What if, Intel opensources the drivers and takes a few years of hiatus from the dGPU market, keeping their technology alive in mobile iGPUs? I'm sure Pat doesn't feel good that ARC didn't register enough on Nvidia's threat radar to make them mock it. One good thing about opensource drivers is that Intel may be able to find better GPU driver writers more easily once they decide to get serious again.
Open Source is no magic. Linux, and Ethereum both suffers from the same issue. I always argued that Vitalik Buterin embodied the "decentralized" mindset so much so that it felt like an excuse to be not as responsible, and he take charge until the whole thing develops. If it was a company, then he would have had no choice but to do that. Humanity as a whole swing in such extremes that it's probably the #1 reason they fail. Where's the middle ground?
I have used Linux and it's freaking non-user friendly. You cannot expect the masses to use that. Windows is far, far easier to use. Android only works because it's locked down to the point that password-locked Standard account on Windows feels like it's the Wild Wild West!
And there's a huge disconnect between techies(like us) and the commoners. If they do that, then people will simply discard Intel. They have no choice but to continue.
Unlike software companies that can use the excuse of using post-release patches on the world to fix the problems that should have been fixed at launch, Intel is a hardware focused company and they have no excuse.
Battlemage needs to fix the following at the minimum, period!
-ReBAR performance issues(when you are aiming at the "affordable" market)
-Power use in idle and multi-monitor
-VR support
-Basic stability issues and UI problems with ARC Control
@Exist50 Will Gelsinger(and Team) be the person that most(including me) hope that he would be, or fail anyways, either because Intel is beyond the point they can recover or that he wasn't enough?
He WAS fantastic in his previous roles. 99% employee approval rate? That kind of thing doesn't happen with chance. But there's also the saying that when people get promoted, that they sometimes get work that's beyond their capability, and thus fail. Running Intel is way bigger than any of his previous roles. But that history is why I still believe he can succeed.
Regardless if Battlemage doesn't do the minimum(and way more!) then it would disappoint the market and no matter what they wish sales will tank again and they'll be FORCED to can the dGPU group.
Conversely, if the sales of future ARC generations are fantastic there's going to be no one that'll stop them. There are numerous stories of companies that overlooked what were initially side-projects but were wildly successful, even eventually shifting the entire focus of the company to strengthen that product.
It took 2 years before Brian Kraznich's bad management came into play, when initial rumblings of a possible struggle with Skylake were surfacing. And I can't believe people have fond memories of Skylake. It was mediocre in 2015, when it was released. And in the 3rd year, 14nm was delayed 6+ months.
2 years from Gelsinger is Now. Everything will increasingly be attributed to his doing. Meteorlake will be the first product that'll have some effect, so will Emerald Rapids. In 2024, we'll see the result of his team's work.