Microsoft Office will have a 64-bit edition for version 2010. This is a big deal because that’s Microsoft flagship product. More on that in a moment.

At this point in the desktop computing world, we’ve easily reached the limits of what 32-bit processing can do. No matter what OS you’re running, there really isn’t any more we can squeeze out of it. In the past it was CPU clock speeds that people wanted. We have that now. Then it was how many cores we can stuff into a CPU. We’ve got that too (and more are coming). The only bottleneck left is the 4GB RAM limitation of the 32-bit architecture. And the only way to rid that is to go 64-bit.

Why is the industry hanging on to 32-bit? Why do large PC makers continue to promote and sell 32-bit systems when 64-bit is just as affordable?

It’s because of the lack of native 64-bit applications.

Being that Microsoft will have a native 64-bit edition of MS Office, this now gives people a reason to go 64-bit – but it’s not like others haven’t tried. A good example is the game Half-Life 2 from Valve. That’s had a 64-bit edition since 2005(!), but even that couldn’t sway gamers over to 64-bit, and those people are some of the most diehard bleeding-edge PC hardware geeks you’ll find.

Will Microsoft lead the charge into the 64-bit world? They might. It may be the killer app that finally puts 32-bit to rest, both in enterprise and in the home.

However, there are two factors in play here that may keep 32-bit around for a while yet.

Future OSes will be smaller and faster

OS-makers have realized that there’s too much bloat. This counts for Windows and Linux.

Windows 7 will be decidedly slimmer compared to Vista. Vista in its present state isn’t just fat. It’s obese.

A good portion of the Linux community is screaming to tone down the sizes of the distros, citing that any distro over a CD’s size (roughly 700MB) is a waste of material. And they’re right. You may notice that DVD-sized distros don’t command nearly as much attention as the CD-sized and smaller ones do.

Smaller, faster OSes mean there isn’t a legitimate need for 64-bit. Instead, 32-bit will work fine if the OS is "tuned" properly to suit so it doesn’t require gobs and gobs of RAM.

The internet is the killer app

The internet itself is probably the "app" you use most.

Ask yourself: What app do you use more than your web browser?

The internet if treated as an app does not require any advantage 64-bit would bring. Whether you have 2GB of RAM now with a 32-bit system or 8GB with a 64-bit setup, the internet still runs the same.

What’s your say?

Will the fact MS Office will have 64-bit finally start to phase out 32-bit systems?

Is 64-bit even needed when the internet is what we use most?

Should the question be rephrased, Does 64-bit have a future?

Let us know in the comments.

In most enterprise environments the mail server used most often is Microsoft Exchange. This has been the de facto standard for many years. Corporations like it a lot because not only does it do mail but a ton of collaborative features as well. When connected via the Microsoft Outlook client, it is truly a powerhouse setup.

Wondering if there was any Linux messaging platform that would fit the bill as well as Exchange (or at least put up a good fight), I searched around and did in fact find something on the Linux side that’s not too shabby:

Scalix.

There are a few things I like about Scalix up front.

The enterprise version is not free (although the Community Edition is). I appreciate the fact that Scalix has a paid enterprise version because the fact of the matter is that enterprise cannot run solely on community supported stuff. Enterprise is a business after all, and where there’s money to be made, money has to be spent. Paying for an enterprise-class messaging platform is worth the money.

This is truly enterprise-class messaging we’re talking about. This is not some haphazard badly-designed mish-mosh of code. Rather it’s something that took a lot of time and effort to put together.

The fact Scalix works with Evolution, iCal, Thunderbird, MS Outlook and more is a huge plus.

I seriously dig the fact Scalix explains (even if in basic terms) that the TCO is worth checking out – particularly the last paragraph titled "Transition Seamlessly." The biggest gripe about switching over to anything in enterprise is the migration process. It is never easy, but at least Scalix went thru the effort to ensure the migration will be as headache-free as possible.

It’s the migration notes that really caught my eye here. Most Linux advocates are usually of the opinion "You’re just used to Microsoft, just switch and figure it out", which as anyone with a brain realizes is a stupid maneuver. Migrations have to be planned carefully and timed just right. Scalix even went so far as to say (more or less) "Hey, if you’re using Exchange right now, don’t worry – we’ve got tools to migrate you over."

I wish (oh do I ever) that Linux distribution OSes were more like this, as in the kind that give you a sense of confidence if you want to make the jump.

Remember the Community Edition listed above. If you’re interested in running your own enterprise-class mail server, it’s free for download if you want to check it out. Granted, you don’t get the perks of the enterprise edition, but hey, enterprise-class only a download away? Not bad if you asked me.

FedEx Office (formerly known as FedEx Kinko’s or just Kinko’s) is a 24-hour-a-day shop in most places where you can walk in to do a quick scan, print, fax or any other number of office-related stuff.

To note: FedEx Office is just one example of a store like this. Even the sleepiest of small towns in the USA have some kind of local office store when you can run off a copy, print something, get something faxed out, etc. They’re usually located in the busier part of town. Continued

On Monday I wrote an article about Office Live and Google Apps. In that article I said:

Neither has any blogging capability whatsoever.

I was corrected on this concerning the Microsoft offering. By whom? The Microsoft Office Live Team themselves (see comments in that article).

Microsoft Office Live does do blogs and rather easily by using Live Spaces.

This is how it’s done:

When you’re using the Web Design Tool inside the admin panel, you click inside an editable area, then click the Module button, then Live Spaces blog. After that you just type in the URL of the Spaces blog (i.e. your-username.spaces.live.com). The blog does have to be active first.

Looks like this:

After you add in your Spaces blog, just save and it’s done and live instantly.

Kudos to Microsoft for putting blogging ability into their Office Live Small Business offering. This is definitely a very cool feature and moreover easy and usable.

Much thanks to the MS team for pointing this out because I consider it essential that businesses – including small ones – should be able to blog easily. Spaces combined with Office Live Small Business takes care of that in short order.

Over the weekend I finally decided to check out Microsoft Office Live Small Business. I wanted to see what it was all about and what I could actually do with it. Note: This is not to be confused with Microsoft Office Live Workspace on the same site. This is labeled as “an online extension of Microsoft Office” – and that’s totally different. If you have MS Office installed, you can use that. If not (which I don’t), you can’t.

In the past I did use Google Apps before – but more on that later. Continued

As of a few months ago, I have gone from working exclusively at the office to working from home at least one day a week. So far my transition has been extremely smooth with relatively no speed bumps. Of course, this was prefaced on my part with making my two working environments functional for me. As a service to others out there who have considered working from home, I’m going to share some of the preparations I made as well as outline some benefits (some obvious and some not so obvious) and concerns regarding working from home.

Continued