It really is the dark ages... I have thought for some time AD should have used just the pass system alone as a reason for big studios to adopt soft...The only thing close is Katana.... but thats a whole different can of worms... it would be so much easier to market soft as the scene assembler of the lot to the big boys... FX and Rendering in Soft is so far ahead of anything in the AD toolbox as of this point, but I bet the person who makes the decisions at AD does not comprehend how much better.
The problem is there is not anyone who understands that there was/is a way out of this mess.... just a tad of vision and action is all it takes. AD has some of the best tech in the world,but they are like Xerox , they don't see the potential in gui interfaces and mice..... "you give them eyes, yet they can not see"
