Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) and Microsoft Office server systems in December 2007. At the same time, it published new guidelines for recommended hardware and operating systems to support those products. Those guidelines opened with this warning: "In planning your hardware, remember that this is the last version of SharePoint Products and Technologies that will run on 32-bit operating systems and databases."

A few sentences later Microsoft upped the ante across the board. SQL 2000 is no longer an acceptable database for SharePoint, and Microsoft strongly suggests 64-bit hardware and software be used: "We highly recommend that you install front-end Web servers on 64-bit Office SharePoint Server 2007 on a 64-bit operating system, unless you have a significant business reason not to."

A similar recommendation followed for 64-bit SQL Server. That is a radical change. The product was not even released a year ago. At that time, 32-bit platforms and the old version of SQL Server were just fine. Microsoft must have some very good reasons for effectively making implementation of one of its flagship products more costly. I suspect the driving force behind these recommendations is some performance issues with the product in large installations, but that really doesn't matter. Can similar recommendations for other products be coming soon? And that speculation just serves to reinforce the fundamental issue: Why are so many of us still using 32-bit server operating systems?