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

Post by elaus » Thu, May 28, 2026, 4:17 PM UTC

jorvi wrote: post #94

ajross wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It can only mean that their Linux user base is growing, ie. more commercial operators are turning to Linux. Well, more correctly that they think the commercial base has grown, and that there's revenue on the table by forcing their standard-edition-using commercial Linux users into contracts. Maybe the thinking is that the Linux users are more sophisticated and able to self-support than windows shops, and so they're…

What is really interesting about Linux users is that they cost an enormous amount in support. I think it was a dev of the reboot of Planetary Annihilation that said their Linux users / build made up a few percent of the sales but over 90 percent of all support tickets (!). Mind you that this was before Valve's Proton. Edit: It was https://xcancel.com/bgolus/status/1080213166116597760

Post by f1shy » Thu, May 28, 2026, 4:40 PM UTC

littlecranky67 wrote: post #127

liendolucas wrote: post #111

AMD business should be selling FPGA hardware. The software suite should come for free. If it doesn't then people should not purchase AMD FPGAs. It is absurd that in 2026 you have to pay for such tools. It feels like buying a propietary compiler in 80's or 90's. No one wants that anymore.

FPGAs are mostly used for small series and custom hardware. If you add the software price to the FPGA unit price, it becomes more expensive if you buy, lets say, 1000 FPGAs to ship in your product. Even though you might only license the software once. It is a trade off, and I have no idea about the state and quality of Vivado. Back in the day I was tinkering with FPGAs, the Xilinx software stack was horrible.

Post by littlecranky67 » Thu, May 28, 2026, 4:45 PM UTC

f1shy wrote: post #133

littlecranky67 wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FPGAs are mostly used for small series and custom hardware. If you add the software price to the FPGA unit price, it becomes more expensive if you buy, lets say, 1000 FPGAs to ship in your product. Even though you might only license the software once. It is a trade off, and I have no idea about the state and quality of Vivado. Back in the day I was tinkering with FPGAs, the Xilinx software stack was horrible.

Still is. I think got a tiny little bit better, but sucks.

Post by subscribed » Thu, May 28, 2026, 4:51 PM UTC

wewewedxfgdf wrote: post #2

It's long been said: "AMD never misses a chance to miss a chance." In this case, the chance to trash its reputation with customers.

Post by joe_mamba » Thu, May 28, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

bigyabai wrote: post #138

joe_mamba wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The software suite should come for free. Ideally yes, SW should be free, but we don't live in an ideal world. This isn't Apple or Google who can give you SW for free since they take a 30% cut on everything on the Appstore besides the profit margins on the HW they sell you. The typical customers of FPGAs are large HW companies with money to spend on SW, not tinkerers in their garage who might some day build a billion…

> So there's zero incentive to give away SW, that's costly to develop, for free. I don't think that's necessarily a hard rule, here. Nvidia won over the HPC segment by offering CUDA and PTX as a free value-add to their hardware, and ended up becoming a multi-trillion dollar company that ate AMD's datacenter market for lunch. Giving away software to commoditize your compliment might be a good idea, for AMD.