[MichaelGG]

Why does the author refer to IA-32 and x86 as separate architectures? Is there an actual technical distinction or are they aliases for the same thing?

[georgemcbay]

IA-32 is a subset of x86, as x86 includes everything from the 8086 up and IA-32 (often AKA i386) is the 32-bit architecture from the 80386 up. But this doesn't really explain why both were listed there, particularly when listed alongside the 386 as a separate listing.