Why DEC Alpha Lost Even Though It Was Faster Than x86
DEC Alpha did not lose because it was slow. It lost even though it was one of the fastest and most forward-looking processors of its era.
This video traces what happened to DEC Alpha, the 64-bit RISC chip that often outperformed x86 but still faded from the market. It follows the rise of Digital Equipment Corporation, the move away from VAX, and the clean-slate design choices that made Alpha feel years ahead of its time. It also explains why technical superiority was not enough.
You will see how Alpha was built for clock speed, multiple instruction dispatch, and multiprocessing, why it became a serious force in workstations, servers, and supercomputers, and how Compaq, Intel, and Itanium changed its future. The story also covers Windows NT support, OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX, and the larger shift that pushed the industry toward x86 standardization.
If you remember DEC, VAX, AlphaServer, or the feeling of 1990s computer hardware moving faster than anyone expected, share your memories in the comments.
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