> What did DEC have on Microsoft to get them to port Windows NT to the AXP architecture? > That was an obvious money pit at the time. Also remember that Micros

> What did DEC have on Microsoft to get them to port Windows NT to the AXP architecture? > That was an obvious money pit at the time. Also remember that Microsoft had just released the explicitly 32-bit Win32 API, nobody in the PC world was interested in 64-bit architecture. Win32 was the new shiny toy. IIRC, they had Windows NT releases for PowerPC and MIPS, too. At the time, I think the matra was "CISC is dead, long live RISC." It was prudent on Microsoft's part to be ready if Intel became uncompetitive, to avoid finding themselves it Apple's early-90s situation with Motorola.