32 bit distro or 64?

[Richard Frovarp]

Rick Chadderdon wrote:
> Paul Hutchings wrote:
>   
>> I have a new DL360 G5 and I’m planning on installing OpenSuse 10.2. 
>> Should I be using the 32 bit or 64 bit with regards to MailScanner,
>> basically are there any reasons to choose one over the other?
>>
>>     
>
> It's probably worth some consideration that there is less software
> available in 64-bit versions.  Julian touched on this with the Sophos
> information he offered, and my personal experience leads me to believe
> that Sophos is not likely to be the only vendor with this issue.  Hence,
> a 64-bit distro likely limits your choices if you should need to look
> for a variety of antivirus vendors (or if the future need should arise
> to change vendors from ones you have already determined to be 64-bit
> ready), and it will do so while offering a very minimal increase in
> performance, if any.
>
> Be aware that I have no knowledge of any specific virus scanner that
> does/does not work in a 64-bit environment - I'm just cautious because
> this issue has bitten me before, and have come to think of 64-bit as
> "option limiting".  I only use 64-bit OSes when I have absolute
> certainty that I will not need to rely on any closed-source vendor to
> provide 64-bit support.
>
> Rick
>   

Couldn't you just run the 32bit versions of the virus scanners? We're 
not talking about full 64 bit like Itaniums or any other number of other 
processors out there. We're just talking about 64 bit extended OSs. I 
run plenty of 32bit applications on my 64bit OS without any problems. Of 
course I have the 32bit and 64bit versions of all the libraries 
installed to do this.

Richard