If moving to 64 bit is a big deal then you're clearly doing something wrong. Not from the users' point of view; clearly this will bring some user benefits. But if rebuilding your application to work on a 64-bit runtime with 64-bit libraries takes anything more than recompiling the existing code with new compiler flags then what does that say about the code?
If this is a big deal for Microsoft then that implies that the code is riddled with assumptions and probably has terrible type casting discipline. It
You are being a bit unfair here. Only in toy projects you switch a flag and everything works. Complex projects have to do architecture-specific optimisations, and the nature of being a real-world project (and a complex one, that is) implies that code quality is secondary to actually meeting deadlines and producing things that might entice people/organisations to buy your product, so that you can continue working on it. Features sell easier than bugfixes... (even if said features are bloat)
If moving to 64 bit is a big deal... (Score:3, Interesting)
If this is a big deal for Microsoft then that implies that the code is riddled with assumptions and probably has terrible type casting discipline. It
Re:If moving to 64 bit is a big deal... (Score:3)
You are being a bit unfair here. Only in toy projects you switch a flag and everything works. Complex projects have to do architecture-specific optimisations, and the nature of being a real-world project (and a complex one, that is) implies that code quality is secondary to actually meeting deadlines and producing things that might entice people/organisations to buy your product, so that you can continue working on it. Features sell easier than bugfixes... (even if said features are bloat)