2010 Development

[dogberry]

The last I heard, 32-bit Office 2010 was recommended by Microsoft as their preferred standard.

After a clean install of the aforementioned and then watching all manner of other installations , including Adobe CS5.5 and Lightroom 4, defaulting to 64-bit on my machine, I really must ask if Office 2010’s development now justifies installing the 64-bit version on capable machines. I have had the full 64-bit version on one setup from the outset and I encountered no trouble with it, but I have treated it as experimental.

I don’t know if I was an idiot to install 32-bit or not, but it’s not too late to switch. If there has been a change in Microsoft’s position I haven’t heard of it, but is 32-bit still ‘the best’?

[Medico]

It appears the problem has always been the number of addons available for Office 2010 64 Bit. A Google search shows many articles comparing the two and it still seems the common thread is addons. Also, unless you are working with abnormally large spreadsheets, the 64 Bit version is not needed. I am by no means an expert on this subject. It does seem the MS is still recommending the 32 Bit version, and unless you search for it, the 64 Bit version is still hidden during installation.

[JoeP517]

The 32-bit version of Office 2010 is still the recommended version for almost everyone. In addition to many (if not most) addons not being upgraded to 64-bit versions yet other programs that interact with Office do not always recognize the 64-bit version.

Joe

[dogberry]

That is good news to the extent that I appear to have done the right thing. One concern I had was that I assumed (and still presume) that 64-bit would be more secure.

[JoeP517]

Given certain hardware, a 64-bit version of Windows 7 is more secure than the 32-bit version. That does not necessarily apply to Office.

Joe

[dogberry]

That makes sense, on reflection. Thanks, Joe.