In Tough Markets, Vendors Find Their Shortcomings in a Spotlight
We all realize that PC sales are faltering, competition is high, and proposed saviors like Windows XP haven't set the world on fire. Last week, Meta Group reported that global IT spending has actually decreased, for the first time ever. Not surprisingly, vendors are fighting harder for sales, implementing aggressive price cuts and faster product release schedules -- and, I'm afraid, an increasing amount of negative campaigning against competitors.
The last issue involves the airing of some "dirty little secret" about a product or company, sometimes true and sometimes not, but often spurring confusion or uncertainty about the product in the unwanted spotlight. Sometimes a competitor openly advertises a rival's shortcomings; sometimes the process begins in the tech press or even as a groundswell of consumer resistance.
We've recently seen two prime examples of this syndrome, each getting major coverage and ample attention in online forums and tech sites if not in your daily paper -- and exacerbated by the fact that tech Web sites fall into two categories, those that openly cheer for various companies and those that are accused of doing so whenever they print anything bad about the companies' rivals.
The first involves AMD and the infamous "burning Athlon" video that premiered at Tom's Hardware Guide. Ever the showman, Tom proceeded to snap off the heatsink/fan (HSF) unit from various Pentium 4, Pentium III, and Athlon processors to see where it would lead, under a "what if" scenario of an HSF mysteriously falling off. The Pentium 4 came out the winner, slowing down but avoiding disaster; the Pentium III crashed; and the Athlon went up in a puff of smoke. Somewhat surprisingly, a Athlon with the Palomino core also did the burning dance of death.
Acknowledging the failings of the Athlon thermal design, or that virtually all available motherboards fail to do anything with the thermal diode added to the Palomino revision, is totally valid. And I agree that Intel's new microPGA 478 heatsink/fan design is the best I've seen.
It's the methods that seem controversial: Though the video is enough to make consumers swear off AMD for life, I put this scenario right up there with smoking at gas stations, taking a radio into the bathtub, or sticking a fork in the toaster. While we've all seen PCs that had drive cables or expansion cards knocked loose in shipping, such a drastic HSF accident is incredibly unlikely to happen. In fact, in order to facilitate my constant Athlon and Duron testing, I've had to physically bend my HSF brackets to allow easier installation and removal.
What the test did was put AMD immediately on the defensive PR-wise. The story seems to have taken on a life of its own, as the original video was posted in mid-September but follow-up articles and flame wars continue to this day. In fact, someone at AMD recently leaked a company video (intended for OEMs) demonstrating that a Palomino does in fact safely shut down when the HSF is abruptly removed; the only problem is that the motherboard in the presentation was obviously a custom model configured exclusively for the demonstration. By letting this new video make the rounds on the Web, AMD has artificially and inadvertently extended the life of the Athlon BBQ story. (Tom's has posted an updated account of its heat-related meetings with AMD here -- Ed.)
ATI Clears Up an Urban Legend
Another prime example stems from graphics-card vendor ATI and its pitched battle with Nvidia -- the Internet's been buzzing over some developments with ATI's Radeon 8500 drivers and its offering a lower-end version of the new card. The driver issue stems from a Quake III optimization that may lower detail levels while increasing frame rates.
While not wanting to add my voice to the chorus, the issue has forced many to reevaluate the ubiquity of the Quake III benchmark, and also illustrated quite clearly that speed sells video cards. In this tight market, everyone is looking for an edge; as a veteran of the video-card wars, I've seen everything from artificially amped-up drivers to physically overclocked reference cards, but it remains interesting to see which stories get the attention and which slide into the background.
The second potential snafu -- one that ATI has nicely sidestepped -- concerns OEM versions of the Radeon 8500. The retail card is clocked at 275MHz for both core and memory, but Web reports have mentioned folks buying "white-box" models with a lower 250/250MHz speed. When voices were raised regarding this move, ATI formally announced the Radeon 8500LE, a lower-clocked OEM version of its retail board. ATI handled this problem in a perfect manner, reacting quickly with a new, clearly labeled product that combines the new 8500 architecture with more affordable components. Expect this potential land mine to never be heard of again.
While market leaders are definitely not immune to rumor or criticism, some do seem to have a bit more Teflon coating than their challengers. Remember the infamous, very short-lived rumor that the Pentium 4 would automatically lower its clock speed as core temperature rose? This one was tough to verify -- my own tests indicated otherwise, while other sources presented some impressive evidence for their side -- but no matter if it was truth or fiction, Intel stuck to its guns and the story slid off the radar in short order.
The same thing happened when Nvidia introduced the GeForce3 and faced complaints of Pentium 4 incompatibilities. There was a bit of denial, but again things were smoothed over quickly, and Nvidia continued on its road to dominance. A far bigger issue related to Creative Labs and its flagship Sound Blaster Live audio card, which had serious problems running on several VIA platforms. Instead of inviting a fiasco of major proportions, Creative kept quiet while several motherboard manufacturers issued quick fixes via BIOS upgrades.
How do the giants of the industry escape serious PR damage, even when the rumor mill starts turning? Possibly it's because these market leaders don't always feel the need to answer their critics and, as a result, throw more wood on the fire. Once you go into spin-doctor mode and try explaining away a problem, it just invites more criticism and tongue-wagging. (Remember when Intel briefly tried to insist that only rocket scientists would be affected by the Pentium floating-point error and that ordinary PC owners didn't need replacement chips?)
I don't mean to say that no good things come from valid criticism of a product's failings; ideally, complaint brings improvement. AMD will likely place thermal design improvements at the top of its development list. Consumers can now easily differentiate between ATI's Radeon 8500 and 8500LE. But along with the good are some problems with this increasing level of negativity; as consumers, we're in for a tougher time filtering out critical hyperbole and separating fact from fiction.
Images
IE 7
Firefox 2.0
