[Pc_Support] Re: [OT] One more time … Windows Vista system requirements

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Thu, 2006-06-08 at 09:50 -0400, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> Now let's say you want to actually take advantage of GPU off-load -- the
> whole reason for WGF/Avalon -- to make the experience faster and
> smoother like MacOS X's QuartzExtreme, SuSE's Xgl, etc...  You're
> basically dropping money on a $300 video card!  And why is that?
> Because DirectX has never been (and possibly never will be) OpenGL.
> Avalon really relies on serious GPU horsepower so DirectX can do basic
> things that OpenGL does on hardware from 4 years ago!

Last comment on this ...

BTW, why would Microsoft care or have an incentive to create an
efficient API that better off-loads the GPU and its framebuffer?

I know everyone complains it's really about eye-candy, but anyone the
first thing about and has used MacOS X's QuartzExtreme or SuSE 10.x's
Compiz extensively _knows_ it's more about a _faster_ desktop through
GPU-offload.  I've been arguing this for years ever since Apple made it
commodity with moderate (not even leading edge) 2001-2002 era hardware.

But in the case of Vista, it _is_ eye-candy!  That's the _only_ reason
for it!  And they _like_ the idea that it takes more hardware, because
they did a botched-up job in software!

Microsoft has moved from the PC OEM to the superstore.  It's partners
are not only trying to sell you the latest PC, but also to sell upgrades
for it.  A better video card than chipset integrated, a much higher-end,
$1,500+ premium notebook (with notebook sales still gaining more and
more of the market) instead of the $500 model.

You have it right there in the superstore -- on the shelf -- and users
can see the difference.  And retailers see the difference in a
+$300-1,000 sale.

As an engineer, this insults me, but 90+% of consumers have themselves
to blame, which is why it happens.



-- 
Bryan J. Smith        Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org  http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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