And yeah, I dont know of any piece of hardware currently in manufacture that doesnt support 64 bit.
I've got news for you, my friend .... There's lots of hardware out there which doesn't run under x64. Maybe most mainstream computer peripherals do, but there's a whole bunch of specialty and niche-market stuff that doesn't.
I've spent the last 2 weeks doing
extensive homework on the USB stuff I use regularly because I'm building a new system and I'd like to use Vista x64. But I
can't because most of that stuff is
NOT x64 compatible for a lack of 64-bit drivers. The software might run, but what good is that when it can't communicate with the hardware?
A partial list of the hardware I own which does
not have x64 support includes my Futaba 12FG transmitter, my CBA battery analyzer, my Castle Link ESC programmer, my Hyperion battery chargers, and my Eagletree data loggers (all R/C aircraft stuff). Then there's my Davis Vantage Pro 2 digital weather station, my Icom IC-R5 and IC-PCR2500 communications receivers, and my Garmin GPS 12 handheld GPS.
Some of that stuff can be programmed via onboard menu systems, but it's a royal PITA. I wouldn't be able to do firmware updates on or data logging with
any of it, though, and a few of those devices are nothing more than expensive decorations without PC control. Take the IC-PCR2500, for example. That becomes a $1000 brick if my PC can't communicate with it.
Nope, I'm not buying that "all currently-manufactured PC devices are x64 compatible" crap. That's not even close to being true. I
want to use Vista x64 but I also
want to keep using all that hardware, so I'll be sticking with an x86 OS for now.
Pete