Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

x64

Microsoft ending Itanium support

It will be a slow, drawn-out process, but Microsoft is phasing out its support for Intel's once-promising Itanium chip.

In a blog posting on Friday, Microsoft said that the current version of Windows Server--Windows Server 2008 R2--will be the last one that supports the Itanium. Microsoft also said that its SQL Server 2008 R2 and Visual Studio 2010 will be the last version of its database and developer tools that run on the Intel chip.

Windows Server senior technical product manager Dan Reger said the move reflects the fact that 64-bit versions of traditional x86 processors can handle even … Read more

64-bit Snow Leopard defaults to 32-bit kernel

Apple's Snow Leopard operating system, released Friday, by default loads with a 32-bit kernel, despite running 64-bit applications.

While Mac OS X version 10.6 ships with a number of 64-bit native applications, the kernel itself defaults to 32-bit, unless the user holds down the "6" and "4" keys during boot time, at which point the 64-bit kernel is loaded. Only Apple's X-Serve products, using Snow Leopard Server, boot into a 64-bit kernel by default.

"For the most part, everything that they experience on the Mac, from the 64-bit point of view, the … Read more