Monday, June 18th 2012

"NVIDIA is the Single Worst Company We've Ever Dealt With:" Linus Torvalds

Linux creator and Millennium Technology Prize laureate Linus Torvalds called NVIDIA the "single worst company" he and his associates dealt with. Torvalds made these comments in an interactive session with students, developers, and entrepreneurs, at the Aalto Center for Entrepreneurship in Otaniemi, Finland. The session was conducted in English.

Responding to a question by one of his audience complaining how NVIDIA was extremely stubborn in sharing technologies such as Optimus (dynamic switching between integrated and discrete GPUs) with the Linux community, and seeking his comments on the matter, Torvalds called NVIDIA "one of the worst trouble spots [they've] had with hardware manufacturers." He continued "...and that is really sad [for NVIDIA], because NVIDIA tries to sell a lot of chips into the Android market." With this comment, Torvalds reminded NVIDIA that its business with Linux isn't confined to client computing platforms such as PCs, but also the Android-driven portable computing market (of smartphones and tablets), which is growing at a breakneck pace.

Torvalds soon escalated his assessment of NVIDIA as being "the single worst company [they've] ever dealt with." Torvalds then got more 'graphic' (pun intended), and flipped the bird to the cameras. "...so NVIDIA, f*** you!" he exclaimed. The recording of the event is embedded below. The part in question starts at 0:48:10, though the entire video makes for a very good watch.

Source: Phoronix
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91 Comments on "NVIDIA is the Single Worst Company We've Ever Dealt With:" Linus Torvalds

#76
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
digibuccsee that alone i have an issue with - there is plenty of money to be made you just have to think farther ahead then the next few months.
Where exactly is this money to be made? Chasing 1% of the market, where they will only get about 0.25% of the market in the end to use their products because they add support, and they will spend huge amounts of money on software development to do it. I don't see money to be made there, just money to be thrown away.
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#77
Xzibit
newtekie1Where exactly is this money to be made? Chasing 1% of the market, where they will only get about 0.25% of the market in the end to use their products because they add support, and they will spend huge amounts of money on software development to do it. I don't see money to be made there, just money to be thrown away.
Nvidia has spend close to 2 billion dollars buying up wireless tech phone patents in the last few months.

They have one Tegra 3 phone and 6 Tegra phones over all.

I think they like throwing money away.
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#78
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
XzibitNvidia has spend close to 2 billion dollars buying up wireless tech phone patents in the last few months.

They have one Tegra 3 phone and 6 Tegra phones over all.

I think they like throwing money away.
There is plenty of money to be made in the smartphone industry though, so it isn't throwing money away. They will eventually make that money back and a whole lot more, if not on phones that use Tegra on licencing from other manufacturer's phones that just use the patents.

There is no money in PC Linux.
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#79
Xzibit
newtekie1There is plenty of money to be made in the smartphone industry though, so it isn't throwing money away. They will eventually make that money back and a whole lot more, if not on phones that use Tegra on licencing from other manufacturer's phones that just use the patents.

There is no money in PC Linux.
Well if they plan on making there money back I would guess they have to be much more friendlier with people programing with OpenCL.

The ability to have a strong phone that can handle the App market in order to take advantage of revenue would be the key. I dont think people develop apps on phones but rather PCs. I would venture to guess that it would have to be more accepting of people taking advantage of there chip phone capabilities to develop such apps and showcase the strenght of said chip or is it gonna want to hinder its acceptance into the app world.

That goes to the base arguement of Nvidia being restrictive on the feature set. It doesnt make sense if they plan on showcasing said features and then very few apps get those exclusive abilities built into them.

It has a potention of just being a marketing feature strategy like PhysX. Once in a grand while a game will use it and it takes a +30% performance hit when its active.
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#80
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
XzibitWell if they plan on making there money back I would guess they have to be much more friendlier with people programing with OpenCL.

The ability to have a strong phone that can handle the App market in order to take advantage of revenue would be the key. I dont think people develop apps on phones but rather PCs. I would venture to guess that it would have to be more accepting of people taking advantage of there chip phone capabilities to develop such apps and showcase the strenght of said chip or is it gonna want to hinder its acceptance into the app world.

That goes to the base arguement of Nvidia being restrictive on the feature set. It doesnt make sense if they plan on showcasing said features and then very few apps get those exclusive abilities built into them.

It has a potention of just being a marketing feature strategy like PhysX. Once in a grand while a game will use it and it takes a +30% performance hit when its active.
Why would they need to be more friendly with people programming OpenCL? They support OpenCL, if people want to make programs that use it they can. There isn't much more nVidia needs to do here.

People write the code on PCs, yes, but the either test it on an Android emulator or an actual Android phone. And the Apps are usually written in Windows, nVidia doesn't need to support PC Linux, there is no money there, period.
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#81
D007
Wow, if you want a child to run your company, hire this guy.. No ethical businessman would respond in such a juvenile manner..
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#82
trickson
OH, I have such a headache
D007Wow, if you want a child to run your company, hire this guy.. No ethical businessman would respond in such a juvenile manner..
Yeah I so agree! This is a foolish thing to do! What a dip shit! :eek:
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#84
trickson
OH, I have such a headache
erockerLol, Linux is free.
That would seem to be the problem. :wtf:
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#85
Steevo
In 2009 a third of Dell mini laptops shipped with Ubuntu, and actual figures place Linux distros at closer to 8% total market share with netbooks, laptops, and desktops running it from the get go.
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#86
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
SteevoIn 2009 a third of Dell mini laptops shipped with Ubuntu, and actual figures place Linux distros at closer to 8% total market share with netbooks, laptops, and desktops running it from the get go.
That was only because it was free and manufacturers wanted netbooks to be cheap. Once Microsoft started giving away Windows versions for the manufacturers to use for essentially free on netbooks the use of Linux all but stopped. Outside of the server side, how many consumer level models does Dell even offer with Linux today?
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#87
DM3K
Dell still offers netbooks and laptops with ubuntu, however they have to be special ordered, so consumers are unlikely to see them in stores.
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#89
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
DM3KDell still offers netbooks and laptops with ubuntu, however they have to be special ordered, so consumers are unlikely to see them in stores.
A few business laptops and desktops, yes, but no netbooks and nothing in the home market. Even if you call Dell direct you can't get a "home" computer with linux from them. And, Dell doesn't even sell netbooks anymore.
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#90
remixedcat
If linus torvalds would have kept his little mouth shut and not told nvidia to **** off (literally) then nvidia prolly would have eventually warmed up.... I don't blame nvidia for them not catering to these douchebags.

Telling someone to "**** off" is not gonna make them want to help you and help your cause... it's only gonna make them NOT WANT TO DO IT AT ALL.

Good job Linus Torvalds and co.... you just dug your own graves.
Posted on Reply
#91
HellasVagabond
I am surprised that people are so excited because 1 person told NV to go and do something....People can't always like everyone, I'm sure that a person with Linus character and "morals" (making such statements in front of students is ridiculous) will dislike pretty much everyone, no surprise there. Personally i couldn't care less about what he says especially since i don't consider him to be a professional (professionalism = unbiased).

I just hope this wasn't due to external influence.
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