I know what Cell is.  I respect it, but it hasn't gotten much traction outside of the PS3.  The PS3 had a firmware update to disable using other OSes, too, so not much for supercomputing anymore.

Because win7 works, lots of people are still on XP, and we know nothing about win8 except it'll have some sort of cloud usage.  And win8 will not make win7 obsolete, especially for devs who target what people have.

I think MS's biggest mistake with vista was having a 32bit version... and then they followed it by having a 32bit version of win 7...

there was absolutely no reason to do that. Due to heavily modified architecture drivers had to be rewritten anyways... it just slowed adoption, lowed compatibility, and caused problems. MS was stupid to make 32bit vista, and it has held back entire industries. There was also absolutely no reason for it, since 64bit vista and win7 can run any 32bit program except drivers and programs that use a driver for low level operations (ex: some overclocking tools, optical disk emulators, and a select few others), all of which eventually were ported to 64bit.

My current OS is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. The only issue I have had with the OS is playing older games. I bought Command & Conquer The first Decade the other day. The older games on the DVD do not run even with all the patches. That's OK I guess though. Those games were written for Windows 95 and 98. The games on the DVD I wanted to play work great.

Now if I could just figure out how to get them to run without getting stretched out in on the widescreen monitor...

http://www.cnc-comm.com/community/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=16 is a good thing to have for TFD...can't play online with it I assume since it cracks the games (and yes, it is unofficially endorsed by EA) but it's nice to have if you don't do that.

Fibber...I bet you're runnin' Ubuntu on a Mac.

As for getting your games to run in widescreen, look here.

I've been waiting for 32-bit operating systems to die for a while now.  I'm not saying I won't be using some 32-bit systems for some things, but I want the old stuff gone asap and will replace it all as time and money permits.

Savyg - I am running that patch. Even with that patch the old games will not run on Windows 7. That's OK.

CarGuy1 - I haven't used Linux as my main OS in years. Thanks for the link. I'll look into it.

Well, i will give one reason... flash is now used a lot by internet site... try to open a flash site, using the 64 bits explorer on a 64 bits OS... result will be the following ( http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/000/6b3af6c9.html ) :

"... This is likely because your computer is running a 64-bit Web browser on a 64-bit operating system and you are trying to install Flash Player. Flash Player does not run in most 64-bit browsers. If you attempt to download the Flash Player in a 64-bit browser that does not support Flash Player, you will see a message from Adobe and a link back to this page. To install Flash Player, use a 32-bit Web browser on your 64-bit operating system. All major browsers are available in 32-bit versions and the Internet Explorer 32-bit browser is the default browser on Windows 64-bit systems..."

MS is certainly not stupid... and it is some lazy dev from the industry who held back OS dev and the majority of the industries... In fact, in case of the Flash problem with 64 bits internet browser / OS, it is MS who have propose a alternative called Silverlight ( Moonlight on Linux )... slowly, more and more internet site use the Silverlight system but a lot of them continue to use flash...

This post show only one example why the move to full 64 bits is not yet possible or wanted...

Well, there is maybe a solution... Simply upgrade your Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit to the professional/Ultimate/Enterprise edition...

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/windows-xp-mode

Fibber...I bet you're runnin' Ubuntu on a Mac

Well, if you have a MAC pro, Windows 7 Professional/Ultimate/Enterprise is a good choice too, for when you add a second processor :

Commercial servers, workstations, and other high-end PCs may have more than one physical processor. Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate allow for two physical processors, providing the best performance on these computers. Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, and Home Premium will recognize only one physical processor.

So use the 32bit explorer... which part of "only drivers don't work" didn't you get? Flash is not a driver, nothing stops you from running 32bit flash on 64bit windows via a 32bit browser...

Adobe flash is a POS and it is the single reason why all browsers are still 32bit. Adobe flash is grossly outdated AND unstable (crashing) AND insecure (viruses) and many people disable it outright.

All that being said... nothing stops you from running 32bit software that is not driver based on 64bit OS... Firefox, internet explorer, and google chrome, and opera, and all other browsers are 32bit, even on 64bit windows. That is how they work with flash, flash is the ONLY reason they are still 32bit.

Thanks for the suggestion. I know about the XP mode. However I am happy running the version of 7 I have. I have little interest in the older games I was trying to run and the games I do have interest in run quite well.

There is a 64 bit Flash for Windows on Adobe Labs now, but since IE9s 64 bit version is noticably worse performing nobody cares yet.

It certainly doesn't matter to me if I use a 32 bit or 64 bit browser, even if I would prefer to use a 64 bit one.

If IE9x64s final version is as fast as the 32 bit one, I'd use it.  Firefox 4s final version is supposed to have a 64 bit client as well.  No idea about Chromes plans in that area.

XP mode does not properly support video card's drivers and 3d, it is meant entirely for business software, not games.

As a result you can't use it to properly run games.

The closest thing to a legitimate argument for 32bit vista to exist was the existence of the intel 32bit only atom... but:

1. there has always been a 64bit atom as well, and it is much better. But it has been limited to desktops (it wouldn't have if MS made vista 64bit only)

2. the atom was not even on the horizon when 32bit windows vista was released.

3. the atom is too slow to run vista properly and doesn't allow enough ram (2GB max)

A crappy offshoot you have to build yourself or use outdated builds iirc...yeah no thanks.  I dig official builds.

And most people do not share your unhappiness with Flash unless they're Linux or Mac users.

1. you don't have to build it yourself, its fully build and even has an installer.

2. it isn't a crappy offshot, it uses the same source code + a few additions.

3. It isn't outdated, it has always carried the latest version, beta versions, and alpha versions. The front page shows a list of BLOG updates and the blog hasn't been updated in forever... but if you actually go to the download page you will see current version, as well as beta and alpha versions of future releases.

...

1. Mac can go die in a ditch... apple sells the most overpriced and crappiest OS with the worst DRM...

Linux is too much effort and gives you no advantages. FreeBSD and solaris on the other hand give you nice benefits for all that extra work so I use them in SPECIFIC Applications... by my main day to day use is done on Windows7 x64... maybe you missed the part where I said I switched from windows XP to XPx64 to Vistax64 to win7x64

2. Adobe flash actually competes with microsoft silver light. You fail, try again.

3. Adobe flash is such a POS that everyone else got together and added a bunch of functions in HTML5 to make it obsolete... AND every time websites asked what is the most desireable feature? (youtube, hulu, etc) they got the same answer... get rid of flash and replace it with HTML5 video. so they did http://www.youtube.com/html5

4. My disappointment with flash began in 2003 when I switched to XPx64 and found out that there is no flash 64bit for IE x64... it has grown since... It flared up into scathing hate over the years as flash became the defacto source of malware infection (as well as ads and other junk) because of closing of security holes elsewhere while flash remained a POS. I suggest you look into http://noscript.net/ for a flash+javascript blocker (javascript isn't as bad as flash, still has problems)... oh, AND they never saw fit to port it to 64bit.