DailyTech - Abit Further Clarifies Details of USI Merger

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Hardware Abit Further Clarifies Details of USI Merger
Sven Olsen (Blog) - February 25, 2006 5:59 PM

11 comment(s) - last by Zoomer.. on Feb 28 at 8:59 PM

As details continue to become known, USI-Abit optimism increases

Recently, we had the opportunity to sit down with Abit Corporate Spokeman, Lester Lau. Lau gave us the inside scoop of the USI-Abit merger announced earlier this year but it would seem that some of the finer points of the merger are now available.

At the Abit shareholder meeting on March 10, the Abit Group will come up with a new brand name for itself. As soon as the shareholders approve the new brand name, the Abit Group will no longer call itself Abit. Simultaneously, USI will immediately obtain ownership of the Abit brand. All of the employees of the Abit motherboard group will also quit the former Abit Group and become USI employees instead. Effectively, the same people working on the Abit motherboard brand today will still do so on March 11, but their employer will now be USI.

The non-core businesses of Abit will not transfer to USI: System building, graphics cards, logistics and real estate will all still belong to the Abit Group once it determines the new name. The new Abit will have access to USI’s manufacturing and engineering technologies.

The new corporate structure will allow Abit to finally focus on motherboard design and engineering. Access to USI’s engineering and production will give the Abit engineers much more opportunity to concentrate on what they do best. Corporate roadmaps presented to DailyTech mention that the company will bring back the MAX series motherboards for the enthusiast, while still continuing development on the uGuru and Fatal1ty series as well.

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Name Change?

By TehWolf on 2/26/2006 5:41:35 PM , Rating: 2

Changing the name will be a big mistake I think. People have come to know ABIT as ABIT trust & loyal customers. So what will they do with this forum? http://forum.abit-usa.com/index.php Change the name also or start a new one? Starting a new forum is not a good idea I don’t think, because there is a world of knowledge here that can not be replaced or moved. Much is out of date, but there are many still using the 1st boards that ABIT made. & need to look back into the past to get the info they need. Sure ABIT has had its bumps along the way to fame, but many have stuck by knowing that ABIT would come back with even a better solution that ever before. This kind of trust you can not just throw away & hope they will accept the change, but hay it’s your money USI, do with it what you will. I would expect to take a loss for sure in the beginning, because it will take some time to rebuild the trust that ABIT has already established.

What will become of the ABIT folding team [Team ABIT] the Folding Wolves? Will this also have to change its name once again & will the people that now love & cherish the ABIT name want to become something new? I think there will be some pissed off people that will not fall into the crack or be happy about this. I sure hope that my hard work to keep this team together will not fall to the wayside.

AKA/ TheWolf : ABIT Forum Mod & Folding@Home Mod for Team ABIT
http://forum.abit-usa.com/index.php

http://forum.abit-usa.com/forumdisplay.php?f=27

http://forum.abit-usa.com/announcement.php?f=27 Join Today its for a good cause!

RE: Name Change?

By ABIT David on 2/27/2006 2:59:18 AM , Rating: 2

Hey buddy, why don't you read that one more time? The ABIT brand name is NOT changing. Period...

ABIT-USA forums will also stay, just like the motherboards. No need to worry there...

Cheers

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RE: Name Change?

By ABIT David on 2/27/2006 3:09:35 AM , Rating: 2

Ok, let's be a little bit more detailed here. The name of the motherboard division might change from "ABIT Computer Corporation" to something similar, but with words to the same effect, like "ABIT Technology" (NB! This is an EXAMPLE and nothing else; we don't know yet).

The actual motherboards and the boxes they come in will continue to be branded ABIT, just like before, and the engineers and design-team stay the same as well...

Hope that clarified a few things.

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RE: Name Change?

By Zoomer on 2/28/2006 8:59:19 PM , Rating: 2

What about warranty obligations? Technically, they be directed to the old Abit (which no longer has a mb division...) or will USI pick that up as well?

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Just dreaming

By Pirks on 2/26/06, Rating: 0

RE: Just dreaming

By goku on 2/26/2006 4:38:01 AM , Rating: 3

I don't like the idea of motherboards removing PS/2 ports because 1. that makes my new KVM switch useless, and 2. PS/2 is better than USB for mice and keyboards, USB is stupid because it is too "drivery" and if your system is becoming unresponsive and you've got important work you need to save, the last thing to go is PS/2. PS/2 is more responsive even under 100% CPU utilization while USB can skip at times and it gets annoying. And my tablet I use for drawing would also effectively become useless because I still use that 'antique' Serial port. I don't use the parallel port for printing anymore but Some other albiet old devices still can take advantage of it. I don't really see the benefit of removing those things IMO, just one board I WON'T buy...

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RE: Just dreaming

By Pirks on 2/27/06, Rating: -1

By Pirks on 2/27/2006 4:35:27 PM , Rating: -1

Not many people use PS/2 KVM switches and exotic tablets, hence not many would suffer from such a board. I'm not talking about forcing such a mobo down your throat, don't be afraid! The point was: the mobo manufacturers jump out of their pants to distinguish themselves from competitors. All these stupid PCB color games, sucky logos one should stick on their a.. and other early childhood-style display of "uniqueness", you know. Still, nobody ever, EVER (with the ONLY exception of the Abit AT7 MAX I mentioned here) tried to distinguish themselves with something truly unique. Apple is the only company who's bent on dumping old stuff. If you were Apple customer you know how many times you'd have replaced your lovely tablet and KVM switch (IF and only IF you were able to find your tablet software developed for Mac OS X). It's only with PCs that people stay with 1970's serial ports and feel great. What's puzzling me is why the heck the mobo manufacturers feel great about those serial dinosaurs. Innovation? Hello? I mean, maybe Apple is pushing it too hard, okay, but what's the problem in selling a Special Unique (TRULY unique, not as in unique color and a.. sticker) Limited Edition of the Great Abit Mobo With PS/2/COM/LPT etc CONNECTORS removed. Connectors only, okay? I know any manufacturer won't bother with removing chips, redesigning circuits etc as they did with AT7 MAX, it's too much. Only Apple does that, but we're talking a little more conservative here. It's just a matter of programming a couple of assembly robots to not to put in those connestors, and save 1 or 2 cents on them, that's it. And then you can advertise it as truly legacy free mobo, eventhough it won't be so, just no connectors. Nobody is interested in this, I guess I'm the only one who doesn't like thirty year old designs in my home PC.

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RE: Just dreaming

By SGTPan on 2/26/2006 6:38:50 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
... Windows which won't install SATA drivers w/o floppy. Gotta wait till Vista, boohoo :~-(

Have you tried to set up a Vista beta on a SATA drive yet? You might not need a floppy, but you still need the drivers for the SATA controller. At the very least, Microsoft should have built in support for the most common SATA controllers. I mean, seriously Microsoft; SATA drives have been out for like 4 years now.

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RE: Just dreaming

By Pirks on 2/27/2006 4:44:41 PM , Rating: 1

No, I haven't tried to install Vista on a SATA drive, and I think we all should wait until it's released this fall or early next year. I do really hope they will do something about the floppy dependency. I mean, PCs look more and more pathetic compared to Apple beauties. The only advantage is the price but then PC will drown you with all these museum floppies and COM ports. And noone will care, manufacturers and even Microsoft (!) just live along and happily ship their stuff which requires COM/PS/2/floppy etc. Hey, if they sell COM ports and floppies why don't they still ship PCs with card punchers or paper tape drives? Answer, anyone? ;-))

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whoo!

By Missing Ghost on 2/25/2006 7:38:37 PM , Rating: 2

ABIT ftw

Great Electronics, Poor After Service

By porkster on 2/26/2006 1:07:19 PM , Rating: 2

I love abit products, but their after support and attention is really lacking. Changing th ena,e wont be enough, they relaly need to cull out the poor staff and keep the research and development areas.

They could also up the quality on auxilary items, like fans and heatsinks and stuff.