What's been accomplished and what still needs to be done at Matrox

[red2]

What's been accomplished because of our bitching:

Lack of/incompetent tech support:fixed

No "what's new" updates for driver/bios:just fixed

Poor drivers:Work in progress, but significantly better

What needs to be done:

Increase production: There is no way they can stay in business if their cards don't make it to market until the competition's next gen cards come out. Yes they fill OEM sales, but if popular perception of them is poor then OEM's will go elsewhere. Use another fab if you have to! Limiting yourself just to one is bad because they can control you then!

Increase distribution:The online store should only be for preorders and the people who want them as soon as the cards go to market, not the entire distribution network.

Improve distributor relations:I am sure things went sour with the G400. I am still waiting for a vanilla G400 DH for a customer's computer. I called the distributor and they said they have over 8000 on backorder and Matrox has not delivered or said anything.

Even though the retail market is smaller than the OEM, it can still be big business if Matrox were to supply the demand!


So let's get Ant to form another petition to get more retail boards!

[Ant]

Well folks now is the time to draw up a list of questions for Matrox, but do it quickly, ie within the next couple of days.

[DK]

I really can't bitch about anything, i've had a good experience from the start, got what I wanted when I wanted it (got lucky this time).

I would like to see better drivers sooner.

I do not have a max, don't need 1, so I didn't go thru the wait.

G400 SH OEM 32 o/c 145/194

Derek

[Ant]

The questions don't just have to be bitchy questions

[cjolley]

Ant,
Why is now the time to ask particularly?
chuck

ps Like my new sig?

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My MAX is on it's way!

[DuRaNgO]

Question #1:

Is there a Generation 4 chip on the table for let's say Q1-2 2000 and will it have a GPU or other new technology to put Nvidea back in second place? (that is if the G-foreskin can take 1st. place)

Question #2:

Can I beta test it?

jim


[This message has been edited by DuRaNgO (edited 09-13-1999).]

[GD]

OK here you go!

Question 1: Can I pre-alpha test the already mentioned board?

Ok time to get serious:

Question 2: I told Hitachi to send the CM753's timings to Matrox and they said they would do it (at least this is what I understood). Two newer driver releases have been out since then and the list stops at 752 :-(((

Question 3: Why does expendable ALWAYS LOCK UP at the same spot?

Question 4: I know I have no right to say anything about these things, but please stop doing the following: Hide actual frequencies from us, and generally not releasing information about : new driver releases, new product releases.

Question 5: Your next card WILL be faster than the Glaze3D 2400 right? Please say yes (I really mean this :-) )

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PC Power and Cooling Deluxe Chrome Tower case and 300W ATX Power Supply, Dual Slot1 440GX AMI MegaRUM II motherboard, 128MB of ECC 100 MHz SDRAM, PII 450 MHz, Matrox G400 MAX, Seagate Cheetah 9,1GB @ primary SCSI Ultra2 Wide controller, Hitachi 4x DVD-ROM, Panasonic (Matsushita) LS-120 Drive, Terratec EWS64XL sound card.

[GD]

Oh I forgot,

When will we see drivers for Windows 2000? And will these drivers support 2 CPUs more efficiently ? :-) (I would appreciate a positive answer to this one as well :-) )

[jedimasta]

Boy howdy, don't I love wish/bitch lists!

More detailed product specs and diagrams to be available would be nice. Either put into the manuals or available on-line or better yet BOTH!

I have to heartily agree with the first post, let's get some product out there boys and girls. I'm not talking just G400's either. I'm talking EVERYTHING. I ordered sdram 2 months ago for my Marvel board and it's STILL on back order. I've checked with local retailers and online warehouses to only find they were on back order. The reps asumed that it was a popular product.... we know better.

Finally I just want to remind our canadian benefactors not to give up on product support for their older cards just because a latest and greatest is out. I've seen too many companies take this route, and up until the beginning of this year I was beginning to think Matrox would be an exception. I hope this won't continue to be the truth, because I really do like the company and it's products. Sometimes it just doesn't seem they like me (the customer).

Okay Ant. I'm done, don't hurt me.

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JÊÐî /'\å§tå
-“Artificial Intelligence has got nothing on Natural Stupidity!”


[This message has been edited by jedimasta (edited 09-14-1999).]

[Himself]

Ant,

Well, my question would be whether there are any plans for a more official representation to it's customers in a public forum controlled/owned by Matrox themselves outside of just tech support. Creative Labs US division has a news server for it's customers and they have people hired on to read the newsgroups and address issues that come up in a timely way. Talk about direct marketing and creating brand loyalty.

Byron

[cjolley]

That would look cool
A whole room full of people in asbestos suits!

chuck


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My MAX is on it's way!

[KvHagedorn]

Alright, Matrox. Would you mind finding out who in your company keeps stringing me along by sending my vendor revised ETAs which you have no intention of meeting? Then you can drag him behind a caribou all the way across Canada for me

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Kind Regards,

KvH

[SteveC]

Shake Haig by the hand and congratulate him on his Tech Support team. Ask Jason why can't I have Startrek? Ask Alex Frappier how's it going with his new found love 'neeper' Tell R0M - 'nod'
Some of those may have gone over your head, nevermind.

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Cheers,
Steve

PS: Some or all of the above message may be wrong, or, just as likely, correct. Depends on what mood I'm in. And what you know. ;¬)


[This message has been edited by SteveC (edited 09-14-1999).]

[troop]

1) Lets meet the OpenGL team in an interview published here . More exposure and public relations for this team may have a positive impact on the resources Matrox allocates to this aspect of software development.

2) Matrox should consider an IPO . This might provide greater financing for current products and R&D . I suspect that the factor behind Matrox's tardiness in supply of product and next-generation development is a financial one . Or is it a lack of internal impetus to be in the forefront of hardware features ? A public company structure may assist with the momentum that would push Matrox ahead here. It already has the best hardware features but their development is too slow.

3)Massively develop OpenGL features.

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In Harm's Way

[tish beta2]

I agree with troop. The OpenGL issue is sad, and would we experience the same thing with Win2k as the G200 users experienced with win9x? and still experiences with winNT?

I made a (rather barking ) suggestion to Haig just to see how he answered. Guess my question was too barked up so I'll do it again here on a more mature manner: (hoping he or M reads it)

Hire one or two more driver developers. Get the win9x almost final and start working hard on windows NT and windows 2000. Is it that hard?

I don't know much about running a company but I know two heads think better than one. (not that it's only one driver dev du0de)