Right, Windows NT was shipped on PowerPC, MIPS and Alpha up until 1999; Then MS shipped Windows Server on IA64 Itanium from around that time right up to 2010, alongside the x64 version - including shipping IA64 versions of .NET, SQL Server, etc. And they began shipping Windows on ARM with WindowsRT in 2011.

I actually don't think there has been any significant period where Microsoft was only shipping core Windows operating systems on only x86. It's possible that's actually a deliberate strategy.

But to your point, what they have never been able to do was persuade any significant part of the ecosystem to notice.

There was also a PowerPC build of Windows XP, which was preloaded on Xbox 360 dev kits (which were ironically PowerMac G5 towers configured to roughly match 360 hardware).

> Right, Windows NT was shipped on PowerPC, MIPS and Alpha up until 1999

Were there any compilers for those architectures from Microsoft ?

Yep, you could get visual studio processor packs in the mail. At least for ppc and mips.

Yes. How else would they build their OS and applications?

It’s a lot easier to make the devs move when you control the hardware too.

> They presently seem to be trying to correct that, with an x86 emulator

DEC created an x86 emulator for the DEC Alpha version of Windows NT, but it still didn't get any traction, despite the Alpha being the performance king back in the day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FX!32

I feel like this comment needs some extra emphasis, especially when it comes to third-party drivers, perhaps even more than application software.