I hate to say this, but I don't think POser is EVER going to get out of the category it's in right now without totally re-writing the spaghetti code it almost definitely has under the hood by now, and start anew with a fresh approach. I agree, but I'm not sure that's the continued goal. I believe it once was, but that things have changed within the marketplace (astutely observed thus far herein) I happen to think the thrust is exactly the same tack that D|S is taking. Not to "compete" with the big boys in an arena where Poser by itself is essentially a minnow waiting to be eaten, but rather to expand the current marketplace through introduction of new users. If competition is going to be involved, it will utilize the relationships between Poser, Shade, and Vue in order to leverage the particular cross compatibility and segmentation of those tools as the core of a new platform that users can invest in at various levels, enabling them to achieve equivalent results at a lower overall price. I do agree that the base code for Poser needs to be cleaned up. And, in truth, I expect it to happen. With Poser 7. As for the "battle" between D|S and Poser, I really don't feel we'll be able to effectively speculate on it until D|S is at least finalized -- perhaps into a second iteration -- and Poser 7 is out. At that point, the market direction will have already been made clear for both programs in the short term and they will seriously begin to differentiate themselves from each other. But, in the meantime, heck. Let's make some spitwads ;)

thou and I, my friend, can, in the most flunkey world, make, each of us, one non-flunkey, one hero, if we like: that will be two heroes to begin with. (Carlyle)