64-Bit Office 2010 Client Installation Resources Available for Download

Microsoft is providing free resources designed to streamline the adoption of the 64-bit (x64) version of Office 2010. Essentially, customers looking to deploy 64-bit Office 2010 can download a client installation porter, available for free from the Redmond company in .PDF, .VSD AND .XPS file formats. The model is set up to offer an overview of the 64-bit client installation of Office 2010, with details available for setup, processes, requirements, deployment considerations, and supported scenarios. The 64-bit Client Installation of Microsoft Office 2010 resources can be downloaded immediately and printed for offline use.

“Office 2010 provides support for running 32-bit Office 2010 applications on 64-bit Windows operating systems by using Windows-32-on-Windows-64 (WOW64). WOW64 is the x86 emulator that enables 32-bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on 64-bit Windows systems. Office 2010 lets users continue to use existing 32-bit Microsoft ActiveX Controls, Component Object Model (COM) add-ins, and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA),” an excerpt from the poster reads.

There’s little doubt that 64-bit (x64) CPUs are becoming prevalent in systems shipping today, and tied inherently to 64-bit (x64) operating systems. Office 2010 clients are designed to play nice with the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista SP1 and later, but also Windows Server 2008 SP1 and SP2, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. One downside to opting for 64-bit (x64) Office 2010 is that the vast majority of extensions designed for the productivity suite are compatible exclusively with the 32-bit (x86) flavor of the product. In this context, customers should first assess their environments for potential incompatibility problems before deploying x64 Office 2010.

“Processors that are 64-bit are becoming the standard for systems that range from servers to desktop computers. 64-bit systems can use more virtual and physical memory than 32-bit systems. This lets users work with much larger data sets than they could previously, and to analyze and solve large computational problems. Microsoft Office 2010 introduces native 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office products to take advantage of this larger capacity, but many users of Office are unlikely to require the 64-bit version. For example, this additional capacity is needed only by those Microsoft Excel users who require Excel spreadsheets that are larger than 2 gigabytes (GB),” Microsoft added.