Guys This is Getting Silly

[PR-man]

Ok guys this is getting silly. Look I am a gamer like the rest of you but not near as passionate about games as others. and yes I do like the feeling occasionaly of being able to hang with the other big boys in terms of FPS etc. But this banging on Matrox ever time they dont meet some stated or unstated release date is getting ridiculous. I mean cmon guys if you all apply the same standard to Microsoft the who world would be running LINUX. I for one loved my G200, G400 and G450 currently. Yes they were never faster than alot of other cards and yes Matrox (like others) has had alot of driver snafus (but dont get me started on the likes of ATI, 3DFX, Nvidia) but they have always come through in the end with support of one kind or another be it a fix, patch or whatever. And yes the G800 may not come out before or at the same time as competitors cards but I would bet the house that when it comes out it will be stable, have kick ass win2k drivers and will still stun us visually speaking.

Sorry for the rant guys I just think that on this board, if you look at Matrox as a whole, there should be alot more compliments than rants.



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Celeron II 566@ 952 on a Abit BE6 Rev 1, 128 Pc100, Matrox G450 32 DH, SBlive Value, Supra Express 56i ISA, all running on Win98FE with other odds and ends

[Bixler]

At the risk of looking like a sychophant:

WELL SAID!!

[Maggi]

Good word, Eaves !

[paulcs]

I respectfully descent. If I may, let me put this into another context.

I suspect Matrox told many reviewers at Comdex that they should expect an announcement for a high end consumer product until March. If that's true, we might not see product until the early summer. That will make make it almost two years between releases.

Now let me ask the following:

Is this a wise business practice for a technology company?

Matrox's competition in the consumer market has been both criticized and praised for exceeding the curve dictated by Moore's law. Matrox's newest consumer product is actually slower than the product they released a year and a half ago. Is reversing Moore's law a good thing? Is it even a neutral thing?

If you consider it neutral, let's reword Moore's Law to accomodate Matrox's new business model: "Every year and a half, we will release product 2-3% slower than our previous product."

Now, imagine Intel, AMD, and the rest of the hardware industry adopting Matrox's Law. Our great grandchildren would be computing with beads!

I've stated on several occasions that I, personally, didn't see any reason for Matrox to adopt NVIDIA's release schedule. Nor do I think, given Matrox's ownership structure, that they have to behave like publicly traded companies. But two years seems extreme to me.

I can't see not having a high end consumer product before Christmas as being part of Matrox's business plan six months ago. I think something bad must of happened.

I don't mean to get under anyone's craw here. It just seems like we experience some sort of scandal every year. I'm very brand-loyal to Matrox. But I like trying new hardware, I particularly like trying new Matrox hardware, and my choices seem to be:

a) The G450

b) Finding some use for digital medical imaging products.

Neither choice seems to be an appropriate stocking stuffer.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Bixler]

Of course, Paul, you are speaking from the assumption that what M is doing is some sort of plan, or a deliberate attempt to stall or befuddle it's customers, as if this is what they had always intended.

Somehow I don't think this was in their plans. I suspect, on the other hand, that what is happening is directly related to the lawsuit that is currently being pursued with n'Vida.

Boo Hiss and all that for their lack of communication, but the fact is that this raid has set them back enormously. This is pure, unadulterated corporate piracy, and has caused many delays and restarts.

OK---So Be it---Business is tough, and many pimply faced spoiled brat gamers (yourself excluded ) will instantly run to the next card that makes their little weenies get harder.

It is smart for them to introduce a bread and butter card that OEM's will seek out because it makes their computers look better than the competition.

They'll be back.

If they don't then gamers can close the door on the way out.

I'll still be here getting work done.

[This message has been edited by Bixler (edited 26 November 2000).]

[paulcs]

I've lived through the OpenGL debacle and have long since abandoned the illusion that Matrox deliberately does anything. But Tim, as an old and aging Matrox stand-by, I have to say, "it's always something." They are certainly an eccentric company and march to the beat of their own drumer.

I was alluding to the potential consequences of the raid when I said, "something bad must of happened." I also mentioned that I doubted Matrox would have made this particular road map part of any long term plan. As I said in another post, it looks like a defensive posture.

I just don't think it's a good thing or even a neutral thing. I think it's a bad thing and that Matrox is probably as unhappy with it as some of us are.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[efty]

Can someone tell me more about the Matrox lawsuite against Nvidia...

I had no idea that Nvidia ripped Matrox like that. I guess Matrox is in BIG trouble...
It is not only a matter of reorganization. Good and ingenious engineers are not to be found by posting a Job add in the newspaper. And even if they find a few, they need a couple of months of training and will certaintly luck the experience. Unless ofcourse the went the Nvidia route and hijacked some pros from another company. I just hope it is not S3

Anyway, if someone has some more info about the lawsuite please let me know.

[Himself]

If NVIDIA has the meat of Matrox's engineering team, then why is anybody waiting for Matrox to do anything? They basically don't exist outside of a letterhead, forget any aggressive attempts to enter new markets. Sounds like MAtrox will follow S3 aka SillyName into total retail obscurity.

[ALBPM]

What!!! You mean... Give up VCQ and DualHead for FPS...No Way Man!!!!



Best 2D for business applications.


And not to mention the the DualHead...


With DualHead I can use both Chinese and Mesoamerican Programs at the same time

Paul's System:

OC'd to 1.2 GHz, Arctic Silver Thermal grease on the Rods, Beam and frame are Water cooled, 78W peltiers in each corner with copper water blocks.


[This message has been edited by ALBPM (edited 26 November 2000).]

[paulcs]

LOL!

All I know is, towards the end of the Detonator2 series, NVIDIA's uninstaller began to work.

Not that I'm implying anything.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 26 November 2000).]

[PaulS]

And on the up side, if Matrox really has lost their best and brightest to nVidia, then maybe we are going to see some nVidia cards with the visual quality of the Matrox cards, and the 3D speed and aggressive update cycle typical of nVidia.

That could be pretty exciting!

Paul

[Greebe]

Ya,that could be PaulS, but if Matrox wins the lawsuit, then they would just about own nVidia. Now that's really exciting!

[Jorden]

Oh God, think about that Mike... Then we'd have a MaVidia G800 Dual-View by next summer

Jord.

[Galvin]

Well I already orded an ATI card, I rippedo n ATI earlier this week for win2K but seems they are getting their crap together as well with win2K, took matrox forever to get good win2K drivers from it's FEB release 3 months I think before we had really good ICD.

ATI seems a lot like matrox excellent 2D, they make their own card/chip. I'll be able to say more when I get this card and if it does suck then I auction it off on ebay, no big deal to me. Also unlike Nvidia, ATI isn't in it for just FPS, they put a lot of feeaturs and good 2D just like matrox likes to do. I spent 5 days decided wether to go with nvidia or ATI, not easy when you been with matrox for 5 years and all the sudden decide on a new card

If someday matrox comes out with something that tops off ATI then i'll get that, but I think a lot of people are acurate that if there is a G800 then summer.

I can say this, I did wait for around 3 months, I waited till the comdex show to see. Since nothing came up, that's when I decided to go for ATI.

[paulcs]

MGA-vidia?
Mvidia?
Natrox?
nVatrox?

They'd have to rename ATI as well. I supect its new name would be "history."

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net