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  • More On The State Of Matrox

    Discussion about the editorial named above and found at www.murc.ws is to be directed in this thread.

    The last editorial has benefitted me with many responses and I appreciate every one. I have just got this in my inbox, and I would like to share it with you. Before you read, be aware that I have confirmed what was written before and had planned on writing about this as well. Since I got the email, I thought this would be the prime time to attack it.

    <UL>*snip

    while I don't really care much anymore for matrox..
    the company, *snip*

    the people there are great though.. the best bunch of guys I ever worked with..

    *Snip*

    in the last set of lay-offs most of the support was decimated.. there is no longer a hardware
    compatibility test group.. software testing (driver, apps, etc) is reduced to about 10 people
    as usual the end user support trees were chopped.. marketing, sales, and eng. were left
    untouched.. luckily tsup managed not to get cut this time..
    Unfortunately Haig, and the customers are the ones who are going to suffer again since
    his support tree is almost gone..

    why is matrox failing..

    Financially most people haven't got raises there in about 3 years, paid overtime stopped 2 years
    ago, no more bonuses..and they cut all benefits by about 30% morale in the place is at the bottom. if you're still working
    there it's because you just waiting for the severance package..and that's the attitude most people have there
    Yet the owners donate 20million to a local university in this time of financial decline..

    why is parhelia doing so poorly.. I think back to a converstation I had with one of the chief HW engs.
    his quote "Most company's have a dartboard that represent that market.. we throw the dart then draw the circles"
    marketing could never make up their mind what market the product would sell to.. each week they changed their
    minds. so the testing/fixing priorities would keep shifting.. hence you have a product that's mediocre in all categories

    Marketing doesn't talk to the outside world.. they believe that they have an inate knowledge of the products people
    want.. hence we have 20 people programming "e-dualhead" and such cutting edge technology like
    max headroom.. rather than working on OGL code..

    Re-investment in RD is almost NIL.. if you look at anand's review of inside NVidia.. they day it was released on the
    web.. matrox's asic, and HW eng teams unanimously agreed... company is finshed.. they need to invest
    close to 500million to have the same setup.. if they did invest in that equipment then. parhelia would have been
    released on time.. which was about 2 years ago.. it's not liek we didn't try.. we asked for and FIB machine
    repeatedly starting about 4 years ago...

    many good projects were dropped.. ex: video in a chipset.. they would have released it before intel.. but
    it was pulled.. at 90% completion!!!! it was already taped out!! and they stopped the chip run..because
    at the end they didn't think it was viable.. they even dropped the second stage low power north bridge with
    video for laptops..

    production goof ups.. Overproduction when it's not needed..forgetting to order parts.. hence too many 4x parhelias, and they won't sell the 8X
    until the 4X is gone.. while the 8X is only 20% faster but it fixes pretty much all the problems people
    are seeing in the 4X..

    expierience.. there are only about 50 people in matrox that have been there more than 5 years, with the last
    layoff that number has dropped, most of the guys who design the chip, and are writing the drivers have less than 3 year
    expierience in doing this.. hence you always have less performance per clock than the competition.
    and they don't have a single analog asic eng.. so when it comes to timings inside the asic, they always miss.
    that's been the clocking issues since the G450.. and they're not willing to pay the required salary to hire this
    type of engineer..

    This pretty much sums up what needs fixing there (all of the mangagement).. anyone you ask will agree..</UL>

    Sad times for those involved in my eyes. The root of some of their problems are left untouched while the parts that make the company grow and thrive are chopped. When/will they ever get it? One thing that was left out in that email was that many department managers have left without even having a job first.

    If Matrox Graphics is to turn things around, they need to first realize that what they have been calling business as usual for the last years is not the right path. I agree completely with the sender's comment about the target and the dart. It fits so well with what I have learned about them.

    VigilAnt
    VigilAnt

  • #2
    a damned shame

    some very powerful and moving insights, there - it sounds like a complete nightmare place to be working!

    it's all too familiar a story, isn't it? a once vibrant, leading company full of talented employees goes down the tubes cause of the short-sightedness of an out-of-touch management - and in the process, it just grinds down whatever good people are left

    would like to know more about what is alluded to with the engineering problems post g450; in the meantime, here's a big raspberry to all clueless marketing and management guys that brought matrox to where they are now and good luck to any good guys left at this firm!

    Comment


    • #3
      The situation in my opinion is irreversable. Who is going to invest all that money to make matrox competitive again? I know I would not even if it was my spare change.

      Comment


      • #4
        I don't know what to say... Haven't we all felt it? In my worst dreams I have dreamed it... Sad... *sniff*



        Matrox

        It says it all... Doesn't it? It is a powerful brand name. In video editing it is almost as powerful as the name Coca Cola is to all world. If could have been a powerful one in 3D too.

        Well, they are loosing the biggest and most important thing they own and that is the name Matrox (well, not loosing it but they are sure as hell making it a go for the money) That name will be worthless anytime Soon(tm).

        A pity! "I meet a fool..."

        Comment


        • #5
          ...had a friend at Corel before and shortly after all the trouble Corel went (still?) through. Similar pattern to Matrox.

          In my experience, what happens in a company that doesn't get frequent refreshes is a lot of mental incest, inflexibility, cliques and politics. And when the owner(s) get sucked into the game, it's the beginning of the end.

          As a management consultant, I frequently get called in to straighten out a company by the very guy that should be the first to go. And when it comes down to the line, the BOD hems and haws and says he's such a nice guy, been here so long, we can't just give him the boot.

          ...one time the company was saved 'cause the nice guy got a heart attack and voluntarily went home.

          It's not at all easy to straighten out a company that has gotten into a stiff, factional and incestuous mentality, but it's not impossible...
          How can you possibly take anything seriously?
          Who cares?

          Comment


          • #6
            Boy, that doesn't sound good. Hope Matrox is able to overcome this situation. Well it was obvious that Matrox graphics was in some troubles but I never imagined it was that bad
            It would be very depressing for me to see Matrox following the
            "Voodoo" path.
            Let's hope the best.
            Hati

            Comment


            • #7
              I don't know what to say Used MGAs for a decade... it's just doesn't feel right that such a great company is dying... and it's the oldest in graphics industry too.

              All because of stupid marketing people... they have no idea what it takes for a gfx core to become demanded. They should do high school again. even in high school they teach u the supply and demand concpet. Switching from one project to another is never a good idea... and the managements... how can you produce circuits without an updated fab machine??? Are you guys nuts??? Having such great hardware in hand for so long ago... and not release/mass produce it?? Did somebody forgot that Matrox is actually a business? if you ppl did then we may have already seen the G800 two years ago. u guys could have trashed nvidia and ati when they had their Radeon 7000s and Geforce 2 GTS, while u have P on hand... You guys could possibly trash 3dlabs too when they had their Wildcat I Series Probably Matrox would have been the graphics giant now... and clocking their chips @ 600MHz

              That e-mail explained everything. The G800 project, F800 integrated chipset, the wried "business" targeting from G450 and so on... I must admit that the Matrox engineers are pretty good... clock a 40x40mm chip @ 200MHz with such premitive technologies. We could have possible seen something like QDRII-eDRAMs on the P if it's not the politics and stuff...

              I wonder if we will ever see the 8X Parhelia... it's such a shame that the P is over produced... such a great and innovative piece of hardware. Even in such tough competition matrox could bring products that are actually competitive... u engineers there are the best and shell be praised.

              This is like a repeated story of 3dfx... but a lot worse. At least 3dfx is still admired when they released the voodoo 5 6000 before the company was brought by nV. Look now... 7 years ago M was the best when they had their high quality Millennium I... now when they are close to death... they have a product that is supposed to be realeased years before... matrox won't be admired like 3dfx did because at that time, the 6000 was THE BEST graphics card out there.... while Matrox Parhelia... needless to say comparing to the R9700.

              Comment


              • #8
                ...well, there's no such thing as Matrox. There are a bunch of people operating under that name. People make or break companies. It is typical that when a company gets short on cash, marketing and sales grow in power on the assumption that they will save the day. In their panic, management forgets that if marketing and all other departments had been harmoniously pulling on the same rope the whole time, there would be no cash problem.

                Management here is the problem, as always, and they are dreaming marketing is going to save their asses. That will only lead to increasing instability in the whole company, unless someone with guts, experience and wisdom grabs the helm.

                Top management is always responsible, always, for everything.
                How can you possibly take anything seriously?
                Who cares?

                Comment


                • #9
                  btw is this only the graphics division only? or does this situation apply to the entire company, Video, MIL, and networks included?

                  if it's only graphics maybe matrox can terminate their graphics division for a while, invest all money on the other 3 (well especially Video) departments... to regain the company's stability. or shut down one division and focus on the graphics, even tho this is not such a great idea. (ie networks... well i don't really know but are they successful at all?) I see 3 solutions for Matrox so far:

                  1) Setup the graphics division again just like Tridant w/their XP3s.
                  2) Ask ATI/nvidia to buy it (which is no good)
                  3) Destroy the division (worse, and the most likely thing to happen )

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    What I would suggest to Matrox....get together with Trident and PowerVR/Imation.....as a team success is possible....
                    Let us return to the moon, to stay!!!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by K6-III
                      What I would suggest to Matrox....get together with Trident and PowerVR/Imation.....as a team success is possible....
                      I think i saw a MURC's sig w/3 screen LCD display by 9X Media. It reads "3 is bigger and BETTER than one" Just what Matrox, PowerVR and Tridant needs.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        ...top management is responsible, no matter what division is in trouble. They may blame it on this or that, but still only they are to blame. Until top management wakes up, sobers up or gets thoroughly shaken up, the same disease will eat the whole company.
                        How can you possibly take anything seriously?
                        Who cares?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Full ack mutz!
                          I am sure Matrox graphics still has a lot of talented engineers and their tech support is excellent. It is the management messing things up.
                          Maybe they should look for some cooperation with other companies to avoid the worst and save the graphics division.
                          Hati

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Matrox is an important technology company here in Quebec. I hope the government helps them out. The founders also are multi millionaires, I don't understand why they don't reinvest more in their company.
                            I hope things will slowly turn around, somehow...

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Guess having Haig for CEO would save the day.....
                              Umf
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