Apple joins the 64-bit party

When Apple debuted the Power Mac G5, it called it "the world's first 64-bit personal computer." True, the G5 is capable of 64-bit processing, but Mac OS X lacks 64-bit addressing and programs are currently limited to data structures about 4 gigabytes in size. Apple recently removed this limit when it announced that "Tiger," Mac OS X version 10.4, due next year, will support 64-bit addressing. All of the details of Apple's 64-bit strategy aren't known yet, but there's enough information to see how the market for 64-bit computing will stack up between Tiger; Longhorn; and the dark horse in this race, 64-bit LInux. Interestingly, of the several 64-bit Unix operating systems developed over the years, none is being adapted for consumer use.