The one thing I take from reading this thread is the Soft community at large is generally upset and concerned. Whether the individual concerns are real or perceived, I would think Autodesk would hear the frustration and appreciate where it's coming from. Even speak to how to resolve it perhaps.
I for one, think Maurice is a brave soul coming into the lions den as it were, and speaking candidly. Attempting to show that Softimage is going forward, perhaps not in the primary marketing role it has enjoyed in the past. But to their credit, I'm a fan of the latest updates, the OGL viewport improvements for instance... So from my vantage point I see progress. Our industry is fairly new. A significant paradigm shift from one software to another has only REALLY happened once before. We've seen it from Soft/3d & Alias P/A to the desktop XSI & Maya respectively. Understanding where XSI came from, and how it was built helps us also understand WHY it's in the place it is. When Sumantra was created under AVID the developers at the time, as I understand it, were forced to use the Microsoft API. Building what was to be the 'new' foundation on something like Microsoft has been our biggest shortcoming concerning the open-nature of Soft. We've been overcoming that since day 1, and will continue to. Softimage has never recovered from those days as a userbase is concerned. This has been outlined in great detail in earlier posts in this thread. On the business side, Autodesk has it's own model for capturing new users. When you have more new Maya users each year, than the entire XSI userbase. It would be hard to justify holding XSI up in the "Area of Excellence" as it were. ;-) No amount of new marketing is going to change the momentum that Maya enjoys in schools, film, and elsewhere suddenly to Soft. Autodesk is going to continue to do what is best for Autodesk, why wouldn't they? The fact Maurice is standing by Softimage and trying to reassure the users it's here and should continue to be here is a positive thing in my mind. So I would hope we give him the benefit of the doubt? Maurice, if I might make a suggestion for whatever it's worth. When marketing suites and bundles. You might consider looking at Softimage as more of a 'generalist' out-of-the-box solution for smaller studios and commercial houses who might only have 10-20 artists and no development team. Maya out-of-the-box isn't *really* a generalists solution, Don't get me wrong.. it can be, and often IS done by some amazing artists. But anyone who's proficient in both, will be hard-pressed to explain how Maya out-of-the-box is more production ready than Softimage out-of-the-box. To promote Softimage as a generalist out-of-the-box solution from day 1 for smaller studios, I think would sit much better with the user community at large. I still think the "Area of Excellence" is only excellent if you have an RnD team, in-house developers, or a host of 3rd party plug-ins or scripts to get you a truly user-friendly experience. Bundles of Film, Games, and Commercial solutions isn't a terrible idea if you ask me. But then again, I'm just an end user, not a marketing whosit-whatsit. I also think this is the best time for Side FX. They are seeing a Renaissance, for the sake of innovation and competition I hope they are able to capitalize on the opportunities to woo new users. For the record.. I know and use Maya. But as a Commercial VFX Generalist. I chose XSI, and you'll have to pry it from my cold-dead hands before I switch. ;-) ( but I have started learning Houdini, you know.. 'cus that paradigm shift * will* happen ) cheers!
