Compatibility of old(ish) Software with Windows 7

[Syed Zaeem Hosain (Syed.Hosain@aeris.net)]

Helen Borrie said:
> Just a point to those encouraging Carrie to "install as 64-bit" - there's no way you can make a 32-bit application install or run as 64-bit. 

You are correct, but ... I think the suggestions have been to install the Windows 7 OS itself as 64-bit, not the application, on modern computers and laptops. 

On a modern computer/laptop of the past few years, which are usually fully 64-bit capable and _usually_ have more than 4GB of main memory, installing Windows 7 32-bit is silly and wasteful. You end up not using the memory above 4GB (actually, less, since the graphics cards and stuff also take up some of the low-memory in a 32-bit OS load), etc., etc., etc.

FrameMaker 7.2 and Acrobat 7 (which are 32-bit apps) should/will run perfectly fine on Windows 7 64-bit systems.

Indeed, most 32-bit apps of even more than a few years ago, will work ... generally, it is low-level stuff like drivers, etc., that are very specific and sensitive to the chosen OS.

Z