Hello Everybody,
are there plans to provide the LibreOffice 64 bit branch as portable app?
Many thanks in advance for answers and comments.
Regards
Uwe
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Is there a specific reason for it? For 99.9% of users, they'll notice no difference. And it will double the app size.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
The question is, who needs 32 bit if 64 bit is available?
We had the same question with Firefox.
See the statistics, nobody uses 32 bit OS anymore
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/
This is from 3 years ago
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/267180-nvidia-ends-support-for-32-...
The vast majority of Windows users worldwide don't have Steam installed. The vast majority don't have a dedicated video card. Over 20% aren't on Windows 10. Windows ARM can't run 64-bit apps. 64-bit WINE, which can run 64-bit apps, for Linux is still super-buggy.
As mentioned, we do 64-bit where it makes sense in terms of cost vs return. Cost encompasses development time, hosting space, download bandwidth (us and users), install space, performance, etc. Most 64-bit apps don't deliver a noticeable performance improvement. Some do, but it is minimal. Where it is a relatively large increase in speed and the space justifies it, we do it. For example, 7-zip can realize a 9% performance improvement in compressing large filesets on 64-bit and including 32-bit and 64-bit in the same package only adds 3MB. So, it makes sense.
Please stop assuming everyone in the world has access to the same technology and resources that we do. And please don't derail this specific topic to rehash topics that have been discussed ad nauseum elsewhere.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
I see your arguments, but I don't think most of them are valid.
> Windows ARM can't run 64-bit apps
https://www.pcbenchmarks.net/os-marketshare.html
Windows ARM isn't in any statistics you can find. You can safely ignore it. MS is also working on 64 bit app support on ARM.
> 64-bit WINE
User who use Linux and can use wine can also use normal 32 bit versions. On Linux with WINE it's easier to delete the data so
there is not the big need for a portable version.
> Over 20% aren't on Windows 10
Doesn't count as Windows 7 and even XP was available with 64 bit and are out of support.
For me it makes more sense because compilers are far better now with 64 bit and include better protection from buffer overflows aso.
Also, 64 bit versions are far better tested then 32 bit versions.
I hope we can get rid of the 32 bit versions soon if there is a 64 bit version.
Even MS doesn't provide installation ISOs for 32 bit anymore.
So nearly all Win10 users should have 64 bit and that's what all statistics tell you.
It doesn't matter what's in and out of support. It matters what's used. And Windows 10 is about 78% of Windows users.
Your second reference, PCBenchmarks, is even less relevant than Steam. It's just people who have downloaded and used PassMark. It doesn't reflect the vast majority of global users.
Microsoft actively supports Windows 10 32-bit and is still supplying ISOs. Here's Windows 10 21H1 May 2021 Update 32-bit ISO, for instance. Microsoft stopped allowing OEMs to pre-install 32-bit Windows 10 on new systems one year ago in May 2020. There were new computers being sold with Windows 10 32-bit just last year. Heck, some of them are still probably unsold yet.
It doesn't matter than Windows XP was available as 64-bit, it was almost exclusively used as 32-bit. Lots of software was never even tested on Windows XP x64. Vista was almost all 32-bit as well. Even Windows 7, when it launched, was mostly 32-bit machines. It wasn't until a few years in that it evened out and then started to favor 64-bit on new installs. Those old Windows 7 32-bit machines aren't being upgraded to even Windows 7 64-bit either.
64-bit offers no user-noticeable performance gain in the majority of apps in actual real-world testing. It does in specific cases like I mentioned (7-zip gaining 9% in large file compressions close to the discernible 10% difference that users notice), when greater memory is required (see: browsers, text editors for really large files, etc), or when drivers are required (see Peerblock, etc). I had one user bemoaning the fact that they couldn't get Firefox Portable 64-bit because it would be 'so much faster' than the Firefox Portable they were using only to find out that they'd actually been using Firefox Portable 64-bit for the past 2 years (it's a 32-bit plus 64-bit app and runs the best version automatically as it has for 5 and a half years now).
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
> The question is, who needs 32 bit if 64 bit is available?
An excellent rhetorical question, still relevant in 2024. This is almost exactly the official position of The Document Foundation - install the 32-bit version only when you cannot use the 64-bit version.
Dear John,
Thanks to the new platform mechanism you've recently implemented, will you start building 64-bit versions of LibreOffice?
Have a great day
Here is another vote for x64
While x86 might be more memory efficient, it can't use more than 2 GB (or 4GB if IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE is set). This is a restriction that is already reached by opening a few bigger Calc documents or a big Impress or Draw document.
Here is the opinion of a LibreOffice core developer, in favour of x64: https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/libreoffice64-vs-libreoffice32/73978/4
Very interesting information, thanks a lot!
Fingers crossed for a 64-bit version