The dark ages of XP x64 come to a close

Years ago, I built a new PC for myself.  I needed an OS on it, and Linux wasn't working out so well.  I went out and got a cheap copy of XP Pro x64 because I naively thought that it would benefit me somehow.  Well, years down the line I am now wiser and more cynical.  XP Pro x64 is not nearly as widely supported as 32 bit iterations of XP.  iTunes dropped support years ago, Divx has often given me trouble, and even Microsoft themselves refuses to provide a version of MS Security Essentials that will run on this OS.

Fast forward to now, and somehow the antivirussoft.com spyware infected this system after years with no trouble.  In the process of removing it, apps now seem to be unable to avoid crashing shortly after launching no matter what.  I just don't have the strength to put such a poorly supported OS back on and hope for the best.  I also have a rather nice video card that cannot fit in my only other desktop PC, and I damn well expect to be playing StarCraft 2 sometime soon
on that nice video card.  So I just bought an OEM copy of Win7 64-bit Home Premium for this dual-boot gaming/development system for around $104.  I have heard and seen software supporting 64-bit OSes much better from Vista on up, so I feel confident it won't be quite as beta this time around.

As far as Linux and x64, most people were avoiding it over the last couple of years.  I only recently installed it for good on one of my systems and found it to work flawlessly, and the last gripe I had which was the lack of Adobe 64-bit Flash for Linux is now gone.  I am declaring it ready for prime time IMHO.

I am guessing this will be the last MS OS I purchase since Linux has supplanted Windows as the OS I use most often, and my PS3 will be there for most other games.  Anyway, I will likely document the process of the wipe and install since I will be doing a wipe followed by a dual boot install and config of Win7 and Ubuntu with both being x64 editions.  See you soon.