Agreed. Once again, like when the move from the 95/98/ME core to the NT/2000 core, drivers are the big issue with a 64bit system since it's a major rewrite. Old hardware, as well as "specialty" hardware (oddball things like check scanners, barcode printers, etc) may not have 64bit drivers written for them and thus, won't work at all.

It all depends on if the maker of that hardware decides to put in the time and effort to support it. If it's from an off-brand manufacturer, chances are it won't be. Major brands have a better chance of supporting their hardware since they have more resources at their disposal, but there's still a chance of getting burned. My suggestion, before making the move, check at Microsoft's compatibility site to see if Microsoft has a driver that'll work or see if you can find 64bit drivers directly from the manufacturers and download them to a USB chip drive.

64bit is here to stay though because computer hardware was backed into a corner with the 32bit RAM limit. Microsoft's server OS doesn't even come in 32bit version any more and sales of Windows 7 have been weak at best. All the major OEM computer builders have just decided it's easier to just install 64bit across the board as the default option. There's a lot of drivers out there though so if your hardware is even halfway modern, you shouldn't have any issues.