterprises end up buying 64-bit systems by default anyway, he observes.
There is a difference of opinion over whether 64-bit Windows 7 is more secure than the 32–bit version, depending upon whom you ask. Microsoft claims more malware is written for 32-bit systems, and that 64-bit Windows 7 contains security measures such as PatchGuard, making it is safer to run. However, some security vendors say that since 32-bit is more ubiquitous, it sees more malware right now, but since it is a piece of software, it can easily execute on a 64-bit system too.
“We hear from PC makers and historical trends indicate that a majority of new PCs in the U.S. will be running 64-bit Windows 7 and globally about one fifth of new PCs will be running 64-bit Windows 7,’’ says a Microsoft spokesperson. A majority of enterprises are already running some PCs with 64-bit Windows, she says.
Drivers needed
For the City of Miami, which has approximately 2,500 users and has already begun migrating to Windows 7, the choice between 32-bit and 64-bit is hardware based. The migration will run smoothly “as long as we can find all of the drivers,” says James E. Osteen, Jr., the city’s assistant director of Information Technology. “And that’s still the big question with Windows 7, as there are still some drivers, especially around printers, that we haven’t found 64-bit printers for.”
The IT department is aggressively moving the City of Miami’s servers to 64-bit, but, he says, they are “lagging a little bit on moving to 64 bit on desktop migrations, since that’s being done on an as-needed basis’’ due to the economy.
The bigger issue for Osteen’s department is dealing with legacy hardware. While they haven’t fully embraced 64-bit, Osteen says they realize it’s something they will have to do. The performance is “a lot better … so we see the value of moving to it,” he says. IT recently started some pilot implementations with 64-bit desktop computers and servers.
Cherry concurs that the real issue with 64-bit isn’t so much about running the software—since that can be addressed in a variety of ways, including virtualization—as it is about whether device drivers exist for a company’s hardware. “An organization may have a certain printer in use and one of the key things they have to look at before moving to 64-bit is whether the printer has a 64-bit device driver.”
He advises companies to check three key things:
- Whether they can buy 64-bit processors at a reasonable price.
- Make a list of all specialized devices, such as printers, scanners and projectors, and determine if all the device drivers are there.
- Make sure there is no application in the organization that won’t run on the 64-bit version of the operating system.
“You don’t want to start this and find out there’s some software you need, like DVD burning software, because it works directly with hardware or backup software that talks to the hardware,” says Cherry. “Generally you won’t have a problem but that doesn’t mean out there isn’t one program out there that is.”
Surkan estimates that 5-10% of 32-bit programs won’t run on a 64-bit OS.
Clear choice
Batterymarch Financial Management, a Boston-based subsidiary of global asset management firm Legg Mason, is now testing Windows 7 on some of its core applications as it plans a slow migration. IT conducted a review of both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7, and selected the latter for a number of reasons, according to Brian McCracken, manager of Network Systems.
Over 95% of the firm’s computers are already 64-bit and the other 5% will be replaced with in the year, McCracken says. There were other factors, too. The 64-bit version lets the company run applications on systems with greater then 4 GB of memory; 80% of their core applications were designed to run on 64-bit systems; their peripheral devices all can run on a 64-bit OS; and the 64-bit version gives Batterymarch the ability to run applications using Windows XP Mode and Virtual PC.
Surkan agrees that 64-bit Windows 7 is really the way to go because of its ability to use more memory than the 32-bit version, even if a PC has more memory installed.
For companies just beginning the process, Surkan recommends installing the 64-bit version of Windows 7 and running a few applications to see if the programs work smoothly. “If they want to go the safe route and don’t want to do testing, they can go with the 32-bit version,” he acknowledges, saying that “that’s a valid option.” But, Surkan says, “I would hate to see companies not go to the 64-bit version because of fear of the unknown.”
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[...] This post was Twitted by estherschindler [...]
Agreed, RAM is the key to speed and the 64 bit system lets you add more.
Brandon
Just South of North
http://www.justsouthofnorth.com
I think the biggest benefit of using a 64-bit operating system is the ability to address more than 3GB of memory. For most business users this is more than enough, but for developers this is the bare minimum especially if you are running any virtual machines.
I would have to agree with Daniel – not having the ability to address more than 3 gig's is a real drag. Right now I'm developing on a machine with 2 VM installs & I use all of the 4 gig's installed, but there was a time I was running just 2 GB's, which wasn't nearly enough.
It would be nice to see how IT managers are handling desktop vs. servers. I can't imagine a universal 64-bit desktop rollout would make sense and an office environment where every machine has 4G RAM sounds like overkill
Yeah, 64bit/>3gig RAM is really a red-herring for most corporate users. All they are running is Outlook and Word/Excel. None of which are 64bit (until Office2010).
If you need to make better use of your RAM, there's always tricks like the /3GB boot option.
Developers, Graphic Designers, Multimedia workers, CAD workers, etc are a different kettle of fish and that's why the "workstation" class of machine has been around for yonks. 64bit and >4gig RAM makes far more sense (today) for these users, though good luck finding 64bit/Win7 drivers for your unusual input devices (tablets, trackballs, media control panels, etc).
But have no fear, MS and friends will release bigger, bloatier versions of their software, in 64bit, so you can justify going 64bit/>4gig RAM for your average office worker…
Just my 2c
Author (Esther Shein) hasn't got a clue. Never learned about the subject she comments on here.
Dear author,
what _might_ be reasonable in a server environment (BIG GIGa bytes of RAM, MULTI-proc and/or MULTI-core CPU) is fully out of touch when considering client side of distributed data processing.
Insofar, Marcus G (see above) is fully right here: "an office environment where every machine has 4G RAM sounds like overkill". Indeed, an IT director who insists on clients which are even fatter than the server they are using is nothing but a stupid sod.
I don't know why everyone is claiming a 3GB address limit.
The address limit for 32 bit is 4GBG. That Wndows can't use all the addressable memory is a windows limitation, and I recall that there is a patch that fixes this (or at least it shows all the memory).
I recall that Microsoft has said that the OS can use the memory near 4GB (applications cannot), but whether it will use it has never been clarified.
[...] You can install the Crash Analyzer Wizard locally and download the most recent version of the Debugging Tools for Windows and the symbols for the current version of Windows. That’s a sensible strategy if you’re doing long-term testing on your own development PC, but it’s overkill if you’re troubleshooting a recent crash on a client’s PC. For that job, use the ERD Commander Boot Media Wizard. You supply the installation media for the operating system you’re debugging, and the wizard creates an ISO image that you can use to burn a recovery disk that includes an assortment of useful troubleshooting tools. (You’ll need to create separate recovery media for x86 and x64 versions of Windows 7.) [...]
* Enabling PAE, will limit to the OS to 2GB total. What PAE does is dedicate 2GB to OS and the other 2GB to anything other then the OS. Apparently some people don't understand how PAE works and think that some how it can magically make a 32bit XP use more then 4GB, which is impossible, so after noticing my explanation is not getting through, I thought a visual from MS itself might help sink it in, you can see it here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/ser…
* Vista 32bit can see only 3.5GB of ram total. The new sp1 only reports how much memory you have intalled, not how much memory you can use.
AH! I was going to post these 'inconvenient facts' myself. the 'PAE' (please READ about your acronyms, people!) means 'Physical Address Extension'
Why is that important? the last word, really. 'Extension'. this does NOT enable you to use more than 4GB ram. Face facts people. This is a form of some memory management features,
more than anything else. This isn't even a 'Microsoft thing'. it's a 32-bit computing limitation. the 'Microsoft thing' part comes in because they've somehow given people
the idea that using this boot flag can somehow magically let your computer address more ram than any 32-bit OS is capable of.
I blame their marketing department. Stupid buggers.
And yes, there's a page on microsoft that DOES say that it allows you to use more than 4GB ram. THAT's where people got this idea.
If you want and bought more than 4GB of ram. suck it up and get a real 64-bit OS already.
You could afford the RAM, so go do it. If it's the cost of windows 64-bit that's stopping you,
go download the 64-bit version of ubuntu or something it's free. And if you hate MS, you should want to do that anyway.
But above all, quit ranting. MS isn't going to 'fix' anything because the users rant. This should be painfully obvious to us all by now.
I mean jesus, just look at IIS if you hope that they will one day 'fix' thier OS….
Your answer is the most sensable I've seen in 1000's. Everyone out there are nothing more than magazine reading techno-geeks that have no real idea how the O/S, Apps or the hardware run underneath. Although all of them are convinced they do understand their gear. EVERYONE is talking about their 64bit processor, their huge blob of RAM installed etc and in EVERY case they are running 32bit apps and redering the machine to a 32bit 3.5G RAM steam-engine that is actually most likely a bit slower as they have to rely on the WOW and other translations to occur since the 32bit app is not on it's native underlying platform. I'm going to stop reading this crap because everyone is FOS (I'll let you decrypt the acronymn). You are also correct that when the time comes that we do have Office and other productivity apps that run in 64 bit mode it will NOT be becasue they are leveraging gear and adding power or speed. It will be becasue they are bloated (to use your term) beyond the mess of graphical mumbo-gumbo we have today. L8tr.
[...] the 64-bit version is called x64 as in en_windows_7_professional_x64_dvd_x15-65805.iso. There is no upgrade path from 32- to 64-bit Windows, so making this switch involves blowing away the old install and replacing it with an entirely new [...]