The overwhelming majority of you say you use a 64-bit version of Ubuntu as your primary OS.
In a poll result that will surprise precisely no one asking it this side of the decade, a mammoth 92% of you say you use some shade of Ubuntu 64-bit.
Six Years Is a Long Time in Tech
Six years ago we asked the same question and got a very different answer: just 52% of you said you were using 64-bit Ubuntu.
That was a milestone in a trend. It appears that the 64-bit version of Ubuntu is now the standard. This makes sense given that it’s the version Ubuntu recommends by default, the prevalence of 64-bit capable hardware, and so on.
Unfair! Bias!
A few of you complained that the poll was unfair as it didn’t allow you to vote for every device you own.
Possibly.
But the poll was clear that it was asking about the architecture of Ubuntu that you use on your primary device, i.e., the one you use most often.
Had I factored in everything and the kitchen sink, from hobbyist projects using the Raspberry Pi to wheezy old G4 PowerMacs that are turned on once a year, the results wouldn’t have been as elective.
Discussion
Plenty of lively discussion took place in the comments section, including some insightful tutorage on the benefits of 64-bit CPUs:
Though the common consensus is that the era of 32-bit computing is pretty much…over:
A few of you even said that you run everything but 32-bit!
It’s not all gloom for the antiquated architecture, though.
While the overwhelming majority of you say you no longer use it as your primary OS, a great many of you said you still have use for it on the peripheries of practicality:
And not everyone who’s made the jump is thrilled by it:
But, at the end of the day, when all is said in done, when clichés fade into cliché and the takeaway from this pulse of the Ubuntu nation is stated without beating around the bush…it’s just a poll. Don’t sweat the results.