Re: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition ---> Delphi 2005 x64 Edition?

From: Thomas Miller (tmiller_at_bss-software.com)
Date: 01/31/05 

Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2005 17:21:59 -0500

Bob Dawson wrote:

> "Will DeWitt Jr." wrote
>
>>I've done my level best to make a good case.
>
>
> You've made a case that 64bit hardware and OSs are here now or coming very
> shortly. But no one really disputes that, so it's not an effective point.
> You've done little to address the issue of the installed base other than to
> claim that everyone will be rushing to buy the latest and greatest, a claim
> I find extremely unlikely.

I don't. Everyone knows that memory is the fastest way to
speed up anything. Any power user will be upgrading to the
new 64 technology fairly quick. How many power users are
there, I don't know, but it is significant (not 1% or 2%).
Secondly, there are some new built in anti virus stuff built
into new processors that work with the OS. I had a choice
between the Athlon with or without it and I went with the
with it. This feature is only available in the very latest
chips and more often then not, the very latest chip will be
64 bit within 12 months (whether you want it or not).

> Nor have you addressed the question of why
> mainstream developers would need 64bit--where are the benefits for
> non-CPU-bound programs that don't engage in extended calculation loops, or
> that don't require a gig of memory? Why should I, as a business programmer,
> particularly care about 64bit if it provides a 2-4x improvement only in
> things I don't do?

More and more systems are doing multitasking, especially in
the virus, spyware, firewall arena. Allowing me to run this
software in the back ground and keep my real programs at the
same speed is welcome. It effects my typing very little,
but my emails take several seconds to send now and they use
to take < 1. It just doesn't waste my time, but it is
annoying. I would like to see better in place spell and
grammar checking, but again, that would slow me down. I
create a lot of PDFs and Zip files, I would like to see
these faster.

 From my software point of view, reports can take much
longer on a computer that is slower, as it caches and
crunches the columns. So anyone that runs reports would be
a candidate for a 64bit computer .

>
> These aren't technical questions, they're marketing questions: how many
> different types of programs benefit, how many different types of
> programmers, and by how much. They determine potential market pressure for a
> platform revolution.

Good questions and anyone that has the real answers are not
here in this forum. I doubt Borland even knows. By the
way, lots of companies are asking the same question on .Net
and taking a very, very long wait and see approach.

>
> I appreciate the fact that a 64bit program might reduce payroll calculation
> from 2 hours to a half hour (don't recall if this was your exampe or not),
> but the fact remains that very few programs undertake such tasks--even in
> the example given it works out to one employee per 5000, and that's just not
> a market. The things my programs do (or actually the programs into which my
> code is embedded) take seconds or less, or users start to complain. DB
> access and object model complexity are my enemies, not matrix math. User
> interaction is the chief wait state. Do you have any evidence at all to show
> that that's not normal? What would 64bit do for me?

That was mine. That is only one concrete example I used,
but there are many in an accounting scenario. The plain
fact is, when you go and buy your next computer, do you buy
a faster chip the next time around? Do most people? It is
our nature to buy "better" the next time. Just as people
could run Dos programs under windows, it was "better" to run
Windows programs under windows. And just as people bought
32 bit version of Windows programs, they will buy 64 bit
version for 64 bit windows. Part of it is just because
"they" will. So you have two things going for native 64
bit. Why wouldn't someone want a 64bit program to run on
their new 64 bit computer with their new 64 bit OS. The
upgrade price for the 32bit version is $79 or for $99 I can
get the 64 bit version. I would get the 64 bit version and
I think 90% of the people out there would. So there is no
other reason besides it is in our nature. The second one is
on business processes and return on investment. I could
give countless examples here, but I am not going to bother
because this is getting nauseating.

>
> bobD
>
>

Bob, to your credit, your arguments are well founded and
worth replying too. I can't say the same for most people in
these groups. 

-- 
Thomas Miller
Wash DC Delphi SIG Chairperson
Delphi Client/Server Certified Developer
BSS Accounting & Distribution Software
BSS Enterprise Accounting FrameWork
http://www.bss-software.com
http://www.cpcug.org/user/delphi/index.html
https://sourceforge.net/projects/uopl/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dbexpressplus

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