>>>>>I am interested to hear opinions about going with 64 bit Win 7 OS in general. Not just as it relates to VFP, but as an overall workstation. I'm sure we all use lots of software on our machines these days besides just VFP, so I want to look beyond just that detail. I am attracted to a 64 bit OS (I guess I am. Shouldn't it be better? It sure sounds cool, but I have no clue).
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>>>>>I do not want to go down some path where I spend more time maintaining the machine (drivers, and work-arounds to make my apps work) than it's worth, just to say I am using a 64 bit OS.
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>>>>>I have a nice modern Dell XPS 690 with a Dual Core 3.0 Ghz and 4GB of ram, and I would plan to do a complete new install on an empty hard drive. It's hard to complain about the performance of XP SP3 as it is right now, so I'm not sure I'm ready for the 64-bit plunge if it gets too involved. On the other hand, I don't want to get left behind in the world of my knowledge and experience in this area if it is going to be something that becomes more mainstream.
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>>>>I run a 64bit Vista on my laptop. Runs just fine can't complain one way or another doesn't seem any better than 32 bit but I could add more memory if I wanted. I haven't had any issues with drivers for my printers or camera even my GPS unit hooks up to it just fine. Never upgraded to 64bit the laptop came preinstalled so I can't really speak to hardware issue like graphic cards and such.
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>>>All the apps you have purchased over the years still run on 64 bit?
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>>32-bit apps load in the 32-bit emulator much like the old win16s...
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>Hot Diggity! I'm going to get the 64 bit version of W7 hoping that it executes an app much quicker than 32 bit.


Sarcasm helps this discussion how? I have a number of 32-bit programs running on my 64-bit machine and don't really notice any degradation of performance. Then again, I don't sit with a stop-watch and measure the load times, execution times, etc.


Here's the official description of the WOW 64-bit emulation:

The PC industry is gradually transitioning from an installed base of primarily 32-bit systems to one of primarily 64-bit systems. In the interim, many application developers will continue to build 32-bit versions of their applications or will provide both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. To ease the effort that is involved in porting applications and to help encourage adoption of 64-bit computing, Microsoft provides Windows 32-bit On Windows 64-bit (WOW64), an emulation layer that enables 32 bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on 64-bit Windows. This paper defines best practices for building applications that run on WOW64.