What's the difference between 32bit and 64bit Internet Explorer?

S

sth128

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
122
On my start menu there's a 64-bit Internet Explorer... What does it do that my regular 32-bit version won't? Is it necessary for loading images bigger than 4Gb or something?

ps. I use Firefox... So I don't know why I'm asking about this... LOL
 
Well, one's 32-bit and one's 64-bit ;)

There isn't really any good reason to use 64-bit IE at the moment because many plugins (well, ActiveX controls for embedded content) aren't compatible with it, and as you point out it's not the sort of program that's going to benefit hugely from 64-bitness. Maybe it can use 64-bit operations to run slightly faster, I don't know - but incompatibility with embedded content means it's not a good option.
 
basically it's a speed thing, 64-bit Internet Explorer has the ability to carry around twice as much data. internal server applications such as databases, web serving and etc 64-bit should have noticeable performance increase.
 
Another reason not to use the x64 browser is a lack of plug-ins that either exist, or work properly, such as Flash.
 
DeaconFrost said:
Another reason not to use the x64 browser is a lack of plug-ins that either exist, or work properly, such as Flash.
Click to expand...


Granted it's not to usable to the home user right now do to not having a lot of plugin support as of now, but as this support does come it will become very nice.
 
DeaconFrost said:
Another reason not to use the x64 browser is a lack of plug-ins that either exist, or work properly, such as Flash.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was what I was trying to refer to above. I was trying to edge around calling them "plugins" since that's Netscape/Mozilla, but I guess it works as well.
 
MS called them plugins, too, before their "embrace and extend" campaign turned them into "Extensions."
 
DeaconFrost said:
Another reason not to use the x64 browser is a lack of plug-ins that either exist, or work properly, such as Flash.
Click to expand...

Maybe they are having a hard time making a 64 bit flash player that has as many security holes as the 32 bit version, and still get it to work on 64 bit. :D
 
The way I see it, the 64-bit IE is there to initialize a transition between 32-bit and 64-bit, when eventually, 32-bit application support will be limited or dropped. By that time, instead of having a completely new browser that no one has developed for, they will have one that has already existed for a while. That said, dropping 32-bit support is likely still something really far off.
 
They should drop both 32-bit and 64-bit, and embrace 128-bit... Like ME!!!

That's right.. My user name is 128 bit... that's why the number is there LOL

Anyway, (bad) jokes aside, I guess there's no reason for me to use the 64bit browser, not that I was going to, as I said, I use Firefox... Can't wait for Firefox 3! It will feature an actual fox... on fire!!!
 
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