Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/1999/09/02/alpha_nt_more_disappointed_two/

Alpha NT: More disappointed two per cent speak up

"Compaq has a moral, if not legal obligation to support users"

By Mike Magee

Posted in On-Prem, 2nd September 1999 17:43 GMT

Further evidence that Compaq has left its corporate users in the lurch after it abandoned Alpha NT has emerged. Yesterday, we reported that a large Fortune 500 was girding its loins for a legal battle with Compaq after it was persuaded to shift its strategy from VMS to NT on Alpha. (Story: Compaq may be forced to back down on Alpha NT) Now we have received news of a European corporate user who also feels that Compaq has treated its user base appallingly. The user wrote: "We run a generic transaction processing system and some internet lotteries. We have been running our database and web servers under Windows NT and alpha for the past 4 years, and have a considerable investment in Alpha. "Just over a year ago I met with Digital in Switzerland where I was shown the roadmap to 64-bit NT and Alpa/NT. On the basis of the commitment to NT on Alpha I spent over Swiss Fr 200,000 on two 7300 machines which are fantastically fast and were cheaper than the 4100 (Unix version) because they have been crippled to only run NT. I was in discussions in the past month to buy another Alpha for our database. We currently have 4 x 4100 (about 100K for each machine +more for memory etc.) and 5 x 1000A (about 30K each). "It is not good enough to support sp6. Fact is, we have to keep up to the latest NT releases if we are going to continue down the NT track. So effectively I have some very expensive door stops. "Of course we are pissed off. Even if the promises were made by Digital employees I would have thought that Compaq has a moral if not legal obligation to stick to them. "What makes it worse is that the Alpha is a way for 64-bit NT to be available today on a functioning and fantastic chip, now it is being delayed for at least 1 year because of what looks like a political play. Effectively this is the death knell for NT as an enterprise system. We will be porting to Unix in the future. "By the way, my experience with the Alpha servers has been fantastic - they are more robust and faster (even running 32 bit NT) than anything else on the market." The Register is still awaiting a formal response to Compaq on these stories. ®