Essential But Not Sufficient
Microsoft is estimating an x86-64 beta OS for Hammers by the end of September, with a final product by the end of this year, early next.
While this is necessary, and certainly would be bad if it didn’t happen, in-and-of-itself, it’s not great news.
Based on all the Hammer benchmarks we’ve seen so far, Hammer processors are going to need x86-64 to shine. This makes availability of x86-64 software over the next six months to a year critical.
The Hammer platform is like a house, and software is furniture for the house.
Getting an MS x86-64 OS for the desktop is like getting a kitchen table and chairs for the house. You certainly want that; it’s a lot better than eating from the floor, but you’d hardly call the house fully furnished once you got that.
What prospective Hammer buyers should be watching very closely in the months ahead is the other software that gets ported over to x86-64.
So far, there haven’t been a lot of Windows desktop applications/games where the makers have declared that’s they’re going to go for it. Actually, there’s been practically none.
Yes, it’s still fairly early, but it’s something to keep an eye on. When the product debuts, look to see how many and which software companies are there raising their hands and saying, “Me, too.”
I’m not talking about having products ready; that would be too much to expect on the Windows side by late September. I’m talking about declarations of intention, as in, “We’re going to have this.”
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