Attached Link: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-992014.html

Maybe Doc Mojo's offer will start to look more appealing to Corel soon?

Me thinks there was a proverbial straw prior to Bryce that may have broken the Corel Camels back.Hmmm, just a thought. ;)

And what happens when you build a house out of proverbial straw? ;)

Move into an Apt?

microsoft pulled a fast one years ago by getting Corel to dump their Linux effort. Now Corel may just die in the gutter like a used up rag. Imagine how different it might have been if Corel stuck with its plans... Corel Linux on every "windows" desktop, and Bryce running happily on it and gaining popularity and power every day. so sad.

"Maybe Doc Mojo's offer will start to look more appealing to Corel soon?" The day Corel sells Bryce to Doc Mojo will be one really happy day. Let's hope this pushes Corel further towards that.

"Corel has pretty well failed at everything they've done. They're clearly not a player of the office suite market anymore, and the graphics business is in a tailspin." They sure got that right! Yeah, sell Bryce to Doc Mojo, and we can all relax! :)

Hi just a thorght perhaps we should remember that company 'names'like Corel and Curious have real people working for them and before we all act like Hayenas(sp) beying for blood think of the people whose lives something like this affects directly. Dave

Of course! Youre right, sorry! I do feel sorry for the people on the floor, its not their fault that they have an incompetent management! Those, i dont feel sorry for at all!

Unfortunately, one fact is that Ken does not have enough money on his own to buy Bryce, even at its cheapest. Unless, he can somehow pull a rabbit out of a hat, he'll have to find an intersted and understanding venture capatilist. But, that article does say that Vector Capital, (a venture capital firm) is going to help build Corel's business. They even stated about Corel; "at its core is a solid foundation of advanced products, dedicated and talented employees and loyal customers". So, now...I don't think they will be looking to dump Bryce. (a wild guess) But, yet again who knows what will happen? This is like 3D soap opera...lol. AS

Actually it sound like Vector is getting a great deal. Really if you have any extra cash hanging around, now is the time to invest. Sure everything is down & out right now, and there's always the chance you can loose it all. But in the long term ( 10 or 15 years ) there's going to be a lot of people making lots of money, from the investments they make right now.

I think Corel use to be a very responsible and upright business at one time when they dealt with CorelDraw exclusively. Seems like in their effort to recover from product down sales and expand, they've bitten off more than they can chew and are now at the edge. Maybe Vector Capital should be the one to be approached about Bryce.

Well if it ever dissolves and comes to the point of there being an auction... Then we'll see what Bryce is worth... Hmmmm...

I need to win the lottery, it's up to 13 million here... BTW, (this made me laugh), on that link given by Aeolius, scroll down to the "talk back" section, there is an entry that just says "All I care about is Bryce 6! Gimme Bryce 6!" (probably one of you, huh?) :OAS

LOL, Not me but it's a thought.

I agree with Quest. Maybe we could start contacting Vector about how much we want Bryce.

Attached Link: http://www.vectorcapital.com/

I wouldn't worry as much as you think in Corel. They are far cry form a failing company. The article quotes "Microsoft's .Net efforts and instead has rolled out several initiatives that take aim at Microsoft's dominance of the office applications market." Which they have. Most consumer level PCs and even MACs come default with Corel WordPerfect Suites, and most lawoffices and doctor offices prefer Corel WordPerfect over Word. Microsoft Office is on the downhill spiral due to its expense. Thats why they are selling the stock, because they don't want to support there leading competitor. Among other reasons I've heard. Corel is actually doing decent in the current sucky economy. I'm curious how overseas people are doing, if they see an signs of a recession? Anyone? Comments? Brian

Not sure, but you're right about Corel and its Word Perfect. I forgot which major PC company it was, but they dumped MS Office from their PC's software bundle for Corel's Word Perfect, that was some months ago. I believe they said it was around $100 cheaper for the customer that way. FYI, Corel has re-vamped their entire website, much more professional looking. You have to dig a couple clicks more to find Bryce though. Can't find ANY info on KPT prior to KPT Effects (7), wonder if they withdrew the prior versions? AS

I've never used KPT outside of Bryce, can the KPT channel surfing be used outside of Photoshop? Just curious. Brian

Not sure, never tried it.

I can easily see the signs of economic recession here. The AEX is constantly going down and saving money doesn't really go very well lately. I think Corel still has problems even if it doesn't do really bad with th current economy. It has less of a buffer, so there's also greater risk involved. As for Cheap office tools: I use OpenOffice. Still lots cheaper than both WordPerfect and Word. If you only need a word-like app you can also use Textshield wich is also freeware and very small in filesize. The whole Textshield download fits on on 1.44MB disk.

Well, I agree that Corel has other problems and Bryce is the least of their worries. Its doable if management doesn't get greedy.

This is all very interesting. We're going to pester Corel again (we're being rather incessant about it) and see what gives. Meanwhile, we're looking for angel or venture funding to make a more generous offer for Bryce. It will be very hard to sell venture capital on investing in Bryce, as "prosumer" software sales have been way down for some years now, and not the kind of potential money-maker that VCs are looking for, as a rule. The fact that MojoWorld sales have been steadily growing is a smashing success, in the current market. (Witness Curious Labs, for instance.) -Mo PS- Stpen Ray: now is a great time to invest in Pandromeda. >;^)

Go get'em Doc! AS

would it help to mention that even currently, the metacreations versions of bryce and poser have been the best selling software of all time, according to 3dworld magazine reasech.

Really? That is so cool! I presume this means "best selling 3D graphics software." And I always thought a doctoral dissertation was supposed to be useless. :-) -Mo

photoshop is prolly the best selling software ever..... not including operating systems, of course

I remember an article that put Metacreations in the top 5 (I believe) of most popular selling graphics company, or something like that. I'll have to find that article again... Point is, they are still in a recent top 5, even when they haven't exsisted as a company for like 3 years now. *FYI, 3D World Issue 33 gives a fairly gushing review of Mojoworld 2.0 (but I'm sure Doc already knew that, lol) AgentSmith

Ha ha--maybe we'll all be more popular when we're dead! >;^) -Mo

I'll be richer dead, that's for sure..or at least my family will be :) I'll be just looking up at those daisy roots.. By the way , Doc, can you garner some vegetation for MW in the future?

Vegetation on a global scale is ridiculously difficult. So much so that it's never been addressed even in the computer graphics research literature. But my academic colleagues are working on it. We'll get it in there, but not real soon now... -Mo

couldn't vegetation be represented by a substitution algorithm where a very low-rez plant gets substituted for a hi-rez plant when a camera moves close enough?

Good idea max- You could also make plants that can be placed manually.

Some programs can do that with their textures. I believe it has it's largest use in say, 3d games. AS

Max, that's exactly the problem: seamless (and realistic) transition between different representations at different scales. From space, it's a surface material property. At intermediate ranges, it's a volumetric material. Close up, it's geometry. Maintaining consistent statistical properties across these different representations represents a significant mathematical challenge (to understate it in the manner typical to academics). "I guess we need to hire tjohn." >;^) -Mo

Well, sorry I can't help with the math... I've taken Algebra, trig, geometry, and discrete math...I don't like math at all.

It will take more than math. It will take a brilliant mind that can think outside the box, but I know it can be done. All it takes is one... that one genius... the mind with the spark... they are out there... I know they are.... we need to find one of them.

Or a couple of dozens... >;^)