64-bit processor herals new desktop computing era.

(From The Jakarta Post)

With the launch of Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) Athlon 64 family of processors in September, this year could indeed be the start of a new era in desktop computing.

Previously, Apple Computer had also introduced its latest Power Mac desktops, powered by IBM's state-of-the-art PowerPC G5 processor, in June.

The reason why these new processors are so interesting -- and are considered to be such a breakthrough -- is that they all bear 64-bit computing capabilities. Also, they are deliberately meant for the desktop market segment.

This is unlike any other 64-bit processor before -- such as DEC's Alpha, Hewlet-Packard's PA-RISC, IBM's POWER, and Sun Microsystem's UltraSPARC -- which have actually been around for some time in the computer world, but are usually intended for high-end servers and …