Microsoft ventures into the 64-bit era with Windows – that happened on April 25th. Every day, PC Games Hardware takes a look back at the young but eventful history of the computer.
…2005: For exactly two years now, there have been x86 processors with 64-bit technology, introduced by AMD (see April 22). But anyone who wanted to use the extended registers previously had to work with Linux – Windows did not benefit from the 64-bit mode. A test version of Windows x64 has existed for a long time, but the final version is only available today: Microsoft is presenting Windows XP Professional and Server 2003 in the 64-bit edition (to the press release). This should also begin the gradual transition to 64-bit technology on the mass market, which will soon become necessary due to the fact that the main memory is limited to around 3.5 gigabytes by the 32-bit software. However, the new systems do not work with the drivers of the 32-bit version – and the supply of adapted drivers is extremely poor. The successor version, Windows Vista x64, will therefore only be really useful. The change to 64-bit is still a long time coming.
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