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AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

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Re: AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

#61

Post by altairprime »

fsh wrote: post #52
altairprime wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-paying users aren’t customers, though, so they must view all this outrage seems irrelevant. Which suggests that they view free-tier Linux users as significantly less likely to ever pay for its use. That matches my understanding of the (non-Steam) Linux as a miserly and demanding target market, so I don’t really fault them for the choice — especially given how brutally expensive it is to support the IDIC of Miscel…

Vivado is an IDE for programming AMD FPGAs. One cannot use it without buying AMD hardware.

Hardware isn’t where the margins are, and probably is somewhat of a loss leader for small-batch users; for hobby users I would hazard a guess that they’re running at around -10% profit on small sales to try and drive subscription revenue multipliers, and for already-paying users this change is essentially irrelevant and will have zero downside impact on sub revenue. Terrible way to run a profitable business if you fuck up the hardware undercut, but if you can get away with it, subscriptions are certainly a valid answer to maintenance of the platform over time. I still think they didn’t go far enough to make a meaningful dent in conversions from free to paying, though.

(Note that mention of Steam Linux is not about the games aspect, but about the Valve’s seeming plans to become a competitive target for Linux support to the exclusion of other consumer-focused miscellaneity. But I tend to go on about this too often, and shouldn’t have invoked it here, apologies.)

Re: AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

#63

Post by nekusar »

bravetraveler wrote: post #4

Incredible, behaving as if they want another CUDA situation.

I seriously think the CUDA situation was set up intentionally.

Jensen Huang (Nvidia CEO) is related to Lisa Su (AMD CEO).

A decade ago, I saw a demo of some AMD skunkworks GPU datacenter tech, that could execute CUDA natively on AMD/ATI graphics cards. Initially was half speed, but having the flexibility was crazy amazing. Created a big buzz in the big iron and educational markets.

Where'd it go? Buried. You cant even find articles about it. Its a few comments on edtech datacenters.

Now look at AMD's graphics line. Where's their ROCm LLM tooling? It's a fucking joke. Its like they're intentionally sinking it for her Nvidia uncle Huang. And Su takes the cheaper CPU market and offers better features than Intel.

Re: AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

#64

Post by 15155 »

IshKebab wrote: post #60
zx8080 wrote: post #10

> Starting with the 2026.1 release Don't upgrade. It's just that simple. Do they offer some unique features in the new version or is it a habit to upgrade everything every day?

Read the article. The old version will not be supported soon. I assume that means you also won't be able to register it.

People are still using Vivado 2019 (and earlier) and ISE. The ability to use these versions isn't going anywhere.

Re: AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

#65

Post by 15155 »

lefra wrote: post #30
Meneth wrote: post #22

That's what you get for using unfree software.

There's no free alternatives, because AMD doesn't document the bitstream format (i.e. what you need to push to the FPGA to program it to do wha you want).

This isn't why there are no free alternatives: there are for 7 Series chips. Free alternatives have terrible QoR.

Re: AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

#67

Post by weaksauce »

ginko wrote: post #21
dgacmu wrote: post #13

Large company again makes local decision without considering the effects outside that single product line. I wonder how many Linux GPU sales their decision to penalize Linux on their FPGA line will cost them.

>I wonder how many Linux GPU sales their decision to penalize Linux on their FPGA line will cost them. Not many I would guess.

considering nvidia has garbage gpu drivers in linux land and amd has pretty good ones i suspect you’re correct.

Re: AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

#68

Post by chrsw »

Imagine if AMD focused on making their tools better instead of resorting to sleazy tactics.

Imagine if the whole industry made interoperable tools that worked on open data formats and competed on merit instead of customer lock-in.

Imagine the world we could have.

Re: AMD pulls a bait-and-switch on Linux users with Vivado licensing changes

#69

Post by JCTheDenthog »

nekusar wrote: post #63
bravetraveler wrote: post #4

Incredible, behaving as if they want another CUDA situation.

I seriously think the CUDA situation was set up intentionally. Jensen Huang (Nvidia CEO) is related to Lisa Su (AMD CEO). A decade ago, I saw a demo of some AMD skunkworks GPU datacenter tech, that could execute CUDA natively on AMD/ATI graphics cards. Initially was half speed, but having the flexibility was crazy amazing. Created a big buzz in the big iron and educational markets. Where'd it go? Buried. You cant eve…

I'm not trying to dismiss what you're saying as a possibility (AMD's behavior in many regards over the last 15 years or so is baffling to the point that a family conspiracy feels surprisingly plausible) but Huang isn't Su's uncle.

They are "first cousins once removed" meaning that Su is the child of one of Huang's cousins. Or put another way, one of Huang's grandparents is one of Su's great-grandparents.

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