Trust is EARNED

Extremetech did some behind-the-scenes testing
and found that “our test results seem to indicate that nVidia is boosting its 3DMark game test scores by cutting corners in the 44.03 DetonatorFX driver we used for testing.”

nVidia is calling this a “driver bug.”

Whom should you believe?

Why Honesty Counts

If nVidia had a track record of being honest and aboveboard, even when the chips were down, you might want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Does nVidia have that kind of track record?

No.

For that matter, does ATI have that kind of track record?

No.

Does much, if not most, of the computer world have that kind of track record?

No.

Why shouldn’t we assume “guilty until proven innocent” when there’s serious evidence of shenanigans by most computer companies? They’ve been guilty enough in the past.

Trust Is EARNED

Three words. Is it really so difficult to understand that in order to be trusted, you have to be trustworthy?

So why is this so incomprehensible so often to so many?

It is incomprehensible when you put a cause above the truth. That is the definition of fanaticism.

We’ll see what nVidia has to say for itself, but it’s pretty safe to assume based on their previous track record that this was no accident.

Accountability

Recently, the New York Times had a reporter who found a quick and easy way to cover stories. He just copied from other newspapers and made things up.

If the New York Times acted like a computer company, they would just deny any problem, and if in the end, they were forced to acknowledge the problem, they would try to wiggle out of being accountable for it.

The New York Times didn’t do that. Instead, they did this and raked themselves (at least somewhat) through the coals for letting this happen.

Have you ever seen something like this happen in the computer world?

Why did the New York Times do that? They did that because they know that their audience’s trust in them is their biggest asset. They knew they owed that explanation to their audience.

Now the New York Times is a corporation, a rather big one. Many believe that Corporation = Evil, Lying, Greedy, Corrupt Monster. Sometimes, they’re even right.

But the New York Times did this. How can this be? Could it be that corporations can hold themselves to a higher standard if they choose to?

The New York Times has plenty of competition. In the short term, they are catching and will catch a lot of flak for this.

But nonetheless they did it.

And if they can, why can’t everyone else? Why shouldn’t we hold and expect and demand a higher standard?

Note something else. Look at who did the investigating and broke the story. Extremetech, another big corporate entity. This surely isn’t going to get ZdNet more ads from nVidia. Nonetheless, it’s there.

Let’s see how much play this story gets from those places that reviewed the card. Let’s see who even mentions it.

If they don’t, then just who are the ones beholden to corporate interests?

P.S. Might be interesting to take a closer look at those new Detonator drivers, too.

Ed