I installed RM 8 and it was easy. I notice that the Task Manager lists it as a 32 bit process. In and of itself that isn’t a problem, but won’t it be for Windows 11? I presume the installer will detect that and write a 64 bit binary in that environment.
Not neccessarily! Windows 11 can and does support 32-bit applications, so there is not a pressing need to make RM8 64-bit at least as far as the Windows OS.
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Thanks! Makes sense.
While for most users the impact will be negligible, I do have to disagree from an addressable memory standpoint. Essentially 4GB is the limit without workarounds on a 32-bit system.
I would really love to see a file that eats up 4GB. I believe everyone is aware of that limit, and it is highly unlikely to be an issue for more than 1 or 2 people. In the early days of the RM8 Community preview, Michael Booth come across as rather hostile in regards to a 64-bit release, even stating that RM’s footprint is no where even close. That is not to say that eventually they will release a 64-bit build, but at this moment, we should not hold our breathes.
I have to wonder if there is a RAM addressing issue related to it being a 32-bit app as users continue to encounter out-of-memory errors when the application reaches ~2GB. Could also be simply the amount the program requests to be allocated or allowed to use.
I’m in the camp that believes the RM8 app for Windows should be 64 bit. I have been running 64 bit apps for many years, so 64 bit Windows apps and machines that can run them are not brand new. I was very disappointed when I first heard that the RM8 Mac app was going to be 64 bit and the RM8 Windows app was going to be 32 bit.
I’m probably just repeating a false urban legend, but I remember reading that the reason for releasing the RM8 Windows app as 32 bit was that there were still old Windows machines around (or maybe modern Windows machine around that are very small) that can’t handle 64 bit apps. I would like to see some research on that point. It’s hard to believe that there really any or a significant number of Windows machines still running that can’t support 64 bit apps. If this really is true and remains true over a long time period, then I think RM needs to distribute both a 32 bit Windows app and a 64 bit Windows app.
It may not still be true, but at one time it was the case that 32 bit Windows apps could only address 2.5 GB rather than 4GB. I’m well aware that 32 bits are theoretically capable of addressing 4GB, but at one point Windows reserved the address space from 2.5GB through 4GB for its own use and allowed the app to address only from 0GB through 2.5GB.
One more urban legend that may be false is that the lack of smooth scroll in the RM8 report viewer is the result of memory limitations imposed on 32 bit apps. I hope that’s not the real reason for the lack of smooth scroll, but at the present time the very poor quality of the report viewer is one of my chief complaints with RM8.
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As far as I know, the 2.5 GB limit is still in place, the rest being Windows overhead.
I am also inclined to to believe that 32-bit has nothing to do with the smooth scrolling issue. One reason for it is that RM7 is 32-bit, yet I can smoothly scroll reports of close to 300 pages. I haven’t tried anything larger.
There doesn’t seem to have been any justification for not releasing a 64 bit version of RM8 on Windows. The Mac version is 64 bit.
I can understand that they want to retain their user base that may be using old and possibly unsupported versions of Windows but no reason to not be keeping up with the times and offer a 64 bit version for those who are at the latest levels.
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I’d like to see 64bit version also. If I’m running RM8 and other program at the same time, RM gets an “unexpected error” and locks. I cannot open windows explorer, chrome, edge, pdf or any other program without this happening. 64bit has been around for a long time and should be considered the norm, not an afterthought.
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Until suspected memory leaks or mismanagement are corrected, maybe it’s better to be 32bit to keep the rate of reporting up and prevent RM from eating up your 64GB RAM.
64 gb RAM??
A 64 bit machine has addressability way in excess of that number i.e. 2**64.
No reason? As a retired software engineer I can think of one very good reason to not issue a 64 bit version. Cost. It doubles much of the testing effort and increases the support costs. Unless it brings in additional revenue to justify that, not a good business decision.
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…and as a current R&D Manager for a large software company, you have to keep with the times or get eaten… The MAC version is already 64 bit so that precedent has been set.
Upgrade to RM8 is a cost option so reasonable for a customer to want and expect current technology if you even call 64 bit current technology these days.
Yes it would require some additional testing but I suspect that there are more people who might wish to be current than staying on back level 32 bit software.
Even Windows 11 is only now available on 64 bit machines.
I’m running RootsMagic 8 on my Mac Pro. Currently it’s trying to download my ancestors from the FamilySearch Family Tree - has been running at this for about 11 hours, and is currently using over 8GB of RAM (my Mac Pro has 96GB of RAM).
From the Activity Viewer…
Roger
True, no argument but beside the point. It’s an unusual desktop computer and a rather expensive one to be equipped with 64GB memory. If you have a 64-bit RM8 on one, it might not crash nearly as often as the current 32-bit software but the user may be dismayed to see RM chewing up 10, 20, 30GB of it if memory leaks are the issue I think they are.
Very true but if that is the case then RM8 is clearly not ready for prime time and seems to have been rushed out the door which is a totally different problem to putting out a 64 bit version.
Just reading through the number of reported problems that folk have mentioned such as missing functionality that existed in RM7 that doesn’t appear to exist in RM8.
Not functionality that has been documented as deprecated - just simply not present.
I would like to see a 64-bit version for Windows please.
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