I agree 100% on one thing, if you are not willing to invest money to maintain the application it is the only honest thing to do. The problem I have is how is it possible there is no will to put the necessary work and money to make it happen? How is it possible someone pays $35M to buy a company and its product line and then bury it while still warm.
Furthermore, the economic model that was sung to all of us countless time that has been working for years on other industries like the automotive where the Volkswagen group owns Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda and others and allows them to develop one engine for all the cars yet compete in the market while offering a distinctive experience (hello Softiamge) is actually very sensible too in this case. I don't need to tell you that many of the tools you are building for one app will end up on the others and a chunk of the cost will be saved. All in all the other thing I don't get is the associated risk, when you own the market is pretty much risk free! is like producing films and owning the distribution channel, it is impossible not to make money if you play it half well. The most amazing thing is that Softimage was a competitor during the last 5 years we would have been in a extremely different situation competing one to one with Maya for the top end of the professional market instead of being buried. Sorry to be a pest but this is an extreme situation for many. thanks a lot though for your the dialog without corporate BS, I really appreciate that Luc-Eric Jordi Bares [email protected] On 8 Mar 2014, at 15:08, Luc-Eric Rousseau <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 8:55 AM, Jordi Bares <[email protected]> wrote: >> Nobody said its perfect, I am fully aware Softimage needs some truly major >> work done to keep it well into the 21st century, like Max and Maya and every >> other app, agreed. >> >> Regarding the number, you know we users are in the dark, everybody avoids >> answering that but from what I heard (and may be wrong) the development team >> never has been big, it is a different thing all the support, Q&A, >> documentation, etc... that is the bulk of the company. >> >> Regarding the point I was trying to make, are you saying the cost of >> development of Softimage was costlier than the PR, advertising, support, >> documentation, etc..? >> >> Its very sad LucEric... very very sad. > > It's terribly sad indeed. Many of us worked many years 6 and 7 days a > week on this thing. We poured our hearts into it. > > If you agree that there is still tons of work needed to do - millions > of R&D, imho, plus a lot of risks of failure - to make that app modern > in 5 years, then it doesn't matter if a few people can keep that app > going in the short term, it's the longer term that's the problem. > > One shouldn't be asking marketing and the resellers sell a 3500$ app, > plus 850$-1100$ a year in sub, if they don't have a 5 year plan and > don't plan to have the investment to back it up. You cannot have > schools continue to teach this app as if it's an equally safe choice > for the future. So you shouldn't be inviting new clients only to have > them end up in forum reading about dissatisfaction, lack of > development, fear of the future. So Autodesk announced last week that > their plans and investments are on Maya and Max. It's terrible news > for Softimage, but at least the cards are on the table and people have > time to adapt. >
