[P]

Saw this note. While it has been in the air for some time, it's still a bit sad.

I wonder... is there anything to gain for Apple to buy any part of SGI? Do they still have those OpenGL patents, or did they sell them all to MS? Might XFS be worth a dime or two?

[starman]

So sad. I cut my teeth on an Iris 4D/70GT back in college. Working with Alias and a UNIX environment that wasn't black and white was so nice. It's a shame to see SGI go down like that

[Dark Helmet]

I started a thread about this 2 years ago knowing it was coming soon enough.

Never used one but I guess it is their own fault for not keeping up with cheap PC's with equal power.

[turtle777]

Well, Apple was sort of in the same boat.
The iPod proved to be an incredible life-saver for Apple. Without it, I'm not sure if they'd be where they are now...

-t

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Well, Apple was sort of in the same boat.
The iPod proved to be an incredible life-saver for Apple. Without it, I'm not sure if they'd be where they are now...

-t

the iMac and OSX was the life saver. The iPod is gravy.

[davesimondotcom]

I'm a bit sad, but not surprised by this news.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Well, Apple was sort of in the same boat.
The iPod proved to be an incredible life-saver for Apple. Without it, I'm not sure if they'd be where they are now...

-t

I don't agree, either. iPod has proven to be a huge cash cow, and great for image (e.g. introducing people to the Apple ethos), but Macs are still critical.

I actually think SGI has lost a lot to Apple since OS X. Windows has always had trouble competing with UNIX workstations -- it's taken a LONG time for NT/2000/XP to dethrone the UNIX workstations.

Then Apple waltzed in with Mac OS X, and literally instantly became the #1 UNIX vendor in the world. The combination of good CPUs (mostly the G5) with a true UNIX under the hood meant that custom apps from SGI and Sun machines could be moved to a Mac that costs 1/3 as much, yet can also run everyday apps (like MS Office) that typically had to be done on a Windows PC sitting next to the workstation.

Sun has managed to stay afloat by concentrating on high-availability servers, and mostly dropping graphics. Now that Macs and Wintel PCs both have graphics comparable to SGI, and Apple has UNIX, SGI has nothing really making it stand out.

Still sad, though. SGI was way ahead of its time in years past.

tooki

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

the iMac and OSX was the life saver. The iPod is gravy.

Nah, I'm not sure about this.

I don't underestimate the good rap that Apple gtes from the iPOds. We have seen in the past that just the superior product doesn't equate in market success. What makes Apple successful now is to a big extent that people think it's a cool company, a cool brand. The technical superiority alone would NOT appeal to many.

-t

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by what_the_heck

Nah, I'm not sure about this.-t

Apple was profitable before the ipod hit. the iPod has also not brought droves of PC users over to Mac.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

Apple was profitable before the ipod hit. the iPod has also not brought droves of PC users over to Mac.

True, but even proftiabe doesn't necessary mean a lot.
M$ is as profitable as never before, for years, and still almost dead. Stock went sideways for years. M$ Visat doesn't get anywhere. Nothing happening.

-t

[Hal06]

Well, Chapter 11 bankruptcy is to allow the entity to reorganize and restructure its assets under court protection or supervision.

It's not over unless they announce a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is used for liquidation.

Once that happens I would ask any fellow mate over here to rent a truck and drive it to Mountain View… then just pick up some Tezro workstations, I will give you the address to ship them later

In a nutshell, Chapter 11 gives SGI a chance to live to fight another day, not a better scenario being honest.

So even when it doesn't make any sense to say now how powerful they were or how good IRIX was… I blame on SGI because they didn't allow to keep the dream alive, maybe when you was young, you dreamed about owning one of those SGI you read about in a computer magazine… a beautiful Indy desktop, a mini tower O2, a square tower Octane… all that is now gone. Even when you can get them now for almost nothing, they are kinda soulless… SGI was silly enough to kill IRIX and go to the linux route… sure, a SGI computer could easily be your youth's ultimate dream machine, but today it is a dead dream.

Toolchest > System > System Shutdown





oh, sorry, I mean to power off the system…

[milhous]

it's once again time for apple to make history and buy them out.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by milhous

it's once again time for apple to make history and buy them out.

What exactly do they have to offer Apple?

[P]

Originally Posted by Dark Helmet

What exactly do they have to offer Apple?

What's left of their patent portfolio on 3D graphics, XFS, possibly some talented people still, office space close to Cupertino... Not much, but it all depends on the price.

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by P

Not much, but it all depends on the price.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1147..._whats_news_us

SGI, which employs more than 1,800 people world-wide, listed assets of $369.4 million and debt of $664.3 million in its bankruptcy filing.

I wouldn't want them for free.

[Dark Helmet]

Originally Posted by P

What's left of their patent portfolio on 3D graphics, XFS, possibly some talented people still, office space close to Cupertino... Not much, but it all depends on the price.

None of that sounds like it is suited for Apple or worth any price.

[Hal06]

To buy SGI would have been interesting some years ago… when they were easily the king of 3D world, hardware and software wise… you would get all you need to get into 3D, from the whole OpenGL foundation and Alias software company to the great architecture inside their workstations… a company that had the best and fastest 64 bits UNIX computers with the right software apps, a great OS… everything is dead now… I guess one can blame the management… those thinking that linux was going to be the best next thing ever made.

[angelmb]

Originally Posted by Inside Man

To buy SGI would have been interesting some years ago… when they were easily the king of 3D world, hardware and software wise… you would get all you need to get into 3D, from the whole OpenGL foundation and Alias software company to the great architecture inside their workstations… a company that had the best and fastest 64 bits UNIX computers with the right software apps, a great OS… everything is dead now… I guess one can blame the management… those thinking that linux was going to be the best next thing ever made.

I agree with you. SGI had that guy Bob Bishop as CEO that did… nothing, Apple had much the same with Dr. Gil Amelio… luckily Apple got Steve back, he is the real reason that Apple is back, iMac, Mac OS X, iPod, iTunes Music Store… all those wouldn't be feasible without Steve running Apple again. SGI got nothing… it seems all the management was able to do was to expend a fortune getting a new company logo, they even didn't like the gorgeous classic Cube logo.

[Dark Helmet]

So what does this mean for SUN? Don't they pretty much do the same thing as SGI?

[tooki]

No. Years ago, their paths diverged and SGI concentrated on graphics while Sun concentrated on high-reliability servers. (I said this in my post above.) SGI, at this point, has little to offer the market. Sun, on the other hand, can boast of servers with uptime second to none, which is why they are used for applications where Windows and Linux are considered too unstable.

tooki

[Hal06]

It was about time, SGI finally added the Quad 1GHz Tezro to the system's home page, such configuration have been available for ages but they refused to reflect it…