Shortcomings of IE 64
Did you notice that the legacy Internet Explorer 32-bit is included with XP64? The reson is because of a large flaw in the 64-bit version: neither flash nor shockwave will run. You can still run them in the perfectly fine (however, slow, compared to the 64-bit version of IE) legacy Internet Explorer, but it is an irksome inconvenience.

I will always try to bundle good news with bad news. Here is the good: after the many rumors that XP64 has no support for Windows Update, it seems they are false. The Windows Update website, at least, works flawlessly (though no new updates are available at this time).

First Application List
In an attempt to rectify the lack of theme support, I installed the popular skinning app, StyleXP. Unfortunately, the program refused to start (though the install went fine). Tomorrow I will try WindowBlinds--something I have some hope for, since it does not make use of the Services console (services.msc in the "Run" dialog). On a good note, Adobe Photoshop CS installed fine, as did Trillian Pro, AIDA32, 3DMark2001 SE, and WinRAR. XP64 has NO built-in support for compressed folders, thus making it necessary to install a 3rd-party program, such as WinRAR or WinZip.

Lack of Theme Support
Build 1069 lacks the visual style that XP was initially famous for. What it comes with as a default is the XP start menu (can be changed to classic) with the Windows Classic theme. There are several color schemes, including what I call "true classic"--the silvery-gray look of Win2k and below.

Dual Boot!
I DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, recommend XP64 for a dual boot. While stable, XP64 is still a pre-release, and undoubtedly has many bugs to sort out (just look at the number of problems Windows XP had and still has, even though it went gold in October 2001). I recommend dual booting. It is easiest if you use two partitions on one hard drive, as you will not have to change the boot priority in your BIOS every time you wish to switch operating systems.

Application Compatibility
As I just installed XP64, I have yet to do any exhaustive compatibility tests. I will get to them as I think of them and/or have time, but if you should like for me to test a program out for you, feel free to drop a comment. I cannot guarantee I will get to it, but I will try.

Current Build
The most current EVALUATION build for Windows 64 (from now on I shall refer to it as XP64) is 1069. A common misconception most people have is that they are beta testing this software. YOU ARE NOT. Microsoft calls this a public evaluation product. There IS a beta program, however, but you must sign up specially for that. I do not recommend it, though, because the most recent beta build (1159) is not very stable, and has much more inherent problems than 1069 has. Some links of importance: Microsoft XP64 Newsgroup Planet AMD64.

Startup Information
This blogger system is to provide information about Microsoft's up-and-coming version of Windows, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for Extended Systems, which is designed specifically for 64-bit architectures. It will not, however, operate on "legacy" 64-bit platforms, such as the Intel Itanium. Microsoft designed it for AMD64 and its Athlon 64 and Opteron models. My current PC specs are:

Operating System	Windows 64 Build 1069
Motherboard	MSI K8T Neo FIS2R
Processor	AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Memory	1GB Corsair XMS Low Latency RAM (2-2-2-5)
Video Device	ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
Hard Drives	200GB Maxtor w/2 partitions (1st is Win32, 2nd is Win64). 6.5GB WD for Page File and extraneous data (3 partitions).
Audio Device	Creative SB Live!

Windows XP 64-bit Edition for Extended Systems can be downloaded at the Microsoft website. Please note that since ATI does not have any 64-bit drivers released, I am limited to using the Microsoft-built ones supplied in the installer CD. They run fine, but not as well as the latest Catalyst drivers would. Nvidia, however, has 64-bit drivers available for download, so if you own a card of theirs, you are in luck. Download them at nVidia.