64-bit Operating Systems....

The latest incarnation of the OSX(10.6) now supports a full 64-bit kernel. Is this the future? Should developers jump on the bandwagon and be 64-bit all the way?

The short answer: for 2009 (and very likely till well into 2012) -- 32-bit will be fine. For normal desktop computing use, 32-bit will be sufficient for the next decade or so unless MS-Office and the browsers start gaining a ridiculous amount of volume in the near future and want to be contestants on "The Biggest Loser". My guess is that we are starting to hit certain cognitive limitations (of the human), and new features will be incremental adjustments, rather than massive bloat.

So, why the fuss about 64-bit? The 32-bit kernel is limited to 4Gb of addressable memory -- and we are starting to get machines with a lot more memory now. But, the real issue with needing 64-bit is with how the kernel actually manages memory.

All operating systems break-up available RAM into pages (OSX has 4 kilobyte pages). In order to manage these pages, the operating system actually uses a 64 byte (in OSX) data structure to hold some information about the page. So, if you have 4Gb of RAM -- then the kernel needs 64Mb of space for the memory management data structures.

The issue starts showing up when you have 32Gb of RAM .. you start needing nearly 0.5Gb just for memory management. 64Gb server .. will mean that the kernel now needs 1Gb for memory management data structures. This is the underlying driver for operating systems moving to the 64-bit land -- much more than anything much else. When you bring in virtual memory (the space on say a solid state hard-disk), these newer kernels start to make much more sense.

Will 64-bit applications run faster? The benchmarks on the raw CPU performance say so -- but, for real-world applications (Office, Browser, Photoshop), there will be no discernable difference. Certain types of mathematical computations may run a bit faster -- but then again a 32-bit GPU will perform some mathematical operations a lot faster than any CPU ever will, so not a great comparision.

OSX Snow Leopard ... Apple Retail Experience

I upgraded my primary work machine from Leopard to Snow Leopard (see image of the real animal taken in Afghanistan).

So, what has changed? Nothing really observable.

Applications do start up noticably fasters (esp. the Apple software). Apart from that ... as far as I can tell, nothing much else. There are a number of tweaks -- but my personal user experience has not changed. I do however like the incremental changes that Apple makes to their product line -- rather than ground breaking modifiations to the entire user experience -- which would be rather annoying on a machine that I use everyday, esp. if I cannot find stuff that I used to be able to easily.

In terms of the user experience changes, Windows 7 will be a shock to the majority that will move from Windows XP. There are a lot of changes ... enough to cause a lot of frustration -- esp. Windows explorer and the fact that the menu bar seems to be dissapearing from more and more Microsoft applications. Eventually, I feel that Windows will have a single menu bar anchored at the top of the screen exactly like Apple.

I also spent some time yesterday at the Apple Retail Shop ( Doncaster, Australia). My younger son liked it a lot, esp. since they had machines placed on a kids-desk with games. This clever distraction for the kids essentially meant that I had to spend way longer than planned in the shop -- observing everything else. The really interesting part is that the shop was busy -- they seem to be selling a lot of products. I did not notice anyone walking out with computers (in the short duration I was there -- so no reflection on reality), but a lot of iPods seem to be sold and many more accessories. There were a lot of Apple people (in brightly colored t-shirts), so it was easy to get attention, despite the crowd. I could not place anything specific that seems to be so compelling, but the overall retail experience is nice. The real irony is that Telstra attempted to mimick the Apple retail concept -- only the Telstra shops seem to be permanently empty -- with staff in suits glued to their computers at the far end of the shop, as opposed to wandering the store enthusiastically.

The other interesting observation I made was that most of the store employee's were relatively young and male. It certainly has nothing to do with capability of older people or girls -- rather it seems to be a reflection of interest and preference (or Apple has a hiring policy that breaks the law, which is unlikely).

Now that Microsoft has stated they will also be into retail .. lets see how they compare against Apple. I'm sure it will be a great job explaining the differences between the 5 editions of Windows 7 (every day) and working as a MS technical support that helps remove viruses from a machine.

-- rv
PS: The real wierd bit is that the kid wants to go back to the Apple shop again -- no doubt to play games (atleast it is cheaper than a trip to the zoo).