FX!32 1.5

XF!32 is a compatiblity layer for Windows NT 4 for the DEC Alpha CPU that adds the ability to run Intel 32-bit binary software. 32-bit i386 executables are essentially disassembled and recompiled with Alpha machine code. The performance is not as good as a native Alpha compiled application, yet it runs at acceptable speeds.

Introduced in 1992, the DEC Alpha was a high performance 64-bit RISC based CPU created by Digital Equipment Corporation. Microsoft released Windows NT 3.1 for the Alpha CPU in 1993, but Digital's Unix remained the OS of choice on these machines. Despite the speed and power of these 64-bit CPUs, the inability to natively run 32-bit i386 Windows binaries was seen as a major shortcoming. This eventually led to the demise of Windows on this platform, with the last release being a Windows 2000 beta.

16-bit x86 DOS and Windows software could already run in Alpha Windows NT 3.x and 4.x using the built in SoftWindows emulator used in place of the NTVDM.