PROJECT BLACKHAT

[Lamar Owen]

On Monday 26 November 2007, Les Mikesell wrote:
> But, I think at this point in time, emulating 32-bit windows is not
> worth the effort.  By the time it is completed, it will be about as
> useful as DOS emulation is now as everything goes 64-bit.

Having a WinXP x64 system here, I can assure you that it may be quite some 
time before everybody transitions to Win x64.

The major problem is that you cannot use Win16 programs on WinXP x64 (we can 
be thankful that Linux doesn't have this issue, being 32 bit from the 
beginning).  You would be shocked to find out how many _32-bit_ Windows 
programs use a Win16 INSTALLER, and thus will not INSTALL on WinXP x64, even 
though they would RUN there.  WinXP x64 not having NTVDM or WoW32 is the 
source, although it appears that the claim is that x64 processors in long 
mode won't run 16-bit code at all.

All in all I find the driver support for Linux of any version is better than 
the x64 driver support, XP or Vista, right now.  Many many common hardware 
items that are a little older will simply not work on x64, and some of these 
have manufacturers that are at least publicly saying that they have no plans 
to support x64 systems on existing hardware.  Some have 32 bit drivers that 
will at least take a modification to the .INF that will allow the driver to 
install, and sometimes even work; many hardware items simply won't work at 
all due to hardcoded assumptions about libraries and such (it's the same 
issue as multilib on linux).
-- 
Lamar Owen
Chief Information Officer
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu