How long will 64bit Ubuntu users have to wait?

[Matt Zimmerman]

On Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 01:33:49PM -0500, Kilz _ wrote:
> >From: Matt Zimmerman <mdz at ubuntu.com>
> >To: ubuntu-devel at lists.ubuntu.com
> >Subject: Re: Re: How long will 64bit Ubuntu users have to wait?
> >Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2006 10:20:12 -0700
> >
> >On Sun, Sep 17, 2006 at 06:36:09PM -0500, Kilz _ wrote:
> > > Just how long do you expect 32bit systems to be in a majority when even 
> >the
> > > cheap processosrs are now 64bit like the celeron D? How long are the
> > > developers going to develop for what is rapidly becoming a thing of the
> > > past.
> >
> >Hopefully not long.  When development shops like Adobe develop for 64-bit
> >Linux, your problem will be solved. :-)
> 
> I don't think I will hold my breath waiting for adobe to develop for 64bit 
> Linux. But with the release of Vista I do see more companies releasing 64bit 
> software for Microsoft's os. All my problems do not directly relate to 
> proprietary software. Wine is not proprietary, it runs proprietary software. 
> But the wine package is open source and in the 32bit version. Also the 
> proprietary software that is a problems is in the 32bit version. Said 32bit 
> applications can run on the 64bit version. But they don't "just work".
> But how long do you think .deb based distributions (Ubuntu, Debian) will 
> continue to see 32bit as a priority over 64bit?

Mixing of 32- and 64-bit software (at least on x86_64 systems) is a special
case, as it attempts to address what is inherently a temporary problem.  It
is very likely that desktop systems will standardize on the x86_64 platform,
and when there is enough momentum behind that transition, it will become the
standard development platform as well.  At that point, there will be no need
to use 32-bit software on your desktop, and technology for supporting mixed
systems will be obsolete.

So you can see why one would want to minimize the investment made in
developing such technology.  OpenOffice.org is one area where this was
unavoidable.  You feel the same way about Flash and a few other things, but
I'm less convinced.  Fortunately, this is an open project where anyone can
contribute, so you don't need to convince me, or anyone else in particular.
You only need to convince someone who is willing and capable to do the work.

Developers are users, too, so if this need is truly pervasive in the user
community, a like-minded developer shouldn't be hard to find.

-- 
 - mdz