Why there's no 64-bit Silverlight from Microsoft

Yes 64 bit should now be the focus of all developers and vendors. Just my .02 cents to this subject. GL :)

I think many of you are missing one major point here. Or maybe one important question: why? Can anyone give a real reason why a 64-bit plug-in would be needed or would work better/more efficient? Leave out the usual reasons/excuses..such as the OS is x64, so why can't all the software. Is there an example of a web page that would be suddenly better or different with an x64 version of Flash or Silverlight?

What you really should be complaining about it how the piss poor internet infrastructure is holding back what the web could be...which would bring on more interactive content that could benefit from x64's processing advantages.

I have employees who have only recently been able to use something other than dial-up in their homes, in some rural areas of Pennsylvania. The United States web infrastructure sucks, and yet we are still middle to the top in world-wide rankings. Until this gets fixed, the current web, as it stands in 2010, would gain nothing at all from x64 browsers and plug-ins...beyond the tired excuse of "the OS is x64...everything else should be too).

When there's a reason to use the 64 bit plug-ins, and the internet's infrastructure can handle it....they will all be ready and available.

If for no other reason, simply that running 32 bit code in a 64 bit environment is innefficient, requiring twice the unmber of libraries installed in ram and address translation. That alone is enough cause to shout for 64 bit apps and software from all vendors, /especially/ microsoft.

MS is lax in not leading this charge in all areas. They are doing "ok" but this is one gaping hole in particular they should close.

As for internet infrastructure.. your right but that's an entirely different subject I think :)

DeaconFrost said:

Can anyone give a real reason why a 64-bit plug-in would be needed or would work better/more efficient?

Because then you could actually use 64 @#$%! bit browser.

128 bit in the OS is rediculous. People say that 12 Gig is too much (Not me but there was a long thread about it here recently). When exactly are we going to need more than 16 million gig of RAM then? It WOULD be purely a marketing sceme.

Maybe for "experimental" purposes

We've been switching to 64 bit for over 10 plus years and it's not done yet, and yet is of GREAT utility.

Yup, ever since Windows NT Workstation.
hmmm, im that old?

Colonel Travis said:

Because then you could actually use 64 @#$%! bit browser.

That didn't answer my question, but rather was just more of the same baseless rhetoric. "Just because" isn't a valid reason. So let's try again.

Let's use our very forums here as an example. What would be different/better about them if I was able to use a 64 bit browser to view them? Pick any common website. What can't you do with a 32 bit browser, that you can do with a 64 bit browser?

It's obvious. You can make the x64 default and get rid of the dino. Less garbage on the drive! Yay .....

Outlander said:

It's obvious. You can make the x64 default and get rid of the dino. Less garbage on the drive! Yay .....

In all honesty, that answer probably wasn't that much better than the rhetoric DeaconFrost is seeing...

In my experience with IE8 x86 and x64, there was a speed and stability improvement in the 64-bit version. In IE9 however, the difference is barely noticeable, most likely because the browser as a whole is just much better than IE8. Most well-engineered browsers probably won't show that much difference between the 32 and 64-bit version either.

fseal also said something about inefficiency because of the added libraries installed in the RAM, but in my opinion, if you have enough RAM (most techies usually have 4 GB, if not more), this shouldn't be a noticeable issue.

Personally, I promote 64-bit software for the advancement of technology. I don't want the world to continue using technology that was developed over a decade ago (in the technological world, a decade is a long time). There is also an improvement in performance when using 64-bit software and no matter how small the improvement is, I want to take advantage of it.

DeaconFrost said:

That didn't answer my question, but rather was just more of the same baseless rhetoric. "Just because" isn't a valid reason. So let's try again.

Netflix Watch Instantly works on 32-bit, does not work on 64-bit. I guess I'll keep sending Netflix money and use 64-bit and not watch any movies. Doesn't matter, since that's baseless rhetoric.

DeaconFrost said:

What would be different/better about them if I was able to use a 64 bit browser to view them? Pick any common website. What can't you do with a 32 bit browser, that you can do with a 64 bit browser?

Good gravy, why didn't you ask your question this way instead of the first way? There is no discernible 64-bit advantage over 32-bit at the moment, as far as I'm concerned. That's different from saying there will never be a 64-bit advantage, or that development of 64-bit browsing should grind to a halt, or whatever. Not saying you're saying that, DF. I'm just saying I want computer people to keep pushing the envelope. I'll use whatever works the best.