The shift to Linux happened around the same time, and few people would bother with anything else but GCC. It might have might made a difference if the Gelato Federation had arrived earlier, with more funding, and a mandate to conduct generic toolchain maintenance, in addition to Itanium-specific work. Kind of what Linaro does today. I think Gelato was way too late, and I don't recall it being particularly impactful (but it's been a long time ago, sorry).