there was hardly any software compiled for Alpha even when it was a current product I ran SQL Server on NT on Alpha in the 90s, it was actually very good, but

there was hardly any software compiled for Alpha even when it was a current product I ran SQL Server on NT on Alpha in the 90s, it was actually very good, but you had to treat it as a dedicated appliance rather than a general-purpose computer because as you say, there was very little software available. Then the industry took a weird meander through DEC StrongARM and now Microsoft is looking at Windows on ARM seriously again...