> From: "Sean C. Garrick" <garr...@me.umn.edu> > To: Apple Scitech Mailing List <scit...@lists.apple.com>
> (snip) > Sci-Vis is not a worthwhile business. > (snip) I'll challenge you on that. There have been all kinds of developments in the professional 3D field, from affordable dual-use 2D/autostereoscopic-3D LCD displays (no glasses required), to expanded markets resulting from greatly reduced costs for the required hardware & software. Today, any professional can do stereographics on a Linux PC for an added investment as low as $600, and there are many free/open-source visualization tools like PyMOL out there to help keep costs down. SGI wouldn't have been such a success in its time if professional 3D visualization if it wasn't a worthwhile business, and today's needs and opportunities are much greater than they were back then. But with SGI no longer a credible visual-workstation vendor, there is a huge vacuum that someone needs to fill. Unfortunately, the pro-3D market suffers from being divided into many small niches that don't have much to do with one another, and I think that has led to it being overlooked at a critical time. Though we don't speak with a unified voice, we do all share a common heritage: (1) a need for Unix, (2) legacy SGI workstations, many still in use today, (3) a dependence on stereo 3D for understanding complex data (DNA, oil fields, jet designs, statistics, etc.) and most importantly: (4) the need for a cost-effective & maintainable platform with accountability and a future. MacOS X offers all that *plus* MS-Office interoperability -- something you'll never find on Linux outside of an emulation layer. In my view, well-done Windows integration is the ace in the hole that Apple can use to break open markets that have been closed to them for years, and even displace Linux deployments from enterprise technical desktops. Just get a couple of visualization-capable Macs in the door as SGI replacements, and you know where that could lead... At this point, Apple doesn't need to buy SGI, for any reason. The real question now facing them on this issue is whether or not they want to make a concerted play for pro-3D visualization just as they have done in other "pro" areas, such as pro-music/audio, pro-photography, and pro-video. Does Apple grab this unique opportunity? or does Apple just let it slide right into the hands of Linux and Windows workstation vendors? Time is short, and urgent action is required. Technically, all Apple needs to do is finish a job that is already 95% complete due to their work on Darwin (BSD Unix), MacOS X, GCC, X11, CHUD, Xgrid, Xserve, the AltiVec-equipped G5, and the Apple support organization. The dual G5 PowerMac is now in every way a suitable replacement for an Octane or Tezro, except for its lack of support for professional 3D graphics capabilities via Quadro FX or FireGL video cards. Considering how close Apple is to realizing this potential, the only thing I'm confused about is why they haven't acted on this already. We're likely talking about a few thousand lines of OpenGL driver code, much of which already exists on other platforms. However, it does seem quite likely that such code could only be implemented with management buy-in from Apple along with either ATI and/or nVidia, so Apple leadership may need to focus for a moment on claiming a prize that, by all rights, should be theirs given what they've already accomplished. With just a little more targeted effort, the Mac could the no-question, no-compromises, unix workstation-of-choice for all sectors and all markets. I say go for it while the getting is good, and before any more companies can off-load their legacy big-iron (SGI, Dec/Alpha, etc.) in favor of Linux workstations. Companies don't need the extra Linux maintenance headaches, and Apple doesn't need the extra challenge of fighting to displace Linux desktops down the road after they have become entrenched. Again, anyone who hasn't yet spoken up on the professional 3D graphics issue, please do send me a quick email indicating that "Stereo 3D matters to me", so that you can be explicitly counted in my hardcopy email "stack" for Apple. <mailto:war...@delsci.com&subject=Stereo%203D%20Matters%20to%20Me> Original response request: http://pymol.sf.net/stereo.html Cheers, Warren -- Warren L. DeLano, Ph.D. Principal Scientist . DeLano Scientific LLC . 400 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 213 . South San Francisco, CA 94080 . Biz:(650)-872-0942 Tech:(650)-872-0834 . Fax:(650)-872-0273 Cell:(650)-346-1154 . mailto:war...@delsci.com
