NT op de Alpha is dood, zo meldt MaximumPC:
Echoing Compaq's decision to stop support of NT on Alpha CPUs, Microsoft said this week it will end support as well.Last week, Compaq quietly let go of 100 engineers working to support Windows NT on the super-fast Alpha CPU. Compaq said it wished to concentrate efforts its Unix and Linux support.
Microsoft said it would end Alpha support beyond Windows NT 4, although it plans to offer the upcoming Service Pack 6 for Alpha. Microsoft has already dropped support for MIPS and PowerPC processors. The latest move will make Windows 2000 an x86-only operating system after Release Candidate 2 is made available. [break] En de mening van Ars Technica, ook wel interessant: [/break] Following Compaq's lead (or is it really the other way around), Microsoft is saying bye-bye to the Alpha after Service Pack 6 for NT4 is released. Windows 2000 RC 2 will not include Alpha support. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing (considering all the possible ramifications it could have). All I do know is that NT on the Alpha was really impressive (in terms of speed), and Microsoft seems to be a little too x86-happy these days. With all the rumors circulating about bad blood between Intel and Microsoft, one might expect to see Microsoft interested in running on another architecture. Alpha is the third and final non-x86 architecture to dance with and be dumped by Microsoft. MIPS and PPC support was once available, although neither was particularly stable. In fact, the PPC support was so bad I was surprised it ever made it to the public.
This move doesn't necessarily mean the end of Microsoft's affair with the Alpha. As many of you have pointed out, NT isn't (yet) a 64-bit OS, so one would have to consider if Compaq et al should bother supporting a 32-bit OS. When (and if) 64-bit NT rears its head, I'd be surprised if Alpha wasn't back on the scene, head to head with Merced. Thanks to Andy for the heads-up.
