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Compaq may be forced to back down on Alpha NT

Large corporation fuming at decision

Sources said that Compaq was coming under pressure to reverse its decision not to support Win64 on Alpha NT. Information received today indicated that a Fortune 500 company is so irritated at Compaq's decision that it has asked its legal department to look closer at the matter. The Fortune 500 firm, which we cannot name for legal reasons, had been persuaded to spend $1 million to move from VMS to Alpha NT. The firm had started talking to Digital three years ago and continued those discussions with Compaq, completing the deal just a few months back. The bills are mounting up on this side of The Pond too -- an unnamed Compaq reseller today told UK channel mag PC Dealer that it had lost a £500K deal to supply a customer with Alpha NT boxes. Bad timing, or what? Compaq said Alpha NT accounted for only two per cent of its sales on the microprocessor. But for those two per cent of customers, it's a 100 per cent turnaround which has them fuming. There are also other customers who are putting pressure on Compaq to back off from the decision. One wrote to The Register, saying: "As a former Alpha NT customer/user all I can say is the hell with them! I will strictly buy from resellers and/or API and go with Linux and DUnix. If Q and M$ did change their minds they would only be appeasing the FTC abd some folks. Most of the AphaNT camp has already started on the road to Linux". So it seems as though the damage has now been done to the two per cent of Compaq customers it affects. Even if Compaq agreed to perform such a humiliating u-turn, it would have to get the agreement of Microsoft. No one from Compaq was available to comment at press time. (But if you'd care to email us, we'd be happy to add your comments). ®

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