Who needs 64-bit?

Wrong question.

Didn’t we ask ourselves a similar question years ago when we all felt (kind of) comfortable in the 16-bit world and this 32-bit thing eventually appeared in Windows? Yesterday I've seen my boss sending out a lengthy email response to an internal Microsoft alias where an honorable person (non-MS) asked the very question. My boss did a very good job BUT it’s still the wrong question. 64-bit is as inevitable for IT as rain is for the seasons. And man, 64-bit is not new, it is just relatively new to Windows and therefore it may look new to the masses.

Today, if you don’t see that you don’t have no choice anymore, you better plan for an early retirement. 64-bit is inevitable. Very soon (not in 2007 or later) there will be no more desktop and server systems that are not capable of running a 64-bit OS.

I’ve seen the early Itanium 1 days, Those were the days of huge COMPAQ 7-U rack mountable boxes with fans, noisy like starting jet engines. Those were the early days and the question has been asked many time, but today?

No doubt, you may not see an immediate need for 64-bit on on your laptop (it’s cool anyway) but I can tell from working with many, many of Microsoft top ISV and enterprise partners, they’re on the bandwagon since long ago and don’t ask this question for quite some time anymore.

Thoughts?