Quote - So, by the same token, I'd hate to see poser go and for DS to be left with no competitor. Whether you use poser or not doesn't matter. If it goes under, it'll affect us all.

FWIW, I agree perfectly. > Quote - However, I'm not prophesying doom & gloom, at least not without more facts. I've used poser for 10 years, seen it sold and resold, and it's always managed to keep going. It's no fun, but at least poser's still around and continuing to be developed. Pity no one has the time, money, resources and sheer guts to tackle the core and maybe drag it into the 21st century, but as I always say, you can't have cake and a desert too.

That's part of what I was telling aeilkema (sp?) - don't pronounce it dead just yet. I'd give it a year or two before I could tell at least somewhat for certain what's going to happen to it. -- > Quote - Smith Micro is making alot of money. (169 % profit for 2006 alone).

That kind of worries me a bit. To get that profit, usually a company which buys a lot of other companies does this: 1) buys company or part of one for $x, which is usually what it's worth. 2) cuts the fat and redundancies out of it (read: layoffs) 3) re-sells company for profit. Now I don't quite think that'll happen w/ Poser, for one simple reason - there's not a whole lot of fat to cut out. No middle management layer, no deadwood, just codemonkeys and maybe a project manager-slash-codemonkey. So that's prolly not going to happen. What could happen is that Poser might get cannibalized for code and/or repurposed. Not saying it will, or even saying that it's likely. Just a possibility. -- > Quote - Now that Poser headquarters is going to be only 5 miles from my house... I wonder if they'll be hiring...

I dunno - I fell into Poser in 2001; discovered that DAZ was a fairly short drive from my house in 2002, and got invited to stop by the joint during the Poser 5 debacle. Got introduced to "Dazzle" (what eventually became D|S), and was asked if I wanted to help 'em build some forums. I finally broke down and went to work for them in 2005, when fate decided I'd damned well better go do that for awhile. :) I actually loved every single minute of it. But - I'm a sysadmin, and though I love being a codemonkey at times, I love being a sparkchaser even more. Damned siren song of systems administration (and a ginormous paycheck from a DoD contractor in Salt Lake) dragged me away... If DAZ ever opens a datacenter, I hope they decide to open one up here in Portland; I'd seriously consider jumping ship from Intel to build and keep it running for 'em if the offer was right. Dunno about CL's culture, but I really liked DAZ'. > Quote - I'd hafta act uppity and respectable...

Nah - me, I just clammed up. But you don't have to... just stop and think into deeper implications and stuff before posting. If I were you Connie, I'd say go for it. Couldn't hurt to at least look into it. -- > Quote - So far, StuffIt acquisition seems to be considered a bad result for that software. How would you all feel about Poser - the ultimate solution for stock cell-phone 3D avatar content! Not very comforting is it?

I got the same feeling too (e.g. cannibalizing the codebase), but we're talking some pretty hefty code here - it ain't gonna fit into a tiny space and run by an ARM processor - at least not well enough to be considered satisfactory. There are too many open BSD-licensed (read: can be stolen easily) projects floating about that would fill that need better. -- > Quote - Convince Adobe to buy Poser.

If you think Poser's bloated now.... urk! Please, don't ever mention that possibility again. Ever. -- > Quote - One has to ask if selling 5,000-15,000 copies of an application is worth a year long work.

Depends on what the price tag is. My last position was at a company that sold a single copy of an application product per year - to the Department of Defense. That product can be found at (IIRC) http://www.emall.dla.mil They were doing damned well last I heard. -- > Quote - I wonder why they didn't sell to Daz rather than to this lot?

1. Monopolies are bad, bad, bad. 2) I think Steve would rather masturbate with a handful of tiny glass shards dipped in habanero juice, before he saw DAZ buying Poser and work for 'em. (what? Just being honest here). 3) What would DAZ actually do with it? Seriously? They have no need for it, IMHO, so there's no real business justification to buy it on their part. -- Lookit, folks - FWIW, Poser's profit structure is kind of unique, so it take a bit to understand, and won't fit into most standard business paradigms. Whatever happens to it, happens. At least there are viable alternatives about that will keep us hobbyist schmucks happily rendering a naked cross-eyed Vicky in various temples with sword-in-hand for a very long time. That much I am sure of. /P