World in Warcraft
AMD was offered a chance to collaborate on PhysX, and it refused, we were reminded, partnering with Intel and failing to cause Havoc instead. AMD then decided to wave a loaded gun in the air and cry "Bullet", only for NVIDIA to reveal the software was being developed on its own hardware. And as for GPGPU, the multitude of ISVs, businesses and academics using CUDA puts AMD's five video app partners to shame.
As an NVIDIA spokesperson told HEXUS at GTC, "The competition has PowerPoint. It tells customers they shouldn't be doing anything until Open CL is finished and ready. It says there shouldn't have been three years of development, there shouldn't be a conference, there shouldn't be any innovation, there shouldn't be any breakthroughs. They are effectively saying ‘We don't have it yet, so please just wait!'"
Investment pays off
NVIDIA spends somewhere in the region of 50 to 100 million dollars a year on dev tech and it shows. GTC was certainly proof of that.
But is NVIDIA the good guy, selflessly working for the salvation of PC gaming and the furthering of scientific achievement using GPU computing? Nah...the firm is out to make as much money as it can possibly scrape together, like any company with shareholders should do. And, at the end of the day, can you blame NVIDIA for that? ATI obviously either doesn't have the money or the inclination to command and conquer the GPGPU space right now, and NVIDIA is well aware of the Need for Speed if it plans to survive.
If ATI offered the same level of service NVIDIA seems to be offering to developers, of the gaming persuasion or otherwise, we reckon everyone would benefit.
In conclusion, GTC was a success. One could even say GTC was ‘The way it's meant to be conferenced'.
