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From: Brian Arnold <barnold@mathworks.com>
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.matlab
Subject: Re: Why no 64-bit support for Mac OS?
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:45:55 -0500
Organization: The MathWorks, Inc.
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To: Sridhar Mahadevan <mahadeva@cs.umass.edu>
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Hi Sridhar,

This is what I posted to this newsgroup on December 17, 2007, in 
response to the same question:

Hi,

We appreciate all of the interest in having a native 64-bit 
implementation on OS X 10.5 Leopard, and we would like to share more 
specific information regarding availability.

We have been investigating Mac 64-bit support for quite some time, and 
with Leopard's release, we now have many elements reaching a ready state.

Leopard is the first OS X release to have 64-bit libraries "top to 
bottom" (Tiger 10.4 only had 64-bit support in the BSD Unix layer, 
limiting 64-bit support to non-UI tools and engines).  However, 
Leopard's Java, which is used heavily by MATLAB Desktop and many 
Toolboxes including SimBiology and Distributed Computing Toolbox, is 
only 64-bit on Intel-based Macs, so any 64-bit support we would develop 
will require Intel.  Also, TrollTech Qt, which is used heavily by 
Simulink, is not yet available 64-bit for Leopard. This means we may 
need to stage 64-bit support, or have a limited MATLAB-only beta.

In the meantime, here is some publicly available information that you 
can use to get ready for a 64-bit product:

Intel-based and 64-bit-capable hardware and OS X 10.5 Leopard will be 
required to run 64-bit MathWorks software. Not all PowerPCs and not all 
Intel-based Macs are 64-bit-capable. Currently, only the PowerPC G5, 
Intel Core 2 Duo or Xeon processors support 64-bit; so, the PowerPC G4, 
G3 and original Intel Core Duo or Core Solo processors won't be able to 
run 64-bit applications.

Stay tuned for information, your enthusiasm and your patience are both 
greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian
Mac Developer
The MathWorks, Inc.

Sridhar Mahadevan wrote:
> It seems a bit surprising, given that 64-bit support is 
> enabled for Windows (XP and Vista) as well as for Linux. 
> 
> They are all running on the same processors these days. 
> Also, Mac OS X is based on a Unix kernel, so if Linux 64-
> bit support is available, why not for Mac OS?
> 
> Can we expect 64-bit support for the Mac platform in the 
> next release(s)?
> 
> - Sridhar
>