Defref, no-one is talking like that.
what you might be seeing, is that people are looking forward to the battle between these two companies, becuase no-one knows who will win (even if the victory is just temporary).
ATi is considered the underdog in most people's minds (due to the drivers mostly), so if they're able to topple the king of the hill, nVidia, I'd have to say that's interesting. after all, there were lots of nVidia followers when nVidia was not top dog (thinking TNT vs dual Voodoo 2 days), who most likely followed the war between nVidia and 3dfx religiously and most likely, felt the same way ATi followers now feel.
no doubt you felt the same thing about a company before, after all, you're defending nVidia so violently - (Remember the 3dfx fiends who kept shrieking, "Rampage will oWn3rZ j00!!!" Where are THEY now?) - as if you helped defeat 3dfx (and perhaps you in some minor way did). take a deep breath, and realize that you're not going to die, even if the Radeon 8500 somehow manages to tie the nVidia's GF3 Ti 500 in performance.