Time to update to Office 2010 X-64 yet

[jimbo45]

Hi all
Initially people were advised to install the 32 bit version of Office 2010 - even on x-64 bit machines for daily "productive" work and only use the 64 bit version for testing etc.

I've given up these days being an "early adopter" - I just wait until the major bugs are fixed and then go for the install.

So is the 64 bit version of Office 2010 ready for "Prime time" yet.

I use a LOT of complex EXCEL macros and web queries so while I don't mind the occasional glitch with word or Power point -- but EXCEL must work for me.

I like the idea of the 64 bit version as the spereadsheets etc can be larger -- hold more cells, calculations in theory should be faster etc -- 64 bit vs 32 bit).

(I don't use Access so that's not an issue here - MySQL IMO is a far far better DB system if you need this type of app anyway -- and for non commercial home use IT'S FREE and WELL SUPPORTED)

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Airbot]

I don't think the recommendation of using the 32 bit one over the 64 bit one has been changed - yet.

The one thing they did make point of in an advantage of using the 64 bit over the 32 bit was with -

The 64-bit version enables you to work with much larger sets of data. This need is especially true when working with large numbers in Microsoft Excel 2010.

There are two fundamental issues when you run existing solutions with the 64-bit version of Office 2010:

• Native 64-bit processes in Office 2010 cannot load 32-bit binaries. This is expected to be a common issue when you have existing Microsoft ActiveX controls and existing add-ins,
  
  
• VBA previously did not have a pointer data type and because of this, developers used 32-bit variables to store pointers and handles. These variables now truncate 64-bit values returned by API calls when using Declare statements.

When should I use the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office? This is more a matter of which host application (Excel, Word, and so forth) you are using. For example, Excel is able to handle much larger worksheets with the 64-bit version of Microsoft Office.

Compatibility Between the 32-bit and 64-bit Versions of Office 2010


Not sure where exactly that was pointed out in a MS document, but it was. If that's what's specifically important for you, go for it.

 

[pparks1]

32bit is still the recommendation. The primary reason is the many plugins from other software applications that tie into MS office based applications such as Outlook.

Jimbo, with regards to larger datasets being possible in Office 2010 64bit, this is talking about enormous files like 2GB spreadsheets. I highly doubt most of your datasets are that complex.

 

[jimbo45]

32bit is still the recommendation. The primary reason is the many plugins from other software applications that tie into MS office based applications such as Outlook.

Jimbo, with regards to larger datasets being possible in Office 2010 64bit, this is talking about enormous files like 2GB spreadsheets. I highly doubt most of your datasets are that complex.

Hi Pparks1 not so much as the spreadsheets are 2GB type files --- more likely is that complex calculations can perform faster in 64 bit mode rather than 32 bit -- particularly for engineering / physics type calculations and Floating Point numbers

I'm not dissastisfied with 32 bot Office 2010 so I'll just wait it out for the moment.

Thanks

jimbo

 

[Lloydday]

Then there's the Phone software intergration with outlook x64 which makes x86 still the preferred choice for me.

 

[jimbo45]

Office 2010 64 Bit -- Is it stable now

Hi all
Initially unless you were testing / developing MS recommended installing the 32 bit version of Office 2010 even on W7 X-64.

Has the product matured enough to roll out to "bog standard users" or does the advice still stand -- keep using the 32 bit version for now.

It would be nice to roll out W7 AND office rather than upgrade office to 64 bit versions later.

For the moment however I actually can't see any reason why I actually would need x-64 having been satisfied with the 32 bit version -- I'll wait until say Windows 8 or whatever.

Some programs like Photoshop CS4 / CS5 DEFINITELY work better in the 64 bit version - but typical office app's -- not sure.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[GEWB]

I have and use both versions, fully patched, on multi-boot Win 7 x64 systems. Which version I use depends on third party programs that hook into Word. For example, one version of Adobe RoboHelp that I must use will only hook into the 32 bit version of Word.

As a stand alone installation (no third party hooks), I've had no problems with the x64 version of Office programs (not yet at least).

Regards,
GEWB

 

[pparks1]

It's not that Office 64bit isn't stable. It's the fact that there are tons of applications which "can" hook into Office and all of these only hook into 32bit. So, if you utilize third party integration functionality, you want the 32bit version of Office.

I don't really utilize extremely large data sets, so I don't have a desire to use 64bit.