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See Full StorySetting up the perfect enterprise server architecture seemed straightforward just a few years ago. "You went with [Sun Microsystems'] Solaris for the OS, put Oracle on top of Solaris for the database, used EMC for storage, and Cisco for routers," Yankee Group senior analyst Dana Gardner told the E-Commerce Times. Times have changed, however, and businesses are seeking more cost-effective solutions, such as Linux. Will the open-source OS eclipse Solaris, Sun's proprietary golden child?
The Opteron is *not* the first 64-bit Linux-compatible CPU! Linux has run on the 64-bit Alpha for at least a decade, and on 64-bit Sparc since it came out. And better than 90% of Free Software works perfectly fine on any 64-bit architecture.
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And that's not to mention OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD, which all also run on several 64-bit architectures.
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Proprietary software vendors tend to shoot themselves in the foot. Either they intentionally write code which is 32-bit, or their developers are poor. The C language is more-or-less word size independent. A properly written C program will run on a 32-bit CPU, 64-bit CPU, 128-bit CPU and most often a 16-bit CPU.
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It is poor craftsmanship to write code which is dependent on the underlying CPU! Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, PHP... any prominent Free Software you can think of (and much more you cannot) works just fine on a 64-bit chip, no slower or faster than what the chip is designed to do.
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In fact, the only assumption many Free Software C developers make is that a byte is 8-bits. Of course, very well written C code will work when a byte is 7-bits or even 16-bits, but even in the free software community those strictures are for niche hardware. (of course, many Free Software applications are mindful of those niches; much FS software will work just fine there)
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This is yet again another example of why Free Software is of generally higher quality, especially when compared to Wintel software, which lives in a homogenous environment.
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And that's not to mention OpenBSD, FreeBSD and NetBSD, which all also run on several 64-bit architectures.
.
Proprietary software vendors tend to shoot themselves in the foot. Either they intentionally write code which is 32-bit, or their developers are poor. The C language is more-or-less word size independent. A properly written C program will run on a 32-bit CPU, 64-bit CPU, 128-bit CPU and most often a 16-bit CPU.
.
It is poor craftsmanship to write code which is dependent on the underlying CPU! Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL, PHP... any prominent Free Software you can think of (and much more you cannot) works just fine on a 64-bit chip, no slower or faster than what the chip is designed to do.
.
In fact, the only assumption many Free Software C developers make is that a byte is 8-bits. Of course, very well written C code will work when a byte is 7-bits or even 16-bits, but even in the free software community those strictures are for niche hardware. (of course, many Free Software applications are mindful of those niches; much FS software will work just fine there)
.
This is yet again another example of why Free Software is of generally higher quality, especially when compared to Wintel software, which lives in a homogenous environment.
