32 bit OS v. 64 bit OS

[smeezekitty]

32 bit has been around for so long and has worked so well
now they want to change it?
what happened to if it ain't broke dont fix it?
and this will happen again when we go to 128 bit and
will lose compatibility for 32bit programs

[BC_Programmer]

8 bit was around for a long time to (1982-1987, when the 386 was released) and it worked fine, why did those bastards at intel go and make that 80386 processor, with it's protected mode, and it's 32-bit bus width?


32-bit went from 1987 to.. hmm, well I'd say around the release of the Itanium, so around 2001, I believe. A tab longer, but not by much.

Here's a news flash. Technology changes.

Why did we bother using computers in the first place? I mean, they could have easily done broken the enigma code with pen and paper. I mean, bah, what's a few years here or there? 2 years, as is often cited, being how much faster the war was ended by the ability of "The Collosus" to help break the enigma code. I suppose instead they were supposed to lie around trying to break ciphers by hand with pen and paper, have pillowfights and dance the jitterbug.

[smeezekitty]

1982-1987 was all 16bit not 8 bit
it has an 8 bus but ran 16 bbit code

[smeezekitty]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8086

[BC_Programmer]

hmm, somebody needs to get the facts straight. the 8086 and the 8088 were BOTH 8-bit CPUs. the 8086 had a 16-bit data bus instead of the 8-bit bus possessed by the 8088.

two address lines were grafted on (essentially) allowing it to access 1024KB of RAM, considered gobs of RAM (and priced accordingly at the time).


That being said however it was the 286, not the 386 that made the jump to a higher bit width instruction-wise. It also had the bound instruction, and protected mode from which you couldn't escape! yay!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_8086

Why the heck are you proving yourself wrong

the original IBM PC used a 8088 processor. the 8086 was used in the IBM XT (IIRC), and regardless of that fact, it was the data bus that was 16-bit, not the processor itself. it could only process a byte at a time.

[smeezekitty]

but it ran msdos a 16bit OS
explain that
it ran 16bit os with 16bit programs
but you said its only 8 bits-how?

[kpac]

what happened to if it ain't broke dont fix it?

This is technology we're talking about....

[smeezekitty]

This is technology we're talking about....

so?

[kpac]

so?

It's evolving. Fast. If you don't like it, don't use it.

[BC_Programmer]

try installing MS-DOS 5 on a orginal IBM-PC or XT.

Go ahead.

I dares ya.

so?

I already covered this point. but there were a lot of words to read.

[patio]

When you find yourself in a deep hole ...it's best to stop digging...

Where's the list of 14 apps ? ?
Strangely enough you could only come up with an alleged 5 and only named 2 of them...

[smeezekitty]

i made 2 of them
and i almost forgot paint shop pro 2.01
i can not live without 16bit app support
80% of my programs running are 32bit
20% are 16
btw i am running 97 programs

[patio]

Best of Luck to you...