Maya got enough other problems... I don't envy them, at all.
AD's predicament is, throttling down Softimage development too far is
going to stagnate sells, and they don't exactly look like a company that
wants to keep a non-profitable product.
But they don't want to sell it either, because that would mean creating
competition and loss of customers (even if they tried, I don't think
they would get their 35mio. back).
Killing it would mean loosing a good chunk of the userbase, too, because
Soft users won't run into the arms of Maya so quickly. Embarrasing...
So they keep it alive, which means there has be *some* development. Good
for us. Better than nothing...
That leaves the tactics to add half-baked or cheap stuff, and hope
people are stupid enough to throw more money in...
The best and fairest scenario would be to make it a much more open
framework, and leave it's fate to those who care.
The COM/OLE thing, though, is a major f*ckup, that's for sure. Really
bitter. Well, at least windows is still the most widely used OS.
I wonder if it would be possible to get rid of those core dependencies
bit by bit, or if it would have to be all or nothing.
Am 10.09.2013 20:34, schrieb Matt Lind:
Did they transfer the COM/OLE core so they can kill Maya too?
Here's to hoping.
Matt
*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of *Eugen
Sares
*Sent:* Tuesday, September 10, 2013 7:41 AM
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
*Subject:* Re: Softimage Rental?
There was some technology transfer from Soft to Maya, also.
Too less to live, too much to die... a deadlock.
What I still hope for is that what's left of the development resources
is invested as wisely as possible.
Best would be to improve extensibility, so it becomes easier for 3rd
parties to do Autodesk's job.
Softimage is too precious and sophisticated to be ditched.
Am 10.09.2013 16:15, schrieb Marc-Andre Carbonneau:
Well because then it would become competition again...
*From:*softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com
<mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com>
[mailto:softimage-boun...@listproc.autodesk.com] *On Behalf Of
*Mirko Jankovic
*Sent:* 10 septembre 2013 10:09
*To:* softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
<mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
*Subject:* Re: Softimage Rental?
If they hate SI that much why they don't just give it to someone
else that will actually develop it...
On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 4:06 PM, Tim Crowson
<tim.crow...@magneticdreams.com
<mailto:tim.crow...@magneticdreams.com>> wrote:
If that report is true, it's a good thing that Soft is as mature
as it is. I mean frankly, apart from ICE improvements, how is 'not
developing for film/advert' any different than in the last few years?
-Tim C.
On 9/10/2013 8:10 AM, Mirko Jankovic wrote:
Well as I posted on another thread and will do it again no
matter that there some that will say for crying out loud or
similar...
/autodesk had a meeting with all the studios in london who use
xsi and said they arent really going to develop it for the
film/advert side of things, now all development is from a
small team in asia and they will develop mainly for games/
From a source... well someone here probably was on that
meeting I guess... and nothing new really but...
In any case there is pretty good reason why there is no SI
rental option and honestly it is lying to peoples face. simple
as that.
On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 3:00 PM, Angus Davidson
<angus.david...@wits.ac.za <mailto:angus.david...@wits.ac.za>>
wrote:
Hi Maurice
Firstly thanks for stepping up to the plate ;) While I can
understand your logic, surely there should have been some
explanation of this up front. Whether its in the FAQ, or on
the rental page. Part of the problem as you lay out in your
last sentence is that you cant talk about future developments.
However You guys seem to be the Masters of not explaining what
you are currently doing either.
Very simple example of this is the exclusion of Softimage from
the rental options(It could very well be a technical reason).
However no body out side of Autodesk knows why and the only
thing they can do is speculate and none of that will ever be
good. You know its a sad day when SI users are getting
sympathy on the Max underground forums. I mean when it gets to
the point that people are now actively asking for ways to move
their current active subscriptions from Max or Si to Maya you
have to admit that there is a pretty serious problem.
We have more folks who are briefly in charge of Softimage and
then disappear then Mae West had gentleman callers,. Right
now all we have are our observations and perceptions and
currently theres very little to differentiate whats happening
to Softimage to what happened to combustion. The steps so far
are virtually the same, and we all know how that ended.
I really do appreciate you taking to to come and explain
things to us on the mailing list, however the bottom line is
you shouldn't have to. In a company the size of Autodesk that
should be handled correctly in the first place by your
marketing and awareness people. There is a very big PR gap
that needs to be filled and expectations that need to be managed.
Anyway thanks again
Angus
________________________________________
From: Maurice Patel [maurice.pa...@autodesk.com
<mailto:maurice.pa...@autodesk.com>]
Sent: 10 September 2013 12:42 PM
To: <softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
<mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>>
Subject: Re: Softimage Rental?
Hi Angus,
You are right about people wanting to maintain working
pipelines based on older versions. This is our expectation and
this has been taken into account. Still we have to start
somewhere. Rental is the way many people want to go for
flexibility. Today only e-flex gives that kind of capability
(to a certain extent) but you have tp be a very large
enterprise account to qualify. We continue to offer perpetual
plus subscription which gives you prior version usage. Since
we cannot talk aboutfuture releases and capability our hans
are somewhat tied when it comes to talking abouthow we expect
this to all evolve. Suffice it to say that we have to start
somewhere and this is just the start. We expect that the model
will be gradually integrated over time and inderstand that
lack of forwards compatability for previous versions is
'currently' an adoption blocker. However there are usecases
where rental purchase of the latest version is a benefit even
without prior version support. Note the license model as
designed does not entail forced upgrade each time a new
release is issued but is designed to allow usage of the
installed version until the user choses to upgrade
(usual legal safe harbour applies in that none of this is
meant to be read as a guarantee and Autodesk reserves the
right to change its plans at any time)
On 2013-09-10, at 8:33 AM, "Angus Davidson"
<angus.david...@wits.ac.za <mailto:angus.david...@wits.ac.za>>
wrote:
> Hi Luc-eric
>
> I kinda suspected that was the case. It might be worth
updating the FAQ just to state that. However it shows just how
far out of touch the people making the decisions are. Even if
your in the very lucky position that you are not forced by
some or other constraint to use a specific version, very few
folks will run the latest and greatest on a commercial project
because it just hasn't been proven. The risk of running into a
project halting bug is just too great.
>
> And with the greatest respect to Chris and the rest of the
team the turnaround on fixing those kinds of bugs just isnt
fast enough to warrant the additional risk.
>
> On the positive side South Africa is now included in the ARC
program. This means we can apply for up to 125 seats for free.
Educational seems to be the only AD$K division that has an
actual policy and a plan. However thats only going to last so
long before the competition does likewise.
>
> Kind regards
>
> Angus
>
> ________________________________________
> From: Luc-Eric Rousseau [luceri...@gmail.com
<mailto:luceri...@gmail.com>]
> Sent: 09 September 2013 08:28 PM
> To: softimage@listproc.autodesk.com
<mailto:softimage@listproc.autodesk.com>
> Subject: Re: Softimage Rental?
>
> On Mon, Sep 9, 2013 at 1:17 PM, Angus Davidson
> <angus.david...@wits.ac.za
<mailto:angus.david...@wits.ac.za>> wrote:
>>
>> Apart from the glaring omission of SI from that list the
things that worries me in the FAQ is that rental options dont
have previous version rights. Unless I have read that
incorrectly your SOL if your client needs you to work on a
older version.
>>
>> One wonders how much if any thought has gone into this at all.
>
> Presently, that's not technical possible anyway, as the
older builds
> cannot deal with the new kind of licensing implementation.
Only 2014
> SP1 and up can.
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