AMD has created a mini operating system just for graphics processing

For years, AMD has used the Catalyst Control Center as the software hub for its Radeon line of products, but following the massive restructuring the company’s graphics business underwent a few weeks ago, AMD has announced that Catalyst is being replaced with the new Radeon Software Crimson Edition software suite. The name could definitely use some work, but the software itself has been designed to act almost like a miniature operating system within your operating system that focuses solely on graphics processing. 

Roughly six weeks ago, AMD announced a major reorganization of its graphics business. The newly named Radeon Technologies Group is headed by Raja Koduri and reports directly to Lisa Su. At the time, AMD told us it has major changes planned for its driver and software stack, and we’re seeing the first of those updates announced today. AMD is launching a new version of its driver control software and retiring the Catalyst brand. AMD is calling this new software suite “Radeon Software Crimson Edition.” As brand initiatives go it’s…. well, honestly, it’s pretty terrible. Radeon is a hardware brand, not a software stack. AMD and ATI have used the color red as their defining characteristic for roughly 20 years, which makes “Crimson” rather derivative. Including the word “edition” makes it sound as though there are going to be multiple versions of the software — should we look forward to “Mauve”, or perhaps “Taup?” Dubious branding aside, everyone is going to call this software suite “Crimson,” so that’s the nomenclature we’ll use for the rest of the article.We apologize for the less-than perfect settings screenshots — we’re capturing slides for this article, which means the displayed UI elements were a touch blurred to start with. All images can be enlarged.