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Next Office version to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit versions

By | March 20, 2009, 2:38pm PDT

You learn the most interesting things when you poke around in some of the arcane files that are included with Windows 7 beta releases. In the most recent build of Windows 7 that I’ve been able to examine, I’ve confirmed that Microsoft plans to release its next version of Office in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. That’s a detail that my colleague Mary Jo Foley didn’t discover in her December 2008 rundown of what we know about Office 14

The clues to an upcoming x64 Office release are hidden in an obscure XML file used by the Windows Easy Transfer utility, which transfers settings for Windows and selected applications from an old PC to a new one. In the official beta release of Windows 7 (finalized in December 2008), Migwiz.xml includes the same list of applications found in Windows Vista. But in post-beta builds, this file has been updated to include more modern programs.

Earlier today, as I was scanning through the file to assemble an updated list of applications that can be migrated to Windows 7, this heading caught my eye:

Directly underneath this block of code is a list of programs to be detected. It’s the same list of nine programs found under the Office 2003 and Office 2007 headings, except that the Office 14 section includes an extra “_x64” entry for each one. Here, see for yourself:

In addition, there are separate sections labeled “Office x86 detects” and “Office x64 detects”. Elsewhere in the file are sections that cover different upgrade scenarios. For Office 2003, there are three rule sets:

  • Office2003to2007SettingsUpgrade
  • Office2003to14SettingsUpgrade
  • Office2003to14SettingsUpgrade_x64

Similarly, you can use the wizard to upgrade from Office 2007 to Office 14 or Office 14_x64.

The fact that this code is being baked into Windows 7 now suggests that the rumors of an early 2010 ship date for Office 14 are accurate. Having native 64-bit support for all members of the Office family is an extra bonus and welcome news.

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Topics

64-bit, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, Office Suites, Software, Operating Systems, Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications.

Disclosure

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is a freelance technical journalist and book author. All work that Ed does is on a contractual basis.

Since 1994, Ed has written more than 25 books about Microsoft Windows and Office. Along with various co-authors, Ed is completely responsible for the content of the books he writes. As a key part of his contractual relationship with publishers, he gives them permission to print and distribute the content he writes and to pay him a royalty based on the actual sales of those books. Ed's books written prior to fall 2011 have been distributed by Que Publishing (a division of Pearson Education) and by Microsoft Press. As of November 2011, Ed is a partner in the independent publishing company Fair Trade Digital Exchange, which exclusively publishes his books.

On occasion, Ed accepts consulting assignments. In recent years, he has worked as an expert witness in cases where his experience and knowledge of Microsoft and Microsoft Windows have been useful. In each such case, his compensation is on an hourly basis, and he is hired as a witness, not an advocate.

Ed does not own stock or have any other financial interest in Microsoft or any other software company. He owns 500 shares of stock in EMC Corporation, which was purchased before the company's acquisition of VMware. In addition, he owns 350 shares of stock in Intel Corporation, purchased more than two years ago. All stocks are held in retirement accounts for long-term growth.

Ed does not accept gifts from companies he covers. All hardware products he writes about are purchased with his own funds or are review units covered under formal loan agreements and are returned after the review is complete.

Biography

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He's served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million during his tenure. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office, including the recently released Windows 7 Inside Out.

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What really bugs me is...
JohnDurbin 8th Apr 2009
I create Access databases and what really bugs me is having to reference the different versions of Office programs in code. I wish that rather that creating a reference to Excel 10 I only had to create a reference to Excel.

I can of course use late binding but I miss the Intellisence.
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I had thought that x64 Office had been known for a while?
Confused by religion Updated - 20th Mar 2009
Aren't the TAP folks and other testers using both x86 and x64 Office versions?

Imagine that, a beta factoid that never got out. Perhaps Office testers are better able to understand their NDA than Windows testers.

Wish that Microsoft was as niggardly with their betas of Windows that seem to leak even as they are being downloaded by "official" testers.
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Contributr
This is new info
Ed Bott 20th Mar 2009
First of all, this is confirmed by Microsoft code, not by a leaked memo or e-mail like this one: http://is.gd/ogkg

And given that there are only ~150 member sin the TAP program compared to thousands in the various Win7 partner programs, it's pretty easy to see why the info has been so well guarded.
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New info to the public...
Confused by religion 20th Mar 2009
...known to many since last year. And not just TAP.
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Addins
xp-client 20th Mar 2009
The biggest question is whether 64-bit Office can run 32-bit WLL/XLL/COM addins and 32-bit VSTO addins. MS should come up with a painless way so that 32-bit addins still work, otherwise this transition is going to be even slower for me than Windows x64.
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Since I have computers with both 32-bit and 64-bit
Lerianis 21st Mar 2009
I am really hoping that Microsoft will allow a CD key for a 3 volume license to work on both 32-bit and 64-bit copies of Office 14!
If it doesn't.... it would get me quite pissed that I would have to buy 2 copies of the same program to put them on all my computers.
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Look at the Vista Retail SKUs
Confused by religion Updated - 21st Mar 2009
Vista packages (at least Ultimate) came with 2 discs, one 32 bit and one 64 bit, with the same key. Hopefully, Office will do the same.

Don't know about 3 licenses which has only applied to the Home and Student (Student and Teachers for 2003) version. Retail licenses have traditionally been for 2 installations, one primary and one portable used by the same person.

A volume license can be had very cheaply (compared to retail) for a minimum of 5 licenses, not all of which have to be for the same thing. 3 office and 2 windows, for example.
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Wow wee
Alan Smithie 21st Mar 2009
64-bit OpenOffice for Linux has been around for ages. Come on MS keep up.
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Sigh.
Hallowed are the Ori Updated - 21st Mar 2009
64-bit OpenOffice for Linux has been around for ages. Come on MS keep up.

And that has what to do with the article? Nothing? Yeah, that's what I thought.
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Yawn
Cylon Centurion 22nd Mar 2009
Thank you for reminding me how great and grand Linux is compared to Windows. Between this and the billion or so other trolling threads.... I forgot happy
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Cheap Shot I Know
Alan Smithie 23rd Mar 2009
In all seriousness though, MS are really dragging it's heels releasing a 64 bit version of their flagship Office some 5 years after releasing 64 bit OSes. A 64 bit version should have been shipped at the same time as Vista 64 RTM.
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I agree
Cylon Centurion 23rd Mar 2009
Office 2007 should have had a 64-bit edition.
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Why?
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 23rd Mar 2009
What benefit do you expect a 64-bit version of Word to offer over its 32-bit version? How about Powerpoint for that matter?

Arguably, Excel could benefit from having access to > 2GB RAM to itself, but only in EXTREME edge-cases.

Outlook may well benefit from having access to more RAM because it is essentially a database and database client rolled into one, but again, only if you're dealing with colossal PST/OST's.

So, again, what benefit do you expect 64-bit office to deliver over 32-bit?
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ME, 16 & 32 bit binaries was a mess.
Alan Smithie Updated - 23rd Mar 2009
When you mix 32 & 64 bit architecture something usually gets missed and oops crash. Best to have all the same architecture if possible.Other reasons include access to registers and functions not available to 32 bit apps etc. A 64 bit app on a 64 bit OS will perform better than 32 bit.
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No problems on Windows 7
alkolkin@... 23rd Mar 2009
My 64 bit and 32 bit applications run without flaw on the 64 bit version of Windows 7. I do not think that you can project from Windows ME to Windows 7 or even to Vista.
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Google "32 bit apps vista 64 crash"
Alan Smithie 23rd Mar 2009
You'll get plenty of hits wink
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@Alan Smithie: Now go read some of those reports.
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 23rd Mar 2009
Sure, there are apps that will fail when installed on x64. But they usually fail because they try and find files in "C:\Program Files" (which is now the home for 64-bit apps) rather than "C:\Program Files (x86)" - had the app vendor written their code properly, their users wouldn't have seen this issue. Same for the VAST majority of x64 app-compat bugs.

Alas, there are dumb developers out there too sad
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64-bit != better perf
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 23rd Mar 2009
While some classes of app do benefit from some perf improvements when moving to x64, many more do not.

64-bit code and data is bigger than the 32-bit equivalent. This takes longer to read and write to and from disk - by far the slowest thing your PC can do.

Code that can optimize calling conventions, especially code that is iterated in tight loops may well beneifit from optimizations using the extra registers available, but that's generally only smaller portions of a given app.

The better compute perf and the increased data size perf-inhibitors have to balance out. Sometimes, the result is better perf, Sometimes, not. Luckily the differential in perf win/loss is generally very small and not that noticeable.

Whilst there are indeed many benefits of having everything on the same architecture, there are also many issues.

For example, consider all the Office add-ins and enhancements from 3rd parties that will all have to be recompiled (at best; rewritten at worst) to run in 64-bit processes. Last thing you'd want is to move your whole business to Office 64-bit and have several of your LOB apps fail.

It's much easier for OpenOffice to move to 64-bit - relatively speaking, there were few users and no ecosystem to move.
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Apps created with one working on the other...
JohnDurbin 8th Apr 2009
I create applications with Microsoft Access 32 bit. If I get a new laptop and it is 64 bit will the applications I create with Office 64 bit version of Microsoft Access work with the 32 bit version?
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Excellent news for developers...
jasonp@... 21st Mar 2009
Many developers feel like Microsoft sold them up the river with lack of drivers that integrate SQL Server on a 64 bit platform with Office files. It's one thing to move towards new technology and provide temporary workarounds to lost functionality because of a major paradigm shift. It's another thing completely to break existing functionality and provide no workarounds. Hopefully with 64-bit Office we'll be back where we were with the ability to write SQL code to interface directly with Office files. It's my feeling that Microsoft didn't really take into account the ubiquitous nature of Excel in the enterprise when making the decision to not provide stopgap measures for office integration. That decision has caused a lot of pain in the development community.
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What about features?
boed 22nd Mar 2009
For Office to move forward I think they need to fix a few things that haven't worked in the last couple of versions.

Outlook - the single most used app of all MS apps - on from when you turn your computer on till you turn it off - only supports one exchange account if you use more than one exchange server. MANY people I know have more than one profile and several accounts per profile. I don't know anyone with just one e-mail account anymore. Outlook should let you open more than one outlook profile. Plenty of admins have access to their boss's e-mail but get nervous about having it in the same profile as their account. Please MS consider what your most use app is.

Access - better support for jpgs - should be a simple as browsing or dropping it into the form. Databases are often inventories and pictures are often part of that inventory - someone shouldn't have to write code just to put in a picture.

Support for clients who have been using office for years. I have a ton of clients who ask for office 2003 back because they were more productive with the old toolbar. I'm not saying to do away with the new toolbar - just give clients a choice of classic menu or new office menu.
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What really bugs me is...
JohnDurbin 8th Apr 2009
I create Access databases and what really bugs me is having to reference the different versions of Office programs in code. I wish that rather that creating a reference to Excel 10 I only had to create a reference to Excel.

I can of course use late binding but I miss the Intellisence.
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RE: Next Office version to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit versions
Cylon Centurion 22nd Mar 2009
This is great news. Too bad I'll be skipping this release, as I am running 2007 and do not see the need to upgrade at this time. Haha
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Isn't there a x64 directory on the install CD?
NoThomas 23rd Mar 2009
I remember seeing one before, I cant check now as I am at work but I was wondering what it does?
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Contributr
That's for Multi-language support
Ed Bott 23rd Mar 2009
The Office64 folder on the Office 2007 CD has installer files for the 64-bit MUI. Nothing else.
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Thunks and shims
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 23rd Mar 2009
It contains thunks and shims to allow the 32-bit office components (e.g. OneNote taskbar applet) to integrate with the 64-bit shell since 64-bit processes (e.g. Explorer) can't load 32-bit DLL's.
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About time
Michael Kelly 23rd Mar 2009
It's about time we stopped making excuses for not moving to 64 bit and just did it. The excuse has always been a lack of an immediate or obvious payoff, but memory demands are making the payoff a bit more obvious, and unless the move is made we'll never give developers a chance to innovate towards a long term payoff.
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Be careful about assumptions re 64-bit
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 23rd Mar 2009
As I posted above, moving apps to 64-bit won't necessarily give you ANY benefit - and in some cases, may well slow apps down (loading inflated volumes of data and code to/from disk often costs more time than perf improvements due to 64-bit CPU improvements).

And if your app isn't likely to need > 2GB RAM to itself, again, there's relatively little direct benefit in porting them to 64-bit.

Moving to a 64-bit OS on the other hand will deliver massive improvements - particularly if you have 4GB RAM or more.
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RE: Next Office version to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit versions
JazzyKat 23rd Mar 2009
No, unfortunately, ** most ** official testers did not know that x64 was also going to be released. In fact, Microsoft, themselves, were not confirming an x64 release, but officially sanctioned an x86 version. Just because there are x64 "clues", does not mean we will get the x64 version immediately. I'm hopeful that it does. Ever since Intel released the i7 series with triple channel RAM, it makes almost no sense whatsoever to install anything but x64 because 6G of RAM will only be recognized in 64 bit.
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x64 is the future
johan.kloosterman@... 23rd Mar 2009
x64 is a good reason for upgrading. It is also a logical development. In the longer term we are all going to have 64 bit systems.
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I'm guessing this means more than 16.7 million entries...
nix_hed 23rd Mar 2009
...into an excel spreadsheet, given if you have enough
memory for it.
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64-bit not really needed, but welcome.
Narg 23rd Mar 2009
I'm still not 100% convinced that 64-bit is needed for Office style applications. But, it is very welcome none-the-less. I guess I'll be convinced once I see what they can do in 64-bits in these applications. I'm not expecting much, so maybe I'll be pleasently suprized. wink
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If I run in 64-bit...
Gradius2 23rd Mar 2009
I'm using Vista x64, since is already 64-bit then I want every application to be 64-bit too. I want the same thing on Windows 7.
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Sure, Bott, gloat all about it
ing.chatboy@... 23rd Mar 2009
...how you're more clever than your colleagues

Betcha didn't know about the all new 128-bit archeology that Microsoft and Apple are now jointly pursuing (please read on April 1st)
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Contributr
LOL (nt)
Ed Bott 24th Mar 2009
...
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RE: Next Office version to ship in 32-bit and 64-bit versions
Sleeper Service 24th Mar 2009
I think you mean architecture. And I bet he does.
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Ed, any news about Silverlight 64-bit?
Speednet 27th Mar 2009
The lack of a 64-bit Silverlight client is a big show-stopper for me -- any word of this in your digging through Windows 7?

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