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From: vanevery@blarg.net (Brandon J. Van Every)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Why not buy Matrox Millennium
Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.hardware,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Date: 14 Aug 1996 09:11:15 GMT
Organization: Blarg! Online Services 206/441-9109
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References: <4j21ph$crr@slappy.cs.utexas.edu> <stephenkDvp30A.366@netcom.com> <4u7hv4$jcd@agate.nbnet.nb.ca> <slrn50epup.vrk.knaff@choiseul.inrialpes.fr> <4u9oeg$91j@rigel.tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de> <32093E50.39EB@aloha.net> <slrn50ipqh.a9.cbbrowne@dantzig.brownes.org> <32097C81.167EB0E7@star-gate.com> <3209F875.3652CCE1@pobox.com> <320B5C98.38201961@xinside.com> <320B894A.5BFAB1C1@pobox.com> <4umjgf$d4o@guysmiley.blarg.net> <4umq90$ho4@idefix.CS.kuleuven.ac.be>
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Geert Uytterhoeven (geert@cs.kuleuven.ac.be) wrote:
: In article <4umjgf$d4o@guysmiley.blarg.net>, vanevery@blarg.net (Brandon J. Van Every) writes:
: |> Let's put it another way. The freeware universe, and particularly
: |> Linuxers, are always making the mistake of thinking that their market
: |> is a gift from God or something. It isn't. It's tiny. It's paltry.
: ^^^^^^^^^^
: |> It's growing, but one should keep in mind a certain sense of scale
: |> before declaring that someone like Matrox's strategy is
: |> "self-defeating."
: Yes, it's tiny compared to the rest of the world, but then you forget something
: important...
: Most Linux users I know do know what's good hardware, and they're willing to
: pay for it (for the _hardware_). They don't think you can buy a
: state-of-the-art screeming multi-media machine at the local mall for 1000 USD,
: like most W95 users do. They do know Matrox boards are great and fast and worth
: their money, and they would buy one if XFree would support it.
: So the Linux market may be small, but the penetration of high-end graphics
: boards is much higher in those tiny market than in the general
: home-garden-kitchen W95 market.
I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by "high-end" hardware.
If you want REALLY high end, like $1000+, then you'd expect the
drivers to come with the board, and you'd expect those drivers to be
damn heavily optimized for OpenGL or Direct3D or some such. And
writing such drivers is decidedly non-trivial. It's not the
hardware that does the job, it's the software.
Whereas, this thread has been about Matrox's recalcitrance
to offer up specs to non-developers (join the developer program, sign
NDA's, then you get specs.) Most Linuxers seem to want 3d baords that
they can hack on and play with. That's typically a Millennium board,
and Millennium's aren't high-end. It's a commodity graphics card.
Put another way, the home-garden-kitchen W95 market buys plenty of
Millennium boards from Matrox. That is why they have the power to
blow off the Linux market.
CHeers,
--
Brandon J. Van Every | Check out Free3d, my 100% efficient, 100% portable
| 3d lib, at <http://www.blarg.net/~vanevery>.
3d Computer Graphics |
C++ UNIX X11 WinNT | E-mail: vanevery@blarg.net