BitBoys

[keegdsb]

As far as the domination in specific markets goes I've no idea how it looks like on the other side of the Atlantic, at least in Europe I don't see them having any kind of domination. Pardon me but aren't we actually talking about the 3D graphics market overall?

No... I wasn't anyway. I clearly said "Matrox niches", and by that I mean the 2D multimonitor, medical, etc. markets.

Pardon me if I think that they might have done a lot better if they had licensed from Bitboys. IMO a very competitive mainstream card as a start would have been good enough.

Ok... maybe so, I never disagreed with you.

I'm not even going to mention the screamingly high amount of resources they used for it, especially when it comes to the number of engineers assigned for that project. [/sarcasm mode off]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say to me with this, I said they don't care about wasting money on research and development on projects that never saw the light of day. One such project was abandoned at the drop of a hat (poof!) because Branco Matic pissed off NEC. One project was half aborted, castrated, and given the ability to render talking heads. I didn't say that they wasted extravagant money on a single project, if they had Parhelia would have been a much, much better card than it was and I would have finished drivers to use.

Must be the reason why it took them soooo long to get Parhelia out the door and I'm probably the only one that thinks that the whole design philosophy looked way too old and tired upon release.

Yes, maybe. The entirely brute force approach isn't exciting or even effective anymore, but at least they made a few creative design choices along the way.

 

[Ailuros]

I'm not sure what you're trying to say to me with this, I said they don't care about wasting money on research and development on projects that never saw the light of day. One such project was abandoned at the drop of a hat (poof!) because Branco Matic pissed off NEC. One project was half aborted, castrated, and given the ability to render talking heads. I didn't say that they wasted extravagant money on a single project, if they had Parhelia would have been a much, much better card than it was and I would have finished drivers to use.

Very oversimplyfied that the amount of resources used were probably so small that it wasn't that much of a waste after all.

All I wanted to say considering your original comment about them not minding to waste $$$ for R&D, is that it's highly relevant to what quantities of resources we really are talking about. Any IHVs will certainly not mind with small quantities especially if all development is done internally. The smaller the final revenue of a company, the smaller the risk threshold it can take with expenses, especially if they don't belong in the billion(-s) of $ league like NV or ATI.

 

[Ailuros]

Back to Bitboys:

Nappe,

What do you feel would be BB's plans after seeing some success with Acceleon? Is the focus going to remain entirely on graphics or have there been or are any considerations to enter other markets too, where an IP selling business scheme is actually an advantage?

***edit: please note: feel, ie I'm asking about personal estimates and nothing more.

 

[Nappe1]

I doubt that they would be doing other things than graphics. it's the only thing they have been doing and also most likely only thing they have expertice in house. Also, I can't see them returning on desktop market any time soon for the reasons that are pretty obious. (they are pioneers in the business they are now doing and they also have much much better reputation on that area. also, if they would return in desktop, it most likely would mean a complete scratch build design because their fab partner has been changed since previous designs and the market has gone so much forward.)

of course, this wouldn't be the first time I'm proved to be wrong...

In generally, neither I can see 3rd contender in High End any time soon. I loved to but I just can't find anyone to do it.

 

[Ailuros]

Some versatility would help them even more besides the PDA/mobile market.

In generally, neither I can see 3rd contender in High End any time soon. I loved to but I just can't find anyone to do it.

I'd be satisfied with a newcomer bringing out mainstream and value products with a very competitive price/performance ratio.