Windows 7 x64 is becoming very popular. More and more people want to unleash the power of their quadcore-64-bit-CPU’s and use the chance to upgrade to Windows 7 x64. 64-bit is working flawlessly, thanks to the great support of all major hardware/software companies like NVidia. Unfortunately, there’s always a black sheep. This time it is Adobe, they simply won’t release a Windows 7 x64 flash plugin!
Flash Player 10
Adobe recently released the flash player 10 in October. The list of new features is long:
- 3D effects
- Custom filters and effects
- World-class typhografic control
- Dynamic sound generation
No Support For 64-bit Windows but for Linux!
But where is the support for Windows 7 x64?
Without a flash x64 plugin for Windows 7 we will not be able to run a 64-bit browser and visit a flash website.
Of course, we also can’t visit any video site without a working Java 64-bit plugin like YouTube, making a downgrade to a x32 browser necessary in the end. Luckily, there are already both editions of the Internet Explorer pre-installed in Windows 7, but if you are using Firefox like me, you will have to stick with the slower 32-bit fox.
Sign Petition: Flash Plugin for Windows x64
As much as I love Adobe (heck, I probably wouldn’t even write this here, if there was no Adobe), this is ridiculous and highly unprofessional of Adobe. That’s why I decided that it’s time for a petition. A petition with just one goal: A beta release of a flash plugin for a 64-bit Windows (yes, they have one for linux!) in January, 2010.
All Linux users can download the flash plugin for Linux x64 here.
All Windows users, please sign this petition!!
Flash 64-bit on Windows 7 Petition @ ipetitions.com
Join petition chat room.
Petition at PetitionSpot.
We aim to get 10,000 signatures, so please Re-Tweet, Digg and Stumble this post if you want to support this petition.
errr… 64-bit doesn’t work like that. The “64-bits” in 64 bits refers specifically to the accuracy of numbers used in the operating system to represent a memory address. More accuracy (64 bits instead of 32) means that the operating system can address, and therefore use, more memory. It has nothing to do with speed!
There’s a 64-bit linux flash plugin because 64-bit linux became popular way before 64-bit windows (because of linux’s popularity with the computer hobbyist crowd), and because a lot of linux distros have a tendency to not play well with mixed 64/32 bit binaries (at least in the beginning), so a 64-bit plugin was much more necessary.
Now, as for the memory issue… 32 bits of memory address space can access up to 4 Gigabytes of RAM. Now, Windows, for some arcane reason known only to Microsoft, will only access about 3.5 gigabytes with a 32-bit version of Windows. If you have less RAM than that, a 64-bit operating system will do you no good, even if you have a 64-bit processor. It may, in fact, actually slow things down (marginally) since now it has to shovel twice as many bits around in addresses, with no benefit.
If the browser you’re running hogs up more than 4 gigabytes of RAM at once, I think you have more things to worry about than not being able to watch that cat jump into a box!
(For those interested, 64 bits can address up to 16 exabytes of memory. To compare, this much memory could hold 800,000 years of continuous, dvd-quality video. That’s 8 times longer than the age of Homo Sapiens, as a species! so, I don’t expect 128-bit any time soon, which could store 64 quadrillion times the time it takes our solar system to orbit the galactic center, in dvd-quality video.)
“Now, Windows, for some arcane reason known only to Microsoft, will only access about 3.5 gigabytes with a 32-bit version of Windows.”
Actually, this is WELL documented all over the place. And if you run a system board which supports PAE well and properly — most Intel boards and several AMD boards based on the nForce chipset in particular — you can address the full 4GB of RAM.
As for speed, x64 is often faster. Not by a large margin, but faster none-the-less at most tasks. Not everything, mind you… 32-bit still runs quicker for some things, but nothing is perfect.
My laptop only has 2GB of RAM (all it can support) with XP x64 installed, and I most certainly see the benefit of the x64 OS on here. In particular, the change in how each process’s virtual memory is handled helps quite a bit. I run an even mix of 32- and 64-bit applications, preferring native 64-bit of course, and the result is a steady-flowing, snappy environment. Especially when running thinks like VirtualBox and VirtualPC.
Windows 7 x64 is a rocket ship. Too bad I absolutely abhor the Vista interface otherwise I might upgrade. Of course, I will have to at some point as XP x64 support slips away. I will move away from Windows altogether for my personal usage by the time that happens, though. (Simply put, I do not like being funneled through a “phone tree” to use my computer.)