Linux, Open-Source Affected In AMD Cutbacks?

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux, Open-Source Affected In AMD Cutbacks?

By now many of you have likely heard that AMD is laying off around 10% of its workforce by next year in a restructuring attempt to lower its operating costs, but will their open-source and Linux efforts be hampered by this move?..

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTAxMjA

[r1348]

Most of layoffs are in the Marketing and PR departments. I will miss their slides...

[DaemonFC]

The way I understand it, Bulldozer is taking a beating not because it's that bad, but because Vista7 isn't really optimized for it and the Tom's Hardware like sites are giving it a beating because Windows is crap.

The Linux kernel already has patches that improve the performance quite a lot and they will be part of the kernel within the next three months.

Maybe AMD should quit recommending Vista7 since it seems it's not treating their new architecture that well.

[deanjo]

The way I understand it, Bulldozer is taking a beating not because it's that bad, but because Vista7 isn't really optimized for it and the Tom's Hardware like sites are giving it a beating because Windows is crap.

Not quite, while it does slightly improve even in Windows 8 BD still gets hammered by the intels with the proper scheduler. Don't expect any miracles.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2622

[DaemonFC]

Not quite, while it does slightly improve even in Windows 8 BD still gets hammered by the intels with the proper scheduler. Don't expect any miracles.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2622

You know, by benefits, they could just mean vaporware that may or may not show up later in the Vista8 development process.

[leeenux]

The way I understand it, Bulldozer is taking a beating not because it's that bad, but because Vista7 isn't really optimized for it and the Tom's Hardware like sites are giving it a beating because Windows is crap.

The Linux kernel already has patches that improve the performance quite a lot and they will be part of the kernel within the next three months.

Maybe AMD should quit recommending Vista7 since it seems it's not treating their new architecture that well.

Totally agree. Only in a world dominated by PR firms and "trusted journalists" does Intel have a worthwhile advantage over AMD. You'd think that AMD was on par with VIA if you only read Anandtech and never actually used AMD CPUs yourself.

If anything, Bulldozer is the right product for servers and workstations, Llano and Trinity are perfect for almost everyone else, and AMD can be forgiven for not spending billions trying to appeal to less than one percent of people building high end gaming PCs to play games that aren't well threaded and can't use more CPU than Bulldozer has anyways. The criticisms were that Bulldozer "only" gets 60fps in your favorite games, where Sandy gets 80. Who cares?

[deanjo]

Totally agree. Only in a world dominated by PR firms and "trusted journalists" does Intel have a worthwhile advantage over AMD. You'd think that AMD was on par with VIA if you only read Anandtech and never actually used AMD CPUs yourself.

If anything, Bulldozer is the right product for servers and workstations, Llano and Trinity are perfect for almost everyone else, and AMD can be forgiven for not spending billions trying to appeal to less than one percent of people building high end gaming PCs to play games that aren't well threaded and can't use more CPU than Bulldozer has anyways. The criticisms were that Bulldozer "only" gets 60fps in your favorite games, where Sandy gets 80. Who cares?

It's not only "gaming" where BD takes a beating. It gets pretty much dominated across the board.

[PsynoKhi0]

Might be tin-foil hat mode, though I remember AMD speaking about how game developers should move away from APIs in order to get more out of PC hardware. This kind of argument prolly doesn't sit well with MS, plus the redmond gang is parting ways with the reliance on the x86 architecture. Kinda wonder if the "no patch for win7" shenanigans have anything to do with that. Then again AFAIK the next gen xbox will use Fusion. Feed with one hand, slap with the other, so they learn their place?

Anyway, the summary on Slashdot did mention a kernel contributor getting the axe.

[PsynoKhi0]

Don't expect any miracles.

Not on current software, no. I'm however looking forward to what software developers can come up with once they've become familiar enough with the architecture.

[DaemonFC]

Apparently the current Linux patches floating around already cause a 10-20% gain in most places.

Vista7 vs. the Vista8 preview looks more like a stalemate to me. Few if any optimizations so far on that side.