I worked in service at DEC from the '80s to 2003. Regarding the public implementation of Alpha chips: on DEC boxes it was fine. My POV as related to Intel / Microsoft relationship: it was a deal-buster for getting 64 bit CPUs on desktops. & servers. Microsoft had had a relationship with Intel from the start and refused to jeopardize it by aligning with DEC. Wintel was doing fine so Microsoft just ignored Alpha.
DEC wrote the code for 64-bit Windows NT to prove it worked. Didn't matter. There wasn't THAT much demand from users to affect their bottom line. Engineering OEMs sold them to high-end users, but that was it for desktop workstations. Without the mass market that DEC CEO Palmer envisioned, the numbers didn't work to scale up. The Hudson plant wasn't bringing in the revenue and fizzled. Once the DEC / Intel deal hit, THEN Microsoft "liked" 64-bit Windows. By then, the valuation of Alpha was way down .. 10 yrs old?
Palmer then sold off the pieces until it was just a SERVICE company, which is what the Compaq deal was all about. They sold boxes but had no service. A merger there and Compaq had a service force and DEC was history.
DEC was great at making stuff and as long as the high-end users kept calling to buy product, things were fine. But...
