Quote - I was using "cheap" in the positive sense - and pointing out that EF is positioning "Pro" to go to a not-cheap model.  From reading the press release, I didn't get the impression the price is going to go DOWN, and the a la carte model they're switching to, seeing how successful it is for other companies like Maxon and Autodesk - I think it is very likely they're moving away from cheap.  How much money are you willing to pay for the same basic render capabilities that you already own?

I suspected that you were using "cheap" in a good sense, and I took that into account.  Many others don't mean "cheap" in a good sense -- and I was taking that into account, too.

Once again -- I believe that you are making a whole passle of assumptions here.  While I certainly agree with you that this new version will undoubtedly cost more, I disagree with the idea that good news = bad news.  That is, I don't see the release of a pro version of Poser as indicating that e-frontier is now merely going to be charging us more for the same functionality as what's currently already found in P7 + a few minor added bells & whistles.  It appears that I'm seeing a lot more to be happy about from e-frontier's announcement than you are.

Quote - Look, you can't have it both ways - either: 
a) Pro will be a cool, valuable app packed with robust new function, in which case, unless they immediately hire a bunch of people and instantly get them trained or did such on the QT - the existing EF staff will be busy writing, testing, debugging, re-writing, re-testing, documenting, packaging,  marketing, shipping, and supporting this robust new function
b) Pro will be very much like Poser 7 with little new function or increased robust-ness except the few things mentioned in the press release (content export of unknown accuracy, networking the aforementioned poor render engine, some memory management improvement under 64-bit).

Which product do you think will be dealt with "in spare time" - the copies of P7 they've already got the money for, or the new product that hasn't paid for itself yet?  Sane business practices dictate the latter.

Frankly, I don't see why you "can't have it both ways".  For that matter -- I don't understand why this situation even falls under the rubric of "having it both ways".  Lots of companies produce & sell more than one software package at a time -- and they still manage to support them all.  You might argue the tack that e-frontier is somehow incapable of preforming such a 'delicate' balancing act between apps as is performed successfully by many, many other companies -- but I tend to doubt it.  There's no reason why they can't do both "hobbyist" and "pro" versions of the software -- and do it while supporting ALL of their customers.

Quote - We'll see how it turns out, but I find very little to be optimistic about in this announcement.

 

And that's the core of our disagreement.  I see lots to be optimistic about in this announcement.

I have Lightwave all warmed up and waiting.

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