Some machines apparently have a long lifespan.

Hmm. I have only 64 bit machines and so I installed 64-bit OSs on them though they are by no means new. At the time I just thought 64 bit is the way things will develop and I wanted to avoid the hassle of switching later.

Everything I have is 64bit.

Lap1: System 76 Bonobo with Fedora 23
Lap2: System 76 Galago with Fedora 23
Desk: Dell 9020 with Fedora 24
Serv: (12x) Various Dell Servers with CentOS 6.8
Stor: (2x) SuperMicro with FreeNAS

Does a pre RPi3 generation pi count as 32 bit? Because they are. I have the RPi B that I got < 2 years ago and that I expect to last a long long time. As far as OLD hardware I have several that are still 32 bit. Although not my main systems anymore. I have a dell inspiron 1150 that I use to rip CDs, and as a ethernet to wifi bridge on occasion. And I have an older desktop 1GHz cpu that is 32 bit, that I use because it has a parallel port to use a printer of equal vintage (HP deskjet 722c). Both will probably linger until they fail (more than they already have), or I get devices with that functionality to replace them. I keep an old athlon x2 around too for the PCI ports, but it's technically 64 bit. Otherwise the hp stream 11 that I use smokes them in most regards.

If it takes more than five years for java to come out with a 64 bit browser plugin. I expect 32 bit machines to still be in service for another decade. Plus many NEW embedded devices are still 32 bit.

If rackspace is any indication 32 bit still makes up many production systems. They had a vm challenge thing to win a chromebook at texas linuxfest 2015. And I was kind of horrified that it was a 686 kernel with soo much noise that you had to use the "quiet" parm to be able to use the system to any degree. Enough so that by the time I got past the bootloader and into the vm without console spam, I completely forgot about the /etc/brokefix with the challenge goals. All I could recall was the premise that apache wouldn't start. And it wouldn't, so 0 out of 15 for me.

32 bit because the max the 945G chip set can handle in RAM is 2 GB

& yes i know 945G can run 64 bit

64-bit physical machines. 32-bit virtual machines.

All 64-bit here. My 32-bit stuff died a long time ago.

Why?

32bit ;-( VBox on 2G 1000HA eeePC XP sp2. (See my FIRST thread)
I did get manjaro *installed*! (but atm startx fails)

My 3 wishes atm (At The Moment) are: [learning / playing with]
1: a TINY .iso of a custom LFS or 32bit openSUSE 42.2 with boot defaults: text init=/bin/sh
2: all latest 7,000 kernel CONFIG_* build options (&maybe KLM stuff +all related utils)
3: hex machine code to "INT 0x10" a 'z' &halt when booted, to put in MBR of a 0.5K .vdi ;-)

Compatibility I would imagine. Since 32 bit hasn't changed in a while, it should (if only in theory) be better supported. One might argue smaller binaries and install size, but if debians netinstall images are any indication, probably more perception than reality.

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My 32 bit systems have died several times. But a $30 PSU trumps most new systems even a NUC. Although debatable depending on the cost of electricity in your area. And if your area spends most of the year above room temperature. Plus whether the new thing is worth purchasing new displays, printers, cables, DACs, etc. When you already own those things (on the old standard). Yearly cheap HDD drive for your primary OS usage to keep your trust factor up. Which for a card reader and SDHC card, less than twenty bucks.

Compatibility with what?

Same here. I think it was 2007 when I bought my first 64-bit system.

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Hi ugjka.

I got my first x64 machine as late as 2013.

All my used computers are now 64bit. I think I might still have a 32bit lying around somewhere though.

I have a Desktop and a Laptop that are 64-bit, but I still have a dinosaur from 2003 that is 32-bit.
Unfortunately, im not able to figure out how to connect to the internet with the dino although if I put some time into it, I might figure it out.