Re: Y21C Bug

[Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com>]

In article <84vev2$7p4@ftp.kvaerner.com>,
  "Tarjei T. Jensen" <tarjei.jensen@kvaerner.com> wrote:
> I expect support for creating old type 32bit applications to
> be phased out within the next five years. I expect support for
> old type 32bit applications to be phased out within 10 years
> from now. I expect Unixes - even those which run on 32 bit
> systems - to be 64 bit (compliant) by the end of the decade.


I can just imagine someone saying in 1985 (easy to imagine,
because it is based on memories of hearing this said often)

"I expect support for COBOL-74 and related applications to be
 phased out by the end of the decade, and we should not have
 any trouble with the date change in 2000 because all old
 applications will be phased out by then, and all new
 applications are being written to be aware of this problem"

Tarjei gives absolutely NO documentation for his expectations,
he seems to have just based them on what seems reasonable.

The actual facts are that old software stays around for a long
time. Look for example at the situation on -o32 with SGI. SGI
would surely like to get rid of this old ABI, and pushes
customers hard to move to the new much more efficient -n32
ABI, but there are still many 3rd party libraries etc which
have not made the switch.

So there we are talking about a switch from one 32-bit for to
another, something that has almost NO effect on existing code,
and even that switch looks like it will end up taking a decade.

I think you *greatly* underestimate the time scale for 32-bit
mode disappearing.

No vendor has indicated any push in the direction of eliminating
32-bit mode support.

Besides which, many applications are smaller and run faster in
32-bit mode, so why would you switch them in any case?

Yes, surely 64-bit time will become a standard before it is
an issue, but that does not mean that old non-standard programs
will suddenly go away :-)


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