REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 7, 1997 — In response to decreasing demand for PowerPC systems, Microsoft Corp. today announced it plans to phase out its development efforts for the Microsoft® Windows NT® operating system on the PowerPC architecture. Today’s news follows recent decisions by key industry partners including IBM Corp. and Motorola Inc. to limit the breadth of their PowerPC efforts. Microsoft plans to continue offering technical support to its customers who use Windows NT 4.0 on the PowerPC architecture.
Microsoft built Windows NT to support multiple hardware platforms and is fully committed to supporting current and future development efforts on Digital Equipment Corp. Alpha and Intel x86 platforms. In addition, Microsoft is working on future development efforts with both Digital and Intel to support 64-bit processors with Windows NT, with initial support on Digital’s Alpha as outlined in previous press releases (more information on this subject can be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1996/jun96/nt64btpr.asp and at
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1996/sept96/intelpr.asp .
Microsoft plans to continue working closely with Motorola to enhance PowerPC solutions for non-PC devices. The two companies recently announced plans to port the Windows® CE operating system to the PowerPC processor (more information on this subject can be accessed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1996/dec96/cpulstpr.asp .
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