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The DEC Alpha actually did provide very good performance, and you could even run Windows NT on it. As far as I can tell, the biggest problem was just that Alph
by cameldrv 1y ago
The DEC Alpha actually did provide very good performance, and you could even run Windows NT on it. As far as I can tell, the biggest problem was just that Alpha systems were very expensive, and so they had a limited customer base. There were some quirks, but the main thing was just that you'd be paying $2000 for a PC and $10,000 for an Alpha based system, and most people didn't need the performance that badly.
- axiolite 1y ago> Alpha systems were very expensive, and so they had a limited customer base. That's the usual chicken & egg problem... If they sold more units, the prices would have come down. But people weren't buying many, because the prices were high. Itanium, like Alpha, or any other alternative architecture, would also have trouble and get stuck in that circle. x86-64, being a very inexpensive add-on to x86, managed to avoid that.