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Even Microsoft directly shipped a PowerPC system running a modified NT kernel in the Xbox 360. If Itanium continued to implode with no other alternatives, Powe

Even Microsoft directly shipped a PowerPC system running a modified NT kernel in the Xbox 360. If Itanium continued to implode with no other alternatives, PowerPC would have been the most likely to pick up the slack. The main reason why it more or less failed was from a lack of volume to pay for leading edge R&D for the process side. Without AMD64, Intel's Itanium obsession combined with the mid aughts dennard scaling wall catching everyone with their pants down would have given a nice bit of breathing room for PowerPC to exceed x86-32.

pjmlp 4y ago
That Windows version was long gone when Itanium came to be, no way Microsoft would bring Windows NT for Power PC from the dead. https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/windows-nt-powerpc-no-more https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/windows-nt-powerpc-no-...
- monocasa 4y ago
  They killed it at about the time they started working on AMD64 internally with AMD. Dave Cutler himself gave feedback on the pre silicon design; it was basically co designed with Microsoft. They kept PowerPC in public products until they had another way out. And to this day PowerPC support still exists internally in the NT kernel. They also literally were shipping an NT derived kernel for Xbox 360 into the 2010s.
  - pjmlp 4y ago
    Between 1997 and the release of XBox in 2001 there was enough years of code changes (two major NT based releases), also XBox NT kernel was basically that, a stripped down kernel without any relation to Windows 2000 userspace.
    - monocasa 4y ago
      And notice I said 360; they reimported the PowerPC support from mainline NT in 2005. And to this day they still have PowerPC support internally in mainline NT. And that small bit doesn't address the core of what I'm saying, that PowerPC support would have seen even more support if the two options were that and Itanium.
      - pjmlp 4y ago
        I guess we will have to agree to disagree that Itanium would have won anyway. Which doesn't matter which of us is right, because AMD created AMD64 and killed Itaninum in the process.

pjmlp 4y ago

That Windows version was long gone when Itanium came to be, no way Microsoft would bring Windows NT for Power PC from the dead. https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/windows-nt-powerpc-no-more https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/windows-nt-powerpc-no-...

monocasa 4y ago
They killed it at about the time they started working on AMD64 internally with AMD. Dave Cutler himself gave feedback on the pre silicon design; it was basically co designed with Microsoft. They kept PowerPC in public products until they had another way out. And to this day PowerPC support still exists internally in the NT kernel. They also literally were shipping an NT derived kernel for Xbox 360 into the 2010s.
- pjmlp 4y ago
  Between 1997 and the release of XBox in 2001 there was enough years of code changes (two major NT based releases), also XBox NT kernel was basically that, a stripped down kernel without any relation to Windows 2000 userspace.
  - monocasa 4y ago
    And notice I said 360; they reimported the PowerPC support from mainline NT in 2005. And to this day they still have PowerPC support internally in mainline NT. And that small bit doesn't address the core of what I'm saying, that PowerPC support would have seen even more support if the two options were that and Itanium.
    - pjmlp 4y ago
      I guess we will have to agree to disagree that Itanium would have won anyway. Which doesn't matter which of us is right, because AMD created AMD64 and killed Itaninum in the process.