Where will 64-bit processing take us???

Computers & Internet Forum

I'm just wondering what people think will be the new industry standards for the 64-bit computing community, and the near future of computing in general.

I'm afraid of the realism that will be possible through 3D animation on 64-bit systems...

What other advances will be made? I understand that the new Windows OS, Longhorn, is supposed to have a 3D desktop, and other new-fangled wizardry, but what will all of that mean to the everyday internet user?

Maybe if we talk about it enough, we'll predict one of the new waves that this higher level of computing will bring about...

3d styled desktops have been around for quite some time in one fashion or another. that's just microsoft playing the catch-up game. remember when they started putting a firewall in windows? but you do make an interesting point about where we are headed. we have had 64 bit processors from amd for a few years, and now intel is in it's own catch up game with that (some would say pretty much caught up with the new 64-bit quad xenons intel has announced). but it will be nice to have a new 64 bit os to go along with the capable hardware. as far as the home user goes i don't know really what a big deal it will be unless you are a hardcore gamer and have all the hardware to go with it (along with new games that can take advantage of a 64-bit instruction set). it's kind of like the "gig wars" of the processors. there comes a point where the average home user can't see a bit of difference between having a 1.2 or a 2.4 Ghz processor in their desktop if all they do is surf the internet and use ms office every now and then. i think the same thing will apply here. people will buy it because it's the next big thing whether they really need it or not.

personally i feel we are about to hit a big roadblock as far as hardware is concerned. we are going to soon reach a point (kind of like the speed of light in physics) where we simply can do no more with the physical limitations of the hardware components we are using (heat being the biggest obstacle as things get faster and smaller). i'm really looking forward to the day when quantum computers are an affordable reality, then we'll see some really amazing things. now don't get me wrong, i think we will see some amazing things before the quantum computer age (that's definitely decades away), i'm just saying that that is the big revolution that i'm looking forward too.

excellent conversation starter. it really gives us all a lot to ponder.

you know what? forget about that first bit i spewed about the 3d desktops. you're absolutely right. the new type of 3d/interactive desktop you mentioned will be miles ahead of any 3d desktop that's probably around now for windows. didn't mean to be a killjoy or anything. it will be very impressive.

You bum...

Thinking back on my original post, I don't think I really articulated what I was considering when I started the thread. I consider the advancement of the internet since 1997. Most of that was with 32-bit processing, wasn't it, especially with the onset of broadband internet? Website design has come a long way, and so has online gaming, ecommerce, and ebusiness in general. There was a federal government study started in 1998 that was only just completed last month, due to how rapidly the internet was changing, which necessitated revisiting areas of the study that were already completed but quickly became outdated and irrelevant in some cases. Imagine, the internet changed so drastically that a study took SEVEN YEARS to complete. Now you've got more robust browsers (I favour Firefox myself...), excellent web creation tools like just about anything from Macromedia (dreamweaver, flash, fireworks, etc), which allows for websites to really offer a lot more content and be more visually appealing. What new tools will 64-bit processing bring in, and how will those tools change the face of the internet? I'm afraid to think about what would be possible game-wise, let alone in movies, etc... And if broadband speeds continue to increase (as I'm sure they'll eventually have to...), what will that mean for how the average everyday internet user experiences the web?

extremely high bandwidth could lead to high-def streaming. maybe one day we'll see all 3d web pages, maybe more economically feaseable virtual reality equipment for the home user. with a vr 3d desktop you could just reach in and "move" your audio/video player out of the way as you browse your local grocery store, picking out bread and cereal to put in a virtual cart for them to deliver to your house later on in the day. or something like that. this is corny but it could be star trek realized one day. i mean, just look at many of the cell phones today. don't a lot of them flip up like the communicator from the original star trek series? coincidence? i think not.

are you familiar with moore's law: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/Moores_Law.html

I wasn't familiar with the fact that there was actually a stated law, but I did notice the trend in recent years.

What you mentioned about a possible vr 3d environment reminds me of Johnny Mnemonic. It actually isn't corny at all to me. I see that as being quite a possibility. Think about when we were kids and what we were engaged in growing up. How different is the landscape for children's development now than when we were kids? Tech was a growing thing back then (walkmans in public school, cd players in high school). All of a sudden, we had mp3 players in college, ipods now, convergence in cellphones pda's digital cameras and portable videogames just beginning, the next revolution in home connectivity fast on the approach, the appearance and even the function of TV's is being altered, cars are changing and will continue to change drastically over the course of the next 10 - 15 years, space exploration is reaching new heights and surpassing boundaries (how far away is that probe that left our solar system and is still transmitting?).

To be honest, I see true anti-gravity (not artificial gravity which we already have technology for, or magnetic levitation like the trains) coming far sooner than we think, as well as a shift in civil engineering and city planning. Don't look now, but I may be getting the "futurist bug"... It all just excites me to no end. The possibilities...