Brought to you by Twitter (and uh RadarX) https://twitter.com/RadarX/status/606941189493784576 If you are using a 32 bit OS to run @planetside2 now is the time to upgrade! RadarX @RadarX
I think RadarX means they're removing the 32-bit client altogether. It's not surprising since practically all modern computers use 64-bit now. Hopefully this means there will be a lot more 64-bit optimizations since there's one less client to worry about.
Thank god... I can't fathom why 32 bit OS's are still even being made... Though, as a sidenote, do any of you think that 128 bit OS's will become a thing in the forseeable future?
I'm not sure if 128-bit processing is worth the trouble. 64-bit already has 16 exbibytes (over 16 million terabytes) of memory. Maybe in a century or two?
Prodo there are a few high end machines out there for just computing that have over 255 CPU core and they run on a custom 128-bit OS. So maybe, but right now there is nothing that would make use of 128 - Bit.
There's a lot of stuff still running 32bit that's basically why. It's the same with games, most people understandably cannot understand why when the new version of DirectX comes out why games are still being made for a verison several versions old, for years afterwards. But it's just because software development takes a long time, the old version has had time for bugs to be found and addressed and indeed that a lot of people (potential customers) use older hardware and they want to sell to those people. I quite recently had to get a 32bit version of windows on a netbook so the software I needed could talk to a brand new embedded bit of hardware, as the software only worked with 32bit OS at that time (I had 32bit OS that would have worked, but I wasn't lugging entire desktops , and all my portable stuff had 64bit OS). That's basically why MS in the end had to extend some support of WinXP (again), too many people still using it, either in a direct sense or in an embedded sense (it is also likely why they've been really pushing their embedded version of Win10, I think - although even win10 has a 32bit version still, of course). In this case I would guess SOE/DBGs have montiored 32/64bit versions of PS2 and decided that there are now not enough 32bit PCs left playing to be worth maintaining 32bit, especially considering their main aim now is 64bit consoles. 128bit OSs will likely eventually appear, but currently in general we're a long way off really using 64bit fully to need it yet (64bit OS can address a LOT of memory, for example), and 128bit is actually a bit of a humongous jump.
step1: Denegrate the 32-bit platform step2: Demonstrate that you don't know why 64bit OSes were needed in the first place step3: Profit? ... To answer your question, I'm sure there will be 128bit OSes made as soon as we risk breaking the 16ExaByte memory limit. But why stop there - more bits makes everything go fastaaaaaah - the internet said so! -Stigma
32 bit clients started to appear for PCs around the 90s. So if 64 bit has about the same lifespan It will probably last until the 2030s.
Developers have to move to 64 bit systems as of late. XP is only still widely in use because people refuse to upgrade, but it's so dated it's actually holding back everything courteously developed with 32 bit in mind. Games themselves are getting too advanced for just 32 bit OSes and 4 gigs of ram to be enough. Seen ARK: Survival Evolved? I think 4 gigs is the minimum, yet they even have modes to accommodate for less than that, however impractical. Refer to the last tweet in the OP's quoted tweet, "on borrowed time already." Before long, the only games XP (what I imagine to be the OS for the vast bulk of 32bit users) will be able to play will all be purchased from Steam or GoG.com.
Yay! This will weed out the low end spec players that complain about complain about Hossin on forumside
Yeah, OS-wise, really what has mostly driven 32 to 64 bit OS-wise is memory limitations (~4GB for 32bit OS). With 64 bit OSs that would be theoretically ~16.8 million terabytes of memory ( ) , but in reality that probably wouldn't be feasible with todays technology. So likely any drive to 128bit OS wouldn't be driven by memory limitations anytime soon, and would likely be reliant on other technology progression to make it worthwhile..... so you are absolutely right, it'll likely be a while. Maybe, but there's also the issue of more efficient coding, in the 8bit world coding was exceedingly efficient, but through the 1990's and 2000's developers got a bit.... lax as memory was expanding very quickly (look at Word 97 and then later versions of Word, program size has expanded exponentially faster than actual features and useability), but since the late 2000's and Tablets and low power computing things have gotten tighter again in that context and more efficiency has had to be found. So maybe efficiency issues will reign-in the memory expansion (assuming hardware limitations do not).
Back in the 90s 4 gigs would have been viewed as a stupidly high amount. Now that we are reaching the limits I'm sure companies out there are starting to try to develop a new hardware that will make our current ones look like vacuum tubes. Though like you said we are reaching the limits of what we can do with our current chip technology and with tablets/phones we are going back to making things use less rather just making things more powerful. So that will probably slow things down a bit.
You can't escape the fact that you need 64bit OSes for modern use these days - but requiring 64-bit software on that 64-bit OS is highly questionable outside of very specific "work" applications that for some reason or another eats up massive amounts of memory (rendering, numbercrunchers, crypto ect.). Games are generally not among these. There are truly very few games to date that actually use anything close to 4GB, much less more than that. With 64bit OS and 32bit application you can run up to 4GB pr. app. That is a crapload of memory for one single program to use. I really don't see what you need more than 4GB for in PS2s case. It currently uses only a little over 2GB, so why is more than double that supposedly not enough ? Yes, eventually 64bit will be required and will simply be the compiling default - but we are definitely not there yet - and unfortunately the main reason most people think 64-bit is the shiznit is because they think that makes it go faster (it makes it go slower actually in nearly all cases, but not to a significant degree). In any case - killing the 32-bit client while the 64bit client is still a stuttering mess for so many and downright unplayable for a lot more - would be a very bad mistake. That's not counting the people who will stop playing because they simply don't have the option for 64bit. Yes... non-technical casual players with old hardware do exist. -Stigma
