Dolphin Emulator dropping 32-bit support, focuses on 64-bit

[Arras]

Oh well, it only means that I would use older builds. I have 64-bit processor from about 2007 but... I still using WinXP. Simply because I hate any later version of Windows.

Vista got some serious patching and updating and now it's decent, Windows 7 is basically fantastic and 8 is great if you can get used to it (which is not all that hard unless you're one of those people who violently reject any change, and even then installing Classic Shell or whatever will turn it into 7+). That, and with Windows XP no longer being support I'd seriously consider upgrading. Windows 7 runs just as well as XP did on an almost 10 year old PC here, so performance isn't much of a reason not to upgrade.

 

[tbgtbg]

Unfortunately for XP, he's the last sibling of the Windows family to be primarily 32-bit, while his younger brothers Vista, 7 and 8 are designed for 64-bit

That's not completely true. It wasn't until 7 when 64-bit pre-installs became common, most Vista installs were still 32-bit, and even with 7 a lot still were. Fuck 8.

 

[nl255]

Vista got some serious patching and updating and now it's decent, Windows 7 is basically fantastic and 8 is great if you can get used to it (which is not all that hard unless you're one of those people who violently reject any change, and even then installing Classic Shell or whatever will turn it into 7+). That, and with Windows XP no longer being support I'd seriously consider upgrading. Windows 7 runs just as well as XP did on an almost 10 year old PC here, so performance isn't much of a reason not to upgrade.

Yeah, get used to things like no browser addons (so enjoy setting up CFW on your router so you can use dnsmasq based ad blocking), no OpenOffice/LibreOffice (so Google Docs it is unless you want to pay $$$ for MS Office) and having to go through a page of crap like stocks and weather every time you want to start a new program. At least VLC has a version for Windows 8 though it is still in beta.

And yes, you can just use Firefox, Chrome, and LibreOffice in desktop mode but the whole point of Windows 8.x is to move over to Metro apps.

 

[Arras]

Yeah, get used to things like no browser addons (so enjoy setting up CFW on your router so you can use dnsmasq based ad blocking), no OpenOffice/LibreOffice (so Google Docs it is unless you want to pay $$$ for MS Office) and having to go through a page of crap like stocks and weather every time you want to start a new program. At least VLC has a version for Windows 8 though it is still in beta.

And yes, you can just use Firefox, Chrome, and LibreOffice in desktop mode but the whole point of Windows 8.x is to move over to Metro apps.

Seriously, what the fuck. You come across like Windows 8 murdered your parents or something. They're not going to "move away" from the desktop and suddenly break compatibility with 99% of all programs ever. Metro is just there to provide a unified interface for all Microsoft systems, so that people who use one will be able to adapt to another one easier, and so that developers can easily create a program that will work on multiple target platforms, should they choose to do so. If anything they may add a way to start default desktop apps in fullscreen Metro mode at some point but I refuse to believe for even a second the Desktop will be removed. Also, for the end user, their intentions don't matter jack shit because you can just install Classic Shell and BAM, you've got yourself Windows 7+.
Edit: also, that stocks and weather bullshit can be uninstalled without ever leaving the Metro interface.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Seriously, what the fuck. You come across like Windows 8 murdered your parents or something. They're not going to "move away" from the desktop and suddenly break compatibility with 99% of all programs ever. Metro is just there to provide a unified interface for all Microsoft systems, so that people who use one will be able to adapt to another one easier, and so that developers can easily create a program that will work on multiple target platforms, should they choose to do so. If anything they may add a way to start default desktop apps in fullscreen Metro mode at some point but I refuse to believe for even a second the Desktop will be removed. Also, for the end user, their intentions don't matter jack shit because you can just install Classic Shell and BAM, you've got yourself Windows 7+.
Edit: also, that stocks and weather bullshit can be uninstalled without ever leaving the Metro interface.

Should also be noted that they'll be bringing the start menu back in Windows 8.1 as well. But some people just like bitching and crying I guess.

 

[nl255]

Seriously, what the fuck. You come across like Windows 8 murdered your parents or something. They're not going to "move away" from the desktop and suddenly break compatibility with 99% of all programs ever. Metro is just there to provide a unified interface for all Microsoft systems, so that people who use one will be able to adapt to another one easier, and so that developers can easily create a program that will work on multiple target platforms, should they choose to do so. If anything they may add a way to start default desktop apps in fullscreen Metro mode at some point but I refuse to believe for even a second the Desktop will be removed. Also, for the end user, their intentions don't matter jack shit because you can just install Classic Shell and BAM, you've got yourself Windows 7+.
Edit: also, that stocks and weather bullshit can be uninstalled without ever leaving the Metro interface.

A shame there isn't a separate gesture or modifier key to jump straight to your apps list. Oh well, someone will come up with a way to customize that first screen so you can put what you want on it instead of what Microsoft wants without having to go in and uninstall anything. Still, app makers like Firefox and LibreOffice need to get their butts in gear and start making Windows 8 versions.

 

[Fat D]

You can actually set up the start button to go straight to all apps from the setting menu on the desktop. While you are at it, you can also tell it to display desktop apps before modern apps. At least if you are using an up-to-date version (8.1 Update).
Seriously, the Taskbar and Navigation settings menu could be renamed "Windows 8 de-sucking".

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

A shame there isn't a separate gesture or modifier key to jump straight to your apps list. Oh well, someone will come up with a way to customize that first screen so you can put what you want on it instead of what Microsoft wants without having to go in and uninstall anything. Still, app makers like Firefox and LibreOffice need to get their butts in gear and start making Windows 8 versions.

Except 8.1 has an option that does let you skip to just the app list, my father uses it on his ultrabook and I used it until I installed Classic Shell. You can set it to boot to desktop, hit the Windows key, and then you get a list of all apps. You can set it to search all installed programs, not just windows store ones, and you can set it so shortcuts on your desktop get priority in the list.


EDIT:

 

[Arras]

A shame there isn't a separate gesture or modifier key to jump straight to your apps list. Oh well, someone will come up with a way to customize that first screen so you can put what you want on it instead of what Microsoft wants without having to go in and uninstall anything. Still, app makers like Firefox and LibreOffice need to get their butts in gear and start making Windows 8 versions.

They don't, because they realize nobody uses it.

 

[LWares87]

32bit support was dead since October last year, when they abandoned D3D9.

 

[nl255]

They don't, because they realize nobody uses it.

Though that will change once everyone uses it, even for "desktop" apps. Of course the desktop is going away and it would be relatively easy for them to do. Just create a thunking layer to translate GDI/DirectX calls into the appropriate Metro API calls (and since Metro supports DirectX it should be much easier than say, translating those into Quartz functions). Thus retaining compatibility with 95% to 99.9% of all win32 desktop apps with no desktop.

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Whao! I'm surprised, i always used and still using 32 bit OS cause for some reason my PC gets slow after some time on x64..... was it cause of HDD or something else idk..... ( I got a new HDD so i'll try it out again)

 

[the_randomizer]

Whao! I'm surprised, i always used and still using 32 bit OS cause for some reason my PC gets slow after some time on x64..... was it cause of HDD or something else idk..... ( I got a new HDD so i'll try it out again)

Could be any number of factors, memory leakage, HDD speed, driver issues, etc. 64-bit OSes are almost always going to be faster in the long run.

 

[Mario92]

Oh well, it only means that I would use older builds. I have 64-bit processor from about 2007 but... I still using WinXP. Simply because I hate any later version of Windows.

Using XP is really high security risk even if you use up to date programs and AV even if it's still great. You are pretty much forced to update at some point anyway so it'll be easier when you can still do it with less worries and hurry. Reason why some companies are still using XP is because of 16-bit software which hasn't been updated and isn't supported with newer Windows versions because of security risks.

32-bit era and DX9 has been around AGES. Especially with games that has been really dissapointing when 64-bit and openGL/DX11 could offer so much more. Some games have had those but usually as secondary feature so they didn't work that great or were buggier to regular build.

I'm fairly sure if someone wants to use Dolphin they at least have 64-bit compatible hardware even if OS is 32-bit.

Fuck 8.

Yeah fuck 8. Yay for 8.1! It's like 7 but slightly better with few setting changing! If they named that update to 9 everyone would love it.

 

[GamerzHell9137]

Could be any number of factors, memory leakage, HDD speed, driver issues, etc. 64-bit OSes are almost always going to be faster in the long run.

Its just a pain to transfer all of the files from HDD now....
And the old HDD was pretty shitty, maybe it was it.

 

[Deleted-236924]

Reason why some companies are still using XP is because of 16-bit software which hasn't been updated and isn't supported with newer Windows versions because of security risks.

They use XP still and pay for extended support because it costs them less than upgrading everything to 7.
Vista and 7 32-bit still have support for 16-bit software, not sure about Windows 8 32-bit.

 

[Pleng]

They are dropping support for 32-bit in x86 architectures. I'm sure 32-bit Android support won't be dropped...

If you read the listed advantages of dropping 32bit support, it states they're going to specifically optimize the code for 64-bit architectures. That being the case, I doubt we'll be seeing any new Android builds until 64-bit Android devices start to appear.


(edit) ps sorry I've made a post about the Dolphin emulator - seems this is now another XP vs 7 thread!

 

[grossaffe]

for everyone worried about android, they said right there in the conclusion: "32-bit ARM devices are not affected by this decision and will continue to be supported."

 

[Hells Malice]

and no shits were given.

This makes perfect sense given how irrelevant 32bit is these days.

 

[Jayro]

My next Windows reinstall will be 8.1+Update 1, 64-bit with ClassicShell. But for now, I'm stuck with my stable Windows 7 32-bit build, and am still happy with the performance it provides, given my 2007 hardware.