Why to use MS Office 2010 32 bit in SP 2010 Farm on 64 bit Windows Servers?

Question

When I first tried to install Sharepoint Designer 2010, I initially downloaded its 64 bit version

But upon lanuching the install of SharePoint.exe, I've gotten:

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  Setup Error

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  You cannot install the 64-bit version of Office 2010 because you have 32-bit Office products installed.
  These 32-bit products are not supported with 64-bit installations:

  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2010
  • Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010

  If you want to install 64-bit Office 2010, you must uninstall all 32-bit Office products first, and then run setup.exe in the x64 folder. If you want to install 32-bit Office 2010, close this Setup program. and then either go to the x86 folder at the root of your CD or DVD and run setup.exe, or get the 32-bit Office 2010 from the same place you purchased 64-bit Office 2010.

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  OK

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I became curious:

• Why to use MS Office 32 bit in SharePoint 2010 on MS Windows Server 2008 R2 64 bit?
  
  • Why couldn't it (MS Office 2010) be 64 bit?
  • Why was such a decision in favor of 32-bit version?
• What are the possible reasons and implications of using MS Office 2010 32 (x86) or 64 bit?

Answer 1

The only reason to use Office 64 bit is if you're working with HUGE documents (usually excel or access) which are to big to losd in the 32 bit version.

Otherwise you should always use 32 bit as there are several peices of functionallity which isn't implemented in the 64 bit version, especially around the browser plugins which SharePoint takes advantage of.

Due to use of shared dlls you can't mix 32 bit and 64 bit Office on a machine. so my suggestion is that if you have the needs for 64 bit for some files then you should install it on dedicsted machine (can be VM) but otherwise always use 32 bit,