3 ms·
The older Alpha versions of Windows were mostly 32 bit even though the Alpha was natively a 64 bit CPU (see https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20170823-
by fredoralive 3y ago
The older Alpha versions of Windows were mostly 32 bit even though the Alpha was natively a 64 bit CPU (see https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20170823-00/?p=96875 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20170823-00/?p=96...). This is a prototype of actual 64 bit Windows, early in development when actual Itanium silicon didn't exist, so they used Alpha as a test target even though Alpha Windows was dead.
- mananaysiempre 3y agoThat actually seems fairly interesting and unusual—in Linux terms, Windows NT (and its progeny) started with the moral equivalent of the x32 ABI[1] on its only 64-bit architecture (Alpha) and only afterwards introduced support for true 64-bit apps. Which is very reasonable! [1] https://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/ https://sites.google.com/site/x32abi/