Microsoft Working on 128-bit Windows

News
By Marcus Yam
published

That's a lot of bits.

Just before the world receives Windows 7, there are already rumblings of a generation-after-next version of Windows that will come in a 128-bit flavor.

Eightforums spotted in Microsoft Senior Research & Development employee Robert Morgan's LinkedIn profile that he was working IA-128 for the next two generations of Windows.

The update to Morgan's profile, which has since been removed, read as follows:

"Robert Morgan is working to get IA-128 working backwards with full binary compatibility on the existing IA-64 instructions in the hardware simulation to work for Windows 8 and definitely Windows 9."

While progress is no surprise, especially since many expect that 64-bit will become the majority for Windows 7, it's somewhat of a revelation if 128-bit software will be available just one generation from now.

Stay tuned, as Morgan has agreed to a short Q&A with Eightforums. We'll be recapping the best bits for you as soon as they're available.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
124 Comments Comment from the forums
  • But will it run Crysis...
    Reply
  • tayb
    Oh man, 64 bit was considered the "holy grail" and that was all that we would need. No more limitations. 128 bit is crazy. I don't think it will be necessary or relevant really until Windows 9 or 10. 64-bit on the Windows side still doesn't see mass adoption because of all the older computers that aren't 64-bit capable.

    I wonder how long until we see 128-bit processors? AMD64 was a hit and they've been underwhelming since then maybe they'll make a comeback with AMD128 lol.
    Reply
  • Supertrek32
    Will 128-bit be incompatible with 32-bit software the same way 64 is incompatible with 16? If so, it'll be a long time before this happens, considering 90% of software out right now is 32bit...
    Reply
  • Jerky_san
    Great.. now we will have 128bit when barely anyone supports 64..
    Reply
  • jn77
    So, 128 bit windows on a 128bit computer with 100 TB hard drive space, and 32 tb ram, with 512 core processor.... How would that affect the ability for me to edit 1080p HD video? in comparison with todays hardware....
    Reply
  • jn77
    JN77So, 128 bit windows on a 128bit computer with 100 TB hard drive space, and 32 tb ram, with 512 core processor.... How would that affect the ability for me to edit 1080p HD video? in comparison with todays hardware....

    It would be nice to edit HD Video at double or quad speed (2x or 4x) edit 1 hour of HD video in 15 minutes..... I remember the days of doing that with video tapes... digital is so behind......
    Reply
  • bmxmon
    It would probably still crash :P JK
    Reply
  • hannibal
    128 bit dream computer: edit in real time with all effects
    64 bit crap today highend computer: edit in real time, wait some time (even a couple of seconds) for redering the effects...

    So there can be difference

    ;-)

    128 bit offer even bigger memory space and wider registry entry. Usefull... eventually and in some aplications maybe even today
    Reply
  • hannibal
    In reality: There is never a thing like "Nobody needs more memory than xxx" "It's overkill" "When we have xxxxx We don't need faster computers"...
    Maybe this mean that win8 is released "only" 64bit and 128bit versions?
    "The old 32bit king is dead, Long live the new 64bit king!
    Maybe?
    Reply
  • bison88
    I don't think Windows 8 should have any 128 bit support at all. It may sound soon but we are speaking 2 generations ahead and given MS timescale of about 4 years or so for a complete upgrade OS that buys us at least 8 years from now. That is a long way away. Of course people look towards the "memory" factor when they weigh in 32 vs 64 but there are some other incentives that just aren't relevant right now mostly because people still don't want to make the switch even after 6 years and software developers don't want to focus just on 64 bit when the majority is still 32 bit. Its a stalemate and up to the consumers to get off there ass and move forward, can't always blame the developers and companies who want to progress and spend the money doing so. You as a consumer have to want it to happen.

    That being said it will either be a flop or a success depending on who breaks the stalemate first. 128 bit is not neccessary for the consumer market IMO but for the corporations and the government it could become useful since they have there own teams designing software for there needs anyways.

    Don't just think 128 bit will support 100 million googlillion gigabytes of ram. I am still waiting on 16GB sticks of ram like the rest of everyone now that I made the switch, not like much uses anything near that much anyways but still its nice to be ahead of the technology times for once and not worry about upgrading at least one peripheral every 3 months. I guess 8GB will have to do, until next time see you all when we are all running Windows 9. :)
    Reply