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WinHEC, x64, and the 640k limit…….

It was really a great week here in Seattle for the launch of x64 at WinHEC.

I had a really good chance to meet some other bloggers out there….you attendance at WinHEC was definetly appreciated. It really was a great time – did anyone else use some of the cool footage?

An interesting point of WinHEC for me was Bill Gates keynote address…..if you have not seen it, you can watch it here. One of the better keynotes that gives a great overview of x64 and shows off some of Longhorn.

During his keynote, Bill made a point about his alleged comment years ago that 640K will be enough memory for computers.  Now I have only been at Microsoft for a year and I have been professionally involved in IT since 1991 – and I have always assumed that this was true.  Quite possibly because I wanted to believe it, so I never questioned it.  But after a quick Internet Search I found that Bill has been trying to set the records straight for YEARS.  Here is his direct quote from the keynote:

“We’re talking a lot about memory space and expanding that, so this is also an opportunity for me to kind of set the record straight. I’ve tried to do this before but this time I’ll do it very clearly. I did not say that 640k of memory should be enough for anybody. Anybody who believes that I said that probably also believes that when they get these e-mails that say that they’ve won a big contest or I’ve got some tracing programs, that I’m also out there sending these on a very regular basis. (Laughter.) But, in fact, I’m not doing that either.

So I’ll be very careful not to say that 2 to the 64th will be enough memory for anyone. I will say that it might last us for a little while, it’s quite a bit of memory, but some day somebody will write code that wants to go even beyond that.”

So there it is…..myth dispelled forever!

– Ward Ralston

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