Seagull Releases the Industry's First
Printer Drivers for 64-bit Windows
Bellevue, WA 25-April-2005--Keeping up with eight billion programmers (or whatever it is that Microsoft has locked-up down the road in Redmond) keeps us working plenty hard. That's why Seagull Scientific is so proud to announce the industry's first printer drivers for the 64-bit editions of Windows on the exact same day that Microsoft formally announced the availability of their 64-bit operating systems.
These latest drivers, version 6.9.64, are compatible with Windows XP x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition. (The new 64-bit operating system editions from Microsoft continue to run existing 32-bit applications, although they cannot use 32-bit drivers.)
Downloading and Using
The 64-bit Drivers by Seagull are available both on our web site and on the
BarTender CD. Our 64-bit drivers can be downloaded from:
Once downloaded, our 64-bit drivers install using the standard, well-established Windows methods.
Hardware and Operating System Compatibility
Our 64-bit drivers are designed to work on x64 Editions of Windows, which
support processors from both AMD and Intel (EM64T only). However, Intel's
Itanium microprocessors have additional, special requirements not supported at
this time. If you have customers that have already purchased Itanium
processors, please contact your Seagull sales representative so that we can
consider your needs as we design our development schedules.
About 64-bit Windows
Although the 64-bit editions of Windows unquestionably deliver a new standard
of performance, we are not expecting an immediate global rush to 64-bit Windows
for a number of reasons.
The first reason is that there are today no Windows applications yet shipping that actually take advantage of the 64-bit feature set. (Don't forget that Microsoft's new 64-bit operating system editions continue to run existing 32-bit applications, just not 32-bit drivers.)
The next reason is that 64-bit microprocessors are still ramping up in quantity and are not yet considered a "standard configuration" item for desktop installations, although they are already popular on network and web servers.
It is interesting to note that industry watchers are predicting that competition between AMD and Intel will result in one-half of all microprocessors shipped by the end of 2005 employing 64-bit architecture (and nearly 100% by the end of 2006). What's more, competition between AMD and Intel for "dual processor" versions of their CPUs is also expected to heat up. So, especially given that the perennial clock-speed contest appears to have slowed down, it appears that a new phase of rapid hardware-based performance improvements has begun. Although these CPUs will also improve the performance of 32-bit Windows, the new 64-bit editions can obviously take the best possible advantage of this additional power.
In summary, as we have for years seen in similar situations in the past, the transition is only a matter of time. Fortunately, as your customers' demand ramps up, Seagull's 64-bit drivers will have long been in the field, establishing a rock-solid legacy to go with their 32-bit cousins.