🚀 go-pugleaf

vanderby@mprgate.mpr.ca (David Vanderbyl) writes:
>rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold) writes:
>>C-c-c-combatability and standards!  First, I wouldn't buy such a card
>>unless it was SVGA compatible, or would exist with my current SVGA
>>card.  I'm not giving up all the rest of the software for such a card.

>Hel-lo, wake up!  It wasn't too long ago that SVGA came out, and its
>compatible with VGA, EGA, and CGA.  Duh, how did they manage that?

Gee, I dunno, maybe you've stumbled across one of the reasons they
were so farging expensive to begin with.  Hardly a market in which
they sell like hotcakes and all the game companies are drooling to
write for it.  Your producer here can't afford to sell the board at or
below cost because they know they'll make up for it in cartridge
sales.

You also had a major player (at the time) in the PC
market, IBM, pushing VGA, EGA, and CGA.  SVGA was just a fairly minor
extension of VGA, and it took a damned long time before software
started making regular use of it, this time because another major
player was pushing: Microsoft.  You may sell a few game cards in the
short run _if_ it does something extra for Windows.


>>Second, what's the incentive to write for such a card (other than the
>>technical thrill)?  It's like writing for smaller market computer.
>>Obviously there will be some people writing for it, but you have to
>>get the big companies interested.

>You could have said the same thing when SVGA was proposed.  All it needs
>is to take off and everyone will support it.

SVGA was out almost immediately after VGA (I still remember the
Paradise ads).  It took years before it was really used, except for
one thing: picture viewing/painting programs. Then Windows.  Now it's
finally coming into general use. A few game companies have finally
started to use SVGA for a few programs, where it's applicable.
Where's your killer use for this game card to get the critical mass
built up so the game companies will start to take notice?  What can it
do, say, for Windows that cards with the S3 can't do already, and what
does that do to your cost?
-- 
I do not see the EEC as a great love affair.  It is more like nine desperate
middle-ages couples with failing marriages meeting at a Brussels hotel for a
group grope. -- Tynan