ATi Takes Battle To nVidia In Vista War
As Microsoft blames pirates for poor Vista sales
AMD-owned ATi, which supplies the graphics grunt for Microsoft's Xbox 360, is claiming that all of its drivers are now certified by Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) to work with Vista. It is also standing by its stated claims that its 'Vista Ready' products have recieved far fewer complaints than those if its arch-rival, nVidia.
Further to this, Ben BarHaim, vice president of ATI's software engineering division has said that the company's Catalyst drivers are enabling "almost all" Vista-owning gamers to run games with, "less than a 5 percent gap (between performance speeds on Vista versus XP) on average".
This comes at a time when Microsoft's shares dropped in value on news of slower than expected sales of Vista - and the company's usually bullish CEO, Steve Balmer, told financial analysts that his company had been "overly optimistic" about sales of the operating system. But the slow sales are not due to lack of demand, they are - according to Balmer - down Russian, Indian and Brazillian pirates.
Because Microsoft - as personified by Balmer – sees that "Piracy reduction can be a source of Windows revenue growth, and I think we'll make some piracy improvements this year,” you can be sure that this refers to hardening the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program. WGA asks users to connect to Microsoft for a system audit when checking for updates. It is highly unlikely that pirates would concern themselves with this as once they’ve sold the product, they won’t be checking for updates.
Back with nVidia - which has seen Vista-related troubles mounting having got its DirectX 10-compatible GeForce 8800 chip to market before ATi's offering. One method for resolving these issues has been for nVidia to set up a page on its own website called, NVIDIA Windows Vista Graphics Driver Bug Report in which it asks users to log any hassles.
But another, less offical but certainly more embarrassing site has been set up by 'Nathan'. Called NVidiaClassAction.org it is trying to attract other users in a class action suit against NVidia, stating:
Further to this, Ben BarHaim, vice president of ATI's software engineering division has said that the company's Catalyst drivers are enabling "almost all" Vista-owning gamers to run games with, "less than a 5 percent gap (between performance speeds on Vista versus XP) on average".
This comes at a time when Microsoft's shares dropped in value on news of slower than expected sales of Vista - and the company's usually bullish CEO, Steve Balmer, told financial analysts that his company had been "overly optimistic" about sales of the operating system. But the slow sales are not due to lack of demand, they are - according to Balmer - down Russian, Indian and Brazillian pirates.
Because Microsoft - as personified by Balmer – sees that "Piracy reduction can be a source of Windows revenue growth, and I think we'll make some piracy improvements this year,” you can be sure that this refers to hardening the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program. WGA asks users to connect to Microsoft for a system audit when checking for updates. It is highly unlikely that pirates would concern themselves with this as once they’ve sold the product, they won’t be checking for updates.
Back with nVidia - which has seen Vista-related troubles mounting having got its DirectX 10-compatible GeForce 8800 chip to market before ATi's offering. One method for resolving these issues has been for nVidia to set up a page on its own website called, NVIDIA Windows Vista Graphics Driver Bug Report in which it asks users to log any hassles.
But another, less offical but certainly more embarrassing site has been set up by 'Nathan'. Called NVidiaClassAction.org it is trying to attract other users in a class action suit against NVidia, stating:
* This site would be down instantly if NVidia would so much as:
o Respond Publicly and Apologize. Thus far communication has been relegated to the unfortunate admins on the forums who've been stuck with the miserable task of trying to spin this in any remotely good way possible. My favorite suggestion of course is that you don't need to upgrade to Vista since it doesn't offer anything new - something I, and many others quite obviously and vehemently disagree with.
o Provide an Anticipated Release Date for Stable Drivers, i.e. non-beta. We all understand the drivers undergo constant revisions and as such are never final, but we've paid a lot of money to be in a beta test for their product. Personally, I would've waited until such a date to purchase the card (and saved money doing so...) or gone with another vendor /cough /cough.
o Offer Some Token Gesture. I don't really care what, but as my interview on TGDaily stated - anything - a stupid t-shirt, game or rebate certificate (not asking for a full rebate...but some amount) would really go a long way IMO.
o While I know this one is pretty much next to impossible for oh so many reasons - Print Boxes Without the "Designed for Vista" / "Ready for Vista" Statement. Again, this is probably next to impossible but it's wishful thinking. Then again, if the person whose pea-brained idea this was to market it and not be close to ready happened to leave the company that'd totally make my day :)
o Respond Publicly and Apologize. Thus far communication has been relegated to the unfortunate admins on the forums who've been stuck with the miserable task of trying to spin this in any remotely good way possible. My favorite suggestion of course is that you don't need to upgrade to Vista since it doesn't offer anything new - something I, and many others quite obviously and vehemently disagree with.
o Provide an Anticipated Release Date for Stable Drivers, i.e. non-beta. We all understand the drivers undergo constant revisions and as such are never final, but we've paid a lot of money to be in a beta test for their product. Personally, I would've waited until such a date to purchase the card (and saved money doing so...) or gone with another vendor /cough /cough.
o Offer Some Token Gesture. I don't really care what, but as my interview on TGDaily stated - anything - a stupid t-shirt, game or rebate certificate (not asking for a full rebate...but some amount) would really go a long way IMO.
o While I know this one is pretty much next to impossible for oh so many reasons - Print Boxes Without the "Designed for Vista" / "Ready for Vista" Statement. Again, this is probably next to impossible but it's wishful thinking. Then again, if the person whose pea-brained idea this was to market it and not be close to ready happened to leave the company that'd totally make my day :)
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Comments
crs117 20 Feb 2007 15:29
1/8
It is also standing by its stated claims that its 'Vista Ready' products have recieved far fewer complaints than those if its arch-rival, AMD-owned nVidia.
Actually amd owns ATI not nvidia.
TimSpong 20 Feb 2007 15:54
2/8
crs117 wrote:
Actually amd owns ATI not nvidia.
Indeed it does, and this has been corrected. Thanks for the input.
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PreciousRoi 20 Feb 2007 16:49
3/8
Pirates? Bah. More like people don't feel like shelling out to upgrade their entire system AND operating system when what they have now works just fine. People in the market for a new computer are getting Vista, everyone else thinks 2000/XP is adequate for thier needs at the moment.
And I'm not just defending pirates because I'm Pastafarian.
Whiney Microsoft bitches.
And I'm not just defending pirates because I'm Pastafarian.
Whiney Microsoft bitches.
RiseFromYourGrave 20 Feb 2007 17:27
4/8
yeah most people i know are holding off because of three reasons - high requirements, xp does the job fine, and they dont want to be the guinea pigs whilst microsoft and other companies work out all the early bugs
sneakyduck 20 Feb 2007 22:45
5/8
Totally agree - I work as a system admin and the one thing I seem to be doing more of these days (rather than working), is defending our perfectly stable network setup of XP nodes and 2003 servers against staff who have Vista on their new £2000 HP Compaq POS 3000+.
"Why can't I have Vista on my computer? I've got it at home, it's much better!"
"Then f**k off home."
Plus it must cost a s**tload. Even on volume licensing. And you don't get Pro Plus or whatever they call the least incomplete version they're selling.
Touched by the noodly appendage indeed!
"Why can't I have Vista on my computer? I've got it at home, it's much better!"
"Then f**k off home."
Plus it must cost a s**tload. Even on volume licensing. And you don't get Pro Plus or whatever they call the least incomplete version they're selling.
Touched by the noodly appendage indeed!
PreciousRoi 21 Feb 2007 01:13
6/8
oh man, I feel your pain...sheesh, I remember back when buisness 'end users' were scared of change, now they demand it for its own sake...since my current 'fleet' of machines isn't going anywhere anytime soon, I've ignored Vista...its not really that cool is it? Especially from a buisness standpoint, I don't see how anyone could delude themselves into thinking that the investment would be sensible at this time.
TimSpong 21 Feb 2007 09:21
7/8
sneakyduck wrote:
Totally agree - I work as a system admin and the one thing I seem to be doing more of these days (rather than working), is defending our perfectly stable network setup of XP nodes and 2003 servers against staff who have Vista on their new £2000 HP Compaq POS 3000+.
Oh, I remember it well... from my days as a 'Technical Manager' (Sys Admin was not a job title with which my organisation was 'comfortable').
sneakyduck wrote:
"Why can't I have Vista on my computer? I've got it at home, it's much better!"
Excellent - please file a report on the stability of your home system before it comes anywhere near my network or you are fired, guvnor.
sneakyduck wrote:
Touched by the noodly appendage indeed!
I am a Pastgnostic...
Joji 21 Feb 2007 14:35
8/8
Damn straight, Precious and co. MS seem to release these new OS too soon in my opinion. On top of that they are so hugely overpriced, which breeds piracy like bunnies on heat.
If MS did an OS every 8-10 years that'd be fine, cutting the price would be nice too. Unless games are pushing this trend, I see no great reason to change things.
Its like their MSN messenger stuff too, current one works fine but they get a sugar rush from improvements, trying to tell you when to jump and how high. Time for an upgrade indeed, naff off MS.
Until MS get reasonable with their OS pricing, they'll continue to suffer from high seas pirate hack attacks and poor sales.
If MS did an OS every 8-10 years that'd be fine, cutting the price would be nice too. Unless games are pushing this trend, I see no great reason to change things.
Its like their MSN messenger stuff too, current one works fine but they get a sugar rush from improvements, trying to tell you when to jump and how high. Time for an upgrade indeed, naff off MS.
Until MS get reasonable with their OS pricing, they'll continue to suffer from high seas pirate hack attacks and poor sales.