Linus Acknowledges 32-Bit Linux As Less Important

[Krysto]

Doubt it, until you can't buy a memory module chip less than 4GB, as you'll see it in embedded. And i predict it will be a long time before windows drops thier 32-bit COM ABI.

Well I don't think any of them will drop the 32-bit support from the 64-bit OS this decade, perhaps with the exception of Apple, but also towards the end of the decade. Even if all devices on the market will have 64-bit hardware and 64-bit operating systems, it will probably be a while until ALL developers move their apps from 32-bit to 64-bit.

On Android and iOS, it will probably be easier to tell and force developers to compile their apps for 64-bit within a certain period of time. But for Windows, and probably Linux, too, it's probably harder to tell everyone who has ever made a program for them, to compile it for 64-bit also. But I could see even devices with 2 GB of RAM using 64-bit OS's, which is what you're talking about. Heck, iOS is already 64-bit on iPhone 5S, and it only has 1 GB of RAM, so I don't think that's much of a problem. Most OS vendors should be able to dump their 32-bit OS, while still maintaining support for 32-bit apps on their 64-bit OS for a while longer.

[TheBlackCat]

I would be surprised if there were any 64 bit android devices in the next couple years.

There are multiple vendors promising 64-bit android devices in 2014.

[energyman]

The move from 16-bit to 32-bit was much more important than the move from 32-bit to 64-bit due to the fact that most software does not benefit from 64-bit memory addressing, that's why 32-bit and 64-bit have been coexisting for such a long time.

as if it was all about more memory....

[bnolsen]

Less important?

Bay Trail is still 32bit only until at least 2014Q2 and is brand new hardware. So Linus is essentially saying "Let's not bother with Bay Trail hardware until a full 64bit Bay Trail product complete with 64bit UEFI firmware is shipping".

That's intel's problem. They should have gone with this as a 64bit part, not 32bit. 32bit is still supportly but rightly so it's a second class citizen when it comes to serious full featured high performance desktop use.