Юмор

Омид Рахмат,  22 октября 1999 Страница:   1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Introduction

ATI goes over a billion while Real3D, and Raycer prove that technology is not enough to succeed in graphics.

It's been a hell of a week. ATI breaks through the $1 billion barrier, and that's so amazing no one talks about it. I guess, everyone is dumbfounded. We've never had a graphics chip company that big, and I think it further strengthens my arguments about the industry from last week's column, in which I took a dig at 3dfx, in jest, although I received a fair number of flames. They were lower in numbers than in the past, and a bit half-hearted, but what can you do. So, I stick by my assertions that the graphics industry basically belongs to ATI, S3, and Nvidia. They can all rack up billion dollar revenues, and stay above the menace of Intel, because that's what they're going to have to do, as you'll read later.

I am very disheartened to see that the extent of coverage given to ATI's results was based on two things, the company missing profit expectations, and references to comments about the effects of the Taiwanese earthquake. I don't want to praise ATI because, I just don't want to praise ATI, but I will say this, One Billion Two Hundred and Thirty One Thousands Dollars! That's a worth a big bunch of celebrations. Everyone who holds stock in a graphics company should be sending letters of thanks to ATI for pointing out that there is big growth in the market for some, and it doesn't have to come from glitzy television marketing campaigns, or the fastest performance products.

As an aside - I sincerely hope that 3dfx decides to go back to its roots, and become an interactive entertainment business. I fear that the company will just flounder if it tries to be Nvidia, or S3, or even, STB. It needs to focus on all the game enthusiasts that gave it such a burst of glory. 3dfx can do more with its online game site, and it can start to seriously think about leveraging Glide and its relationship with software developers in other ways. In such a scenario, Greg Ballard's departure may be premature, and he is as well qualified as anyone to take the company forward. Bear this in mind, the company that is the most enthusiastic support of 3dfx, Electronic Arts, is capable of propping up a content strategy for 3dfx on its own. I know I go on about the mistaken retail strategies of 3dfx, but for a graphics chip and board company they are mistaken retail strategies. For a company that doesn't give a damn about the latest Packard Bell OEM deal, it was a good grounding. I could go on, but I won't. Back to the main story.

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Introduction ATI's Sales and Gross Profits Real3D - an interview with Jon Lenyo in late 1998  Обсуждение в Клубе Экспертов THG