| Remember the day Windows 95 came out? Thousands of people across the nation camped out at computer stores -- the benefits of 32-bit processing were obvious, even to the lowly end user. Seemingly overnight, the entire world made the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit operating systems. Programmers were ecstatic too. No more segmented programming or extended vs. expanded memory. Certain programming problems, such as having 16-bit integers, went away too. No doubt about it, 32-bit computing was a big improvement.
The evolution continues. Intel, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett Packard, and AMD currently develop or offer 64-bit processors. A 64-bit chip has 1 terabyte of virtual memory compared to just four gigabytes in 32-bit processors. (To put this in perspective, one terabyte is 50% more information than all of the printed material in the Library of Congress.)
Will 64-bit computing change the world as we know it? Or is 32-bit computing more than enough to meet the average user's needs? We've gathered resources to help you find out.  Introducing 64-bit Windows
Related Links:
An Introduction to 64-bit computing and x86-64
Check out 64-bit processing
How microprocessors work
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by Cathy Ketcher
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