by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2010/03/13 07:01 -05:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2010/03/13/9975314.aspx
Okay, I have been promising to blog about the whole thing about 64-bit versus 32-bit builds of Language Interface Packs for a while now.
I figured that means I should actually write a blog about it.
This is that blog. Welcome!
Now this is hardly a new issue. I first ranted about back in August of 2008 in A serious lack of overlap with 64.
That was (at least on a non-Olympic tangent!) about the fact that no Vista LIPs were being released for 64-bit.
And how I felt that was a mistake.
Now apparently several of the people in the subsidiaries and elsewhere who are the champions, sponsors, or passionately interested parties have made the argument that these principles do not apply to the target market of specific Language Interface Packs.
The current thinking on this issue (subject to change, this blog is not an official statement of intent) applies to thirteen (13) of the Windows 7 LIP languages:
A few of these have not yet been released but they are on their way once they have been completed signed off (they are already on that public roadmap site).
The ones that have been released, I put the links to, above (and I will continue to update this as new ones are released).
And a few that have been released (like Hindi) do not have the 64-bit links yet - those are currently only on the OEM site and the downloads should be available soon.
Now this is not a technical issue, it is purely a market-driven one: whether someone has proven that there is enough of a potential for available 64-bit hardware boxes running windows 7 to make use of a LIP, and at present these are the magic thirteen on the list.
I am going to have to build my own language interface packs on a machine to get some of the key languages that I will want to check out myself (like Amharic when it is available), and hope that the list is expanded based on that proven market need/relevance that will have to drive the decision on a case-by-case basis.
I'll keep you posted on the story of this particular set of long tails of Windows 7 if it (or perhaps if it) develops further....
Pavanaja U B on 22 Mar 2010 9:56 PM:
I am using Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I would like to get Kannada LIP in 64 bit
-Pavanaja
Michael S. Kaplan on 22 Mar 2010 10:38 PM:
If it is not on the list, then there is much less hope than if it is. :-(
referenced by
2010/09/17 {Insert appropriate pun/allusion to 'When I'm 64' here}
2010/08/05 When terminology affects satisfaction
2010/07/29 4 out the door, in both 32 & 64 (aka What Irish, Malay, Maltese & Bengali have in common)
2010/07/28 Reporting on 64 bits of awesomesauce
2010/03/14 If you can't read it, then that freaking list clearly doesn't have you in mind