Editoriale suull'hardware

Last Friday a long expected thing finally happened. NVIDIA bought 3dfx. Well, not all of 3dfx. It rather seems as if NVIDIA simply picked the raisins out of the cake. For some 70 million dollars NVIDIA acquired "certain graphic related assets, which include, but are not limited to, patents, pending patent applications, trademarks, brand names, and chip inventory related to the graphics business of 3dfx." This means that NVIDIA now owns the 'Voodoo'-brand, all of 3dfx's technology and of course Gigapixel's stuff too. At the same time NVIDIA did not acquire nasty stuff, as e.g. the customer support for 3dfx-cards, the stock of the 3dfx-cards that haven't been sold yet, the fab in Mexico and other liabilities. Owners of 3dfx Voodoo-cards cannot expect NVIDIA to provide drivers or any other support for their product, but NVIDIA can now use the 'Voodoo' brand name for future products.

What do you say? I know I was heavily criticized when I forecasted 3dfx's demise more than a year ago. I don't want to come up and say 'I told you'. In fact, I think that it is rather sad to see 3dfx disappear. I had just reestablished a normal relationship with 3dfx at Comdex 2000 a few weeks ago. The presentation given to me and of course many other members of the press seems so pointless now. Why did 3dfx bother doing the Comdex-thing? By this time the negotiations between NVIDIA and 3dfx had long started.

A lot could be said about 3dfx and its rise and fall, but I think it is better to let things lie. Therefore I would take the opportunity to salute 3dfx for the big achievements it made in 1997 and 1998. I would like to thank 3dfx for the positive impact it had on the 3D-graphics business and for the good times I once had with 3dfx-individuals, although it seems so long ago. Nobody who was at the 3dfx-party at Comdex 1998 will forget it. It was one of the best. Bye-bye, guys. The 3D-scene will be less without you.