WTF are the new G-200 drivers for Windows???

[Opus]

Let's see now

Filmgeek: I know that's no excuse and I'm not using the 'grass isn't always greener' arguement. Far from it. Nowadays what can the individual customer or even a forum group actually do to a supplier? They don't care! Tactics such as voicing dispproval, boycotting etc only has an effect on, say cornershops. Look at Intel and the PIII fiasco. The code is still there. They all suck. It would be nice to see Matrox stand up and say 'Sorry guys we screwed you and we screwed up' - but it ain't gonna happen.

SteveC: I don't mind all the forum postings about the G400 and I'm quite happy with my G200 performance. I hope you didn't think I was bashing the beta testers.

Whisper: No prob. I agree with you on that post. Matrox have been suffering from target fixation and forgotten about (or reprioritised) the G200 owners. Why wait till the G400's out before releasing new G200 drivers? They've got more manhours invested in that than the new babies.

Tohoward and SwAmPlAdY have the best PR idea. A 50ukp rebate would be nice

Cheers

[Ant]

Up until the G200s Matrox were head and shoulders above everyone else when it came to driver support. New drivers would typically appear every 6 to 8 weeks and they were always good solid drivers. What happened with the G200s is at the same time Matrox did some major restructuring, obviously some of it they must have got very wrong and some parts were not restructured enough.

With PowerDesk 5 the drivers are getting good again, and they support all boards back to the original Millennium. They are way way overdue, looking at the drivers I have had with the G400s I think they could have made a PD 5 a couple of weeks back. 6 months since the last driver release is simply not good enough not matter if they have been going L for leather for the G400s.

[rubank]

Nice thread,

I don´t have to say nothin´.

rubank

[cpt puget]

the "beta boys" are doing a fine job and giving out what info they can. the ones that have are always resented some by the ones that have not. whatever frustrations are being aired here are not their fault. there must be some valid reason why matrox is still sitting on drivers which could (should) have been released already. i dont think they are doing it just to piss us off (right?). i come here a few times daily and the first thing i look for is "g200 driver news". with each passing day since maggi, kruzin, steve, ect. got the new drivers the frustration factor goes up a little. some word form "M" as to why the delay is occuring might nake the wait a little easier to take.

[sclark]

Whisper

Your comments in this post echo my feelings exactly. I think we should all cut and paste this to the Matrox Corp. offices.

It will not do any good because I remember when we all sent them a petition which was met with deaf ears.

BTW- Their lame ass excuse for non MS certified drivers is that it cost to much to go to Redmond. Maybe if they went there, they might have learned something.

Anyway Kudos!

PS I do not think the "Beta Boyz" have any part in Matrox bad Customer relations.
These guys have helped me with my buggy Win98 G200 driver problems on several occasions.

[Whisper]

Opus, not a total flame, but,

The G-200 maybe an old card now, but up until a few days ago, EXACTLY what Video Card have Matrox been supporting? Did they have some newer product released in the past 6 months that we all have previously not been aware of?

Cheers

Matrox, re-defining the meaning of the word "SOON"!

[Jake]

g'mornin...

It seem I missed out on all of the fun yesterday. Strangely enough this thread is not the messy battleground, I would have expected.

I usually refrain from writing posts in the morning, as most of them would look like this one, but today I think that being in a shitty mood and voicing it here just fine. So here goes...

I want some F**KIN' new drivers for my G200 and I want them yesterday. I totally agree with whisper on this matter. 6 months!!! Do Matrox think we enjoy bending over and taking it up the tailpipe! Enough is enough! I even changed my motherboard to a F**CKIN' Wintel system to get better compatibility with the alpha drivers they have been putting out in the past. If I have to read one more statement from Matrox that says the drivers will be out SOON, I'm going to spawn into a hellish hound of gore and haunt every single Matrox employee in his F**CKIN' dreams! MOTHERF***ER!!

RELEASE THE ICD, NEW DRIVERS AND POWERDESK 5 FOR THE G200!

Time to let out some steam, guys!

I have nothing but respect for the people on the beta-test team, they are all nice persons who care. Had it not been for you guys I would have jumped ship long ago.

Jake

[Kosh]

What do you need these new drivers to do. Why is it that many people want to upgrade to the newest driver without even checking if it is a better driver.

Also no matter how much you may bash Matrox for how they have written their software their hardware is just about the best in the price range. This is especially true under Linux. My G200 works better under linux that it does under windows. Matrox has been doing a good job of gettings specs out on their cards and thus helping developers to write their own drivers.

If some of you think the drivers are of such poor quality then why don't you quit whining and write your own. The information is all out there and I believe you can even get the MS Device Driver Kit for free from their webpage now.

[Filmgeek]

Kosh,

Terrific hardware without decent software ends up being an expensive doorstop. And just because I can't write my own drivers doesn't mean I can't complain when Matrox puts out crap drivers.

[tohoward]

Kosh: Oh please. This has to be the most idiotic statement I've heard in some time:

"If some of you think the drivers are of such poor quality then why don't you quit whining and write your own."

When I buy something, and it says it will support X, Y, and Z, I expect it to support X, Y, and Z, not X & Y, not Y & Z, not X & Z. Why in the hell would I buy something claiming to have support for what I want JUST SO I CAN WRITE MY OWN DEVICE SUPPORT FOR IT?

Todd

[RC Agent]

I'm going with Jake's comment and let some steam out.

RELEASE THE ICD, NEW DRIVERS AND POWERDESK5 FOR THE G200!!!!!!!

Ahhh, there, somewhat better. That should keep me going for another two weeks.

RC Agent

[Whisper]

Hi Kruzin, nothing personal but,

Ok, I may be a little hard on the Beta testers, but I have 1 thing to say in this respect.

"One way or the other, they are perpetuating the Matrox LIE"

Either

1. They are doing this unknowingly, and everybody has the right to be an absolute idiot once in their lives,

or

2. They know full well what they are doing, and are in on the joke Matrox are playing on all us stupid, unfortunate Matrox G-200 users.

What is it??

You already know what I think of people who deliberately perpetuate a lie. Ask Lukey how I reply to people who dare make an accidental error in fact, let alone what they do when they make a deliberate factual error. (Both barrels, up close, and personal!!!)

I did give all you Beta testers a way out in my 1st post, you can choose not to perpetuate the lie, by keeping your mouths shut, so to speak.

Other than that, well, the choice is yours.

What is it to be?? One or the other, you can not have it both ways!

Cheers

[This message has been edited by Whisper (edited 06-26-99).]

[Elie]

I think you beta testers made the mistake of revealing yourselves here


Regards,
Elie

[This message has been edited by Elie (edited 06-27-99).]

[sclark]

Elie,

What Matrox did in this forum was a stroke of genius. They picked out the individuals that were their biggest detractors on the G200 and gave them a G400.

By doing this, it kept them from complaining about Matrox and their G200 support, drivers. Some BS about a NDA.

The Beta Boyz were the most outspoken critics of Matrox before they reached beta status.

This is not their fault because I too would have been jumped at the chance to test the new card. This does not in any way detract from the very valuable help they offer other in this forum.

Of course you can disagree but this is my opinion after lurking in this group for over a year.

Whisper,

Matrox credibility on the G200 drivers is a crock because they said they would release the drivers when they released the G400. Well the G400’s are all over the net in the oem version.

[Kruzin]

Elie-
Well, what can I say…we were warned that this kind of resentment would show up. I'm surprised it took this long. Who knows…maybe there's more beta testers around here than people know about, who have not chosen to reveal themselves.

sclark-
Hehehehe…I'm glad you at least admit that if you had been given a similar opportunity, that you would have taken it . I think most of the users here would too. I can't speak to Matrox's motives for choosing who they did, but we've done our best to make it more than a "marketing move". They have needed some sort of beta program for a long time, and while I have no doubt that my participation in this forum is what directly led to being asked to sign up, you must admit it's a step above no external beta testing at all. We do report our findings daily, and have found legitimate bugs that might not have otherwise been fixed. Believe me, it's not all joy. Some of the builds we've seen have plainly sucked…but that's what beta is all about.

As far as the PD5 release coinciding with the G400 release…We started asking about that the day the first reports of OEM cards showing up in Honk Kong where posted. We were told that the OEM cards are not supposed to be sold individually (even though we all know they are), and that the official G400(retail) release has not happened yet. Take that any way you want to, I won't defend M on the G200 driver release. I already agreed that I feel something should have been out by now…