Microsoft Deals Latest Blow To Apple

Microsoft Corp. said Friday it would stop making its Windows NT operating system for computers based on the PowerPC chip, dealing the latest blow to the once-touted microprocessor.

The PowerPC microprocessors, developed jointly by IBM Corp., Motorola Inc. and Apple Computer Inc., were once pushed as an alternative to the dominant Intel Corp. chips that are the “brains” of most personal computers.

But only Apple currently sells PowerPC computers in any substantial numbers, and last month IBM said it would stop making its PowerPC-Windows NT machines because of their small sales volume.

Analysts said Microsoft’s move was not surprising in the wake of IBM’s decision and a recent drop in sales of Apple’s computers, which are based on the PowerPC.

The overwhelming majority of Microsoft’s products run on Intel chips, and developing and supporting operating systems for computers based on other chips is expensive, said Brian Murphy, a software analyst at the Yankee Group in Boston.

“It makes life a lot easier for them. The more platforms they have to support, the more they have to spend,” Murphy said.

Microsoft’s Windows NT is an operating system for business computers and networks designed to run on different chips. Microsoft said it will continue to make Windows NT adaptable for computers using Digital Equipment Corp. chips as well as Intel’s chips.