Editing Microsoft Windows (section)

==== Platform support ====
Windows NT included support for several platforms before the [[x86]]-based [[personal computer]] became dominant in the professional world. [[Windows NT 4.0]] and its predecessors supported [[PowerPC]], [[DEC Alpha]] and [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]] R4000 (although some of the platforms implement [[64-bit computing]], the OS treated them as 32-bit). Windows 2000 dropped support for all platforms, except the third generation x86 (known as [[IA-32]]) or newer in 32-bit mode. The client line of the Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to [[Windows 10]]<ref name="windows11specs" /> (the server line of the Windows NT family still ran on IA-32 up to [[Windows Server 2008]]).

With the introduction of the Intel Itanium architecture ([[IA-64]]), Microsoft released new versions of Windows to support it. Itanium versions of [[Windows XP]] and [[Windows Server 2003]] were released at the same time as their mainstream x86 counterparts. Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2003), released in 2003, is the last Windows client operating system to support Itanium. Windows Server line continues to support this platform until [[Windows Server 2012]]; Windows Server 2008 R2 is the last Windows operating system to support Itanium architecture.

On April 25, 2005, Microsoft released [[Windows XP Professional x64 Edition]] and Windows Server 2003 x64 editions to support [[x86-64]] (or simply x64), the 64-bit version of x86 architecture. [[Windows Vista]] was the first client version of Windows NT to be released simultaneously in IA-32 and x64 editions. As of 2024, x64 is still supported.

An edition of Windows 8 known as [[Windows RT]] was specifically created for computers with [[ARM architecture family|ARM architecture]], and while ARM is still used for Windows smartphones with Windows 10, tablets with Windows RT will not be updated. Starting from [[Windows 10 Fall Creators Update]] (version 1709) and later includes support for ARM-based PCs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bott |first=Ed |date=October 7, 2019 |title=Windows 10 on Arm: What you need to know before you buy a Surface Pro X |url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-on-arm-what-you-need-to-know-before-you-buy-a-surface-pro-x/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210701045005/https://www.zdnet.com/article/windows-10-on-arm-what-you-need-to-know-before-you-buy-a-surface-pro-x/ |archive-date=July 1, 2021 |access-date=June 14, 2021 |website=[[ZDNet]]}}</ref>