The Microsoft Competitive Mindset
Here is a mildly relevant view of the Microsoft mindset as revealed to an outsider, Chip Anderson of the TDFX board:
Re: Intel/MS Competition (vs TDFX)
Again, this is totally my opinion/feeling/gut reaction to lots of little
things that I've heard and seen so far.
As I mentioned (but forget to expand on, sorry) I happened to sit next to
the D3D lead on the plane ride from Seattle. He said that TDFX has
historically dragged it heels on updating their D3D drivers, that they've
avoided including obvious performance tweaks in order to make D3D
look bad, and that TDFX has not actively participated in improving D3D.
Now, you have to take some of that with a grain of salt. MS feels that
they should control every software API on the planet including the 3D
API. Obviously, 3Dfx feels differently. However, because of Voodoo's
huge lead, the other 3D card vendors are now extremely supportive of
D3D (to the point of putting it in their silicon). The MS guy said that
everyone except TDFX is very easy to work with - no real surprise there.
I was left with the impression that MS is actively campaigning against
Glide behind the scenes. They'll never admit it, but its happening. All it
takes is even _rumors_ of other hot graphics hardware and the game
developers will play right into MS' hands ("Use D3D and you won't have to
port your game to card X. We'll even give you software rendering for
free!") - and I found strong evidence of their pitch working when I talked
to developers today.
Also, there's the WinCE-as-a-gaming-platform-for-Sega thing: The TDFX
developer relations guy seriously said that Glide will become a
complete gaming "platform." MS thinks that WinCE is a viable gaming
platform. Believe me, "platform" is a word that sets off tons of alarm
bells in Redmond.
On the Intel side, Intel's marketing emphasis on high performance 3D
graphics is very obvious at their booth. It's everywhere. My impression
is that they are learning from the 740 and will improve it big time to
help drive CPU sales.
Finally, TDFX is getting cozy with AMD - a major untolerable sin as far as
Intel is concerned.
So, my _impression_ is that Intel and MS are slowly getting more and
more irritated with TDFX. Rightly or wrongly, Wall Street typically
reacts negatively when that happens.
Chip |
