A Tale of Two X's: The Inevitable Shift to 64-bit Computing
While the recent release of the latest version of OS X has resulted in the usual flurry of interest, the almost simultaneous release of a new flavor of Windows XP seems to have gone almost unremarked. Apple's Tiger release provides some worthy interface improvements and new functionality but for the creative community the new XP Professional x64 Edition actually represents a significant advancement. No, it doesn't look any better than the rather plain old XP we've been staring at for years. But it does add something significant—raw performance. More performance equals time saved and if you're a creative, time is definitely money. For most of us, more money beats interface widgets hands down.
There's no doubt that we're in a transition to a 64-bit computing architectures, and on the Windows platform this is exemplified by AMD's amd64 and Intel's EM64T processor families. But running a 32-bit operating system on such a system doesn't provide much of an advantage. Hence the release of x64. For those running demanding applications with large data sets, the ability of x64 Edition to support 128 GB of RAM and 16 terabytes of virtual memory is indeed nirvana. Contrasted with the current 4 GB of both physical RAM and virtual memory address space for the current XP, it's clear x64 will provide a quantum boost for those in the high-end creative community.
This performance boost should also be significant for those us editing photos or video, or creating 3D imagery or animations on a more modest scale, since the x64 processor architecture is more efficient. The good news is that even current 32-bit applications should be friskier running on this platform, although apps written specifically for 64-bit are required to really take advantage of it. I searched in vain on Adobe's site for any mention of how Photoshop CS 2, for example, performs under x64. In fact, the site has nothing to say about x64 at all.
Perhaps this will be an opportunity for nimbler companies to satisfy what will surely be an insatiable appetite for 64-bit apps for the creative community? In the interim, I'd be interested in hearing from early adopters of x64, to learn more about how creatives are taking advantange of this new platform. I'll return to this topic in future posts to share what I've learned as we march toward the promised land of 64-bit computing.
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