Adobe CS3 on 64 bit systems

Question

I recently had a problem with Prem Pro CS3 coming up with an "out of memory" error.
Adobe were unable to come up with a solution so, in an attempt to at least give the system more RAM, I bought a new system with 8Gb.
Since 32 bit systems are not able to use that much memory, I went for the 64 bit version of the Windows Vista operating system.
I thought all my problems were solved until someone at Adobe told me none of the programs in the CS3 suite is designed to run on a 64-bit platform!
Can anyone tell me why not? Can it really be that difficult to enable Prem Pro to access more memory etc.
I wonder if the much heralded CS4 will be able to run 64bits...
Chris Walsh

Answer 1

> whats the chances it'll handle mobile phone (etc) mpegs without issue?
"Without issue" is a virtual impossibility. I would guess, however, that the support for various MPEG formats will be improved upon in the next release.
On Vista...I'm running Vista and have had no issues, no slowdowns, no crashes, no lost data, no memory leaks, etc. I'm running it on a laptop, and it's very very fast. Most of the issues people are still whining about were 3rd party driver compatibilities, and those were worked out in the last year and a half since Vista was released (for the most part...obviously, some older hardware and software will never be compatible with Vista because it's no longer supported by those 3rd parties, or because newer versions are available. See CS3 vs. CS2...no sense supporting Vista on old software when you built that compatibility into the new software).
I was skeptical about heading the Vista route, but most of the issues now are more myth than fact, or they are just old issues that were solved months ago or a year ago after the Vista dust settled. I discovered this through a little current events research, as well as with my own personal foray into the world of Vista.
All this being said, it's not worth upgrading most existing XP machines to Vista (any machine more than a year old with XP installed), but if you buy or build a new machine these days, most of the current software and parts and pieces were designed around Vista and are better optimized for it than for XP (for which there are usually issues running software in "XP compatible mode").
Memory issues and bloat, those were the two big complaints. I've found, however, that Vista handles memory much more intelligently than XP ever did, and makes better use of lesser memory. My notebook only has 2 GB in dual channel vs. 4 GB (also dual channel) on my workstation, and PPro and AE previews, renders and just about everything completes in less time than on my XP machines. I'm sure the nice T9400 processor is helping, but it's still all "strained" by the so-called limitations of Vista, so...I'd say the proof is in the pudding (or the render).
A final thought....before you go repeating the year-old thoughts and reviews of every blogger or tech magazine writer, make sure 1) they know what they're talking about, and 2) that they still hold those same opinions today. Lot of those guys jumped on the bandwagon for Vista after SP1 came out.