Re: [Python-Dev] why is not 64-bit installer the default download link for Windows?

On Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 05:14:34AM +0300, Ivan Pozdeev via Python-Dev wrote:

On 11.07.2018 1:41, Victor Stinner wrote:

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2018-07-09 18:01 GMT+02:00 Steve Dower :

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The difficulty is that they *definitely* can use the 32-bit version, and those few who are on older machines or older installs of Windows may not understand why the link we provide didn't work for them.

I think Steve's comment is right on the money. Although professional programmers should be a bit more technically competent than the average user, many are just hobbiest programmers, or school kids who are just as clueless as the average user since they *are* average users.

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Let's say that only 10% of users still use 32-bit version. If they download a default 64-bit binary, I'm quite sure that running the binary will emit an error no? Such users should be used to such error, and be able to get the 64-bit version, no?

That's a lot of assumptions there. Here are a few things which might break those assumptions: - inexperienced users who haven't installed much software; - or who don't know that 32- versus 64-bit is a thing; - conservative users who don't install much software aside from using their vendor's official packages; - users who install from app stores which automatically detect the right version of the installer so they don't need to think about it (how do app stores handle this issue?); - or those who expect the default installer to work by default, so long as they pick the right OS (Windows or Mac). I don't remember what CPU my PC has, and when I can't be bothered to look it up, I always go for the default install option expecting that it ought to work regardless of whether I have a 32- or 64-bit OS. So far that's a strategy that has never done me wrong :-)

Attached the image of what happens. The message is:

"One or more issues caused the setup to fail. Please fix the issues and the retry setup. For more information see the log file <hypelink>.

0x80070661 - This installation package is not supported by this processor type. Contact your product vendor."

Pretty descriptive in my book.

Are you being sarcastic? I would expect that "this processor type" refers to incompatible chip sets like ARM versus Intel, not the 32- versus 64-bitness of the operating system. And I certainly wouldn't associate the problem: "I downloaded and ran the wrong installer" with the appropriate solution: "I need to hunt for a 32-bit installer, rather than using the default" given that error message. -- Steve