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I think some kind of discipline around releasing products in a timely way by cutting features would have done wonders. However, the kinds of computers SGI built

I think some kind of discipline around releasing products in a timely way by cutting features would have done wonders. However, the kinds of computers SGI built were on the way out, so they couldn't have survived without moving in the direction that people wanted. Maybe it was a company whose time had come. SGI wasn't set up to compete with the likes of NVIDIA and Intel.

panick21_ 5y ago
Why couldn't they compete with NVIDIA? Were the not just as big?
- oppositelock 5y ago
  Engineering culture. SGI was not pragmatic in building hardware, more of an outlet for brilliant engineers to ship experiments.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    I can see how that was your view if you came in on the tail end but it definitely wasn't always so. I've owned quite a few of them and if you had the workload they delivered - at a price. But for what they could do they would be 3 to 4 years ahead of the curve for a long time, and then in the space of a few short years it all went to pieces. Between NVIDIA and the incredible clock speed improvements on the x86 SGI was pretty much a walking zombie that did not manage to change course fast enough. But CPU, graphics pipeline, machine and software to go with it is an expensive game to play if the number of units is smaller than any of your competitors that have specialized. I'm grateful they had their day, fondly remember IRIX and have gotten many productive years out of SGI hardware, my career would definitely not have taken off the way it did without them, in fact the whole 'webcam/camarades.com/ww.com' saga would have never happened if the SGI Indy did not ship with a camera out of the box.
    - gugagore 5y ago
      I wasn't familiar, so I searched and found your great account of the history! https://jacquesmattheij.com/story-behind-wwcom-camaradescom/ https://jacquesmattheij.com/story-behind-wwcom-camaradescom/
      - jacquesm 5y ago
        Fun times! Also frustrating but an excellent school and all is well that ends well.
- digisign 5y ago
  The PC market grew bottom up to be 10x the size of the workstation market during the 90s. Even with thinner margins, eventually workstation makers couldn't compete any longer on R&D spend. The book The Innovator's Dilemma describes the process.
  - digisign 5y ago
    ^meant thinner margins of PC industry.

panick21_ 5y ago

Why couldn't they compete with NVIDIA? Were the not just as big?

oppositelock 5y ago
Engineering culture. SGI was not pragmatic in building hardware, more of an outlet for brilliant engineers to ship experiments.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  I can see how that was your view if you came in on the tail end but it definitely wasn't always so. I've owned quite a few of them and if you had the workload they delivered - at a price. But for what they could do they would be 3 to 4 years ahead of the curve for a long time, and then in the space of a few short years it all went to pieces. Between NVIDIA and the incredible clock speed improvements on the x86 SGI was pretty much a walking zombie that did not manage to change course fast enough. But CPU, graphics pipeline, machine and software to go with it is an expensive game to play if the number of units is smaller than any of your competitors that have specialized. I'm grateful they had their day, fondly remember IRIX and have gotten many productive years out of SGI hardware, my career would definitely not have taken off the way it did without them, in fact the whole 'webcam/camarades.com/ww.com' saga would have never happened if the SGI Indy did not ship with a camera out of the box.
  - gugagore 5y ago
    I wasn't familiar, so I searched and found your great account of the history! https://jacquesmattheij.com/story-behind-wwcom-camaradescom/ https://jacquesmattheij.com/story-behind-wwcom-camaradescom/
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      Fun times! Also frustrating but an excellent school and all is well that ends well.
digisign 5y ago
The PC market grew bottom up to be 10x the size of the workstation market during the 90s. Even with thinner margins, eventually workstation makers couldn't compete any longer on R&D spend. The book The Innovator's Dilemma describes the process.
- digisign 5y ago
  ^meant thinner margins of PC industry.