Yesterday Google announced the availability of a 64 bit version of the Chrome web browser.

PC hardware has been 64-bit capable for several years now, and new PCs have been shipping with 64 bit operating systems for almost as long. The main difference between 32-bit and 64-bit PCs is that the latter can use more memory (RAM). More memory means faster operation.

We’ve been slow to move to 64-bit systems, mainly because the advantage of having access to more memory hasn’t been important to typical users. I’m writing this on a PC which has hardware capable of running a 64-bit operating system, but is in fact running 32-bit Windows 7. For the most part, this hasn’t been a problem, since even though I do run a lot of software, I typically haven’t needed more than the 3.25 gigabytes to which I’m currently limited. But that’s changing, and I’m about to make the switch to a 64 bit O/S.

Software developers have similarly been slow to embrace the new 64 bit world, and for the same reason: if running a 64 bit version of your software is indistinguishable from running the 32 bit version, why bother developing and maintaining a 64 bit version at all? There are of course exceptions; applications that use large amounts of memory, such as video editors, clearly benefit enormously from the availability of more RAM. Along with operating systems, that type of software has been available in 64 bit form for years.

Other software developers are slowly joining the 64 bit party, and the latest to do so is Google, for its web browser, Chrome. Although web browsers traditionally haven’t needed a lot of RAM to operate, that is starting to change, with ever more massive, media rich pages appearing on the web. Mozilla has been struggling to develop a stable 64 bit version of Firefox for Windows; they recently announced that they were giving up, only to reverse that decision in the face of criticism.

Ars Technica has more, including a breakdown of the pros and cons of the new 64 bit Chrome.