There is no definitive answer as to where Compaq stands on whether Merced or the Alpha is a better chip platform. That emerged today during a heated debate in central London. Posed questions whether a 64-bit Intel platform, supposedly due next year, is better than a cheap Alpha 64-bit platform today, a jury of product marketing execs appeared dumbfounded. A number of people got up to speak but they only seemed to compound the situation, with Nicky Spiers, Compaq's workstation product group manager, contrasting the price of Tru64 Unix (£8,000 plus) with Intel 32-bit NT systems costing around £6,000. All seemed to agree that Alpha systems, available now, are far faster than Merced systems, maybe available next year, but no one seemed to be able to figure out why Compaq was still supporting Merced. ®