Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

SGI clearly had the cutting edge graphics technology and hardware - In my mind, the 3D video cards killed them very quickly and made SGI obsolete. As you may recall, when the 3Dfx Voodoo's were hitting the market, SGI did nothing at all, thinking that they still had the market cornered. Then came ATI, Creative, Nvidia etc. Back then there was the delineation between 'gaming' video cards and 'workstation' video cards, the latter having the premium price. SGI could have positioned themselves in both areas, especially the workstation cards.

It was a classic case of a large, entrenched, slow moving company getting thwarted by startups. Too slow or unwilling to act / react...




It seems a pretty good example of how important talent is vs. the shingle outside the door.

3dfx was founded by ex. SGI talent - Gary Tarolli, Ross Smith and Scott Sellers. (Garry Tarolli wrote dogfight)


Part of it may have been that they didn't want to cannibalize their current business so didn't really know what to do.

At that time the 3d cards were low end and not a direct threat.

A great example of the "Innovator's Dilemma"




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: