Quote - I know, I know.......it's always more fun to get the pitchforks, torches, hangin' nooses, and boiling tar & feathers prepared in advance.......in gleeful anticipation of the joyous party to come.  Call it a pre-necktie party.  I have to admit that it's a great tradition among many other strange traditions which are infused into the culture of the primitive, perpetually war-painted and war-whooping Poser tribe.  And who'd want to go against such a well-established tradition?  To take a contrary point of view is to become taboo...........

sigh  I suppose that in order to fit into the tradition properly I'll need to go smear on some greasy war paint & start the urn with the tar going on the bonfire.  *Sic 'em, boys...........! * :woot:

Ahh crap..  now I've got a pitchfork and a torch all ready and no reason to use it.  I hate it when that happens.. lol..

Seriously, I'd love to see 64 bit functionality for Poser, but I think Smith Micro might be pricing themselves right out of the market already, unless the new Poser is something really spectacular and just blows the older versions out of the water.

For that kinda coin a nominal upgrade or simple 64 bit functionality won't do... there now heading into the price range of some fully functional, fully featured professional aps that have capabilites that Poser 7 simply doesn't have - so unless they turn Poser 7 into something more like Carrara with all the modeling features and such, I just don't see them keeping much of a market share at that price level.

Too many other 3d apps already at that pricing level that have a lot more features and functionality than poser.  I think Smith Micro would be much, much better off dropping back a peg or two and keeping Poser more of a introductory or hobbist type application, which is where poser's market has always been.

If they want to take poser and add enough features to it to make it worth $500, then maybe they should split the development into a more traditional style poser app at something much closer to it's original price range, and a "professional" version that has all the extra modeling capabilities and can really compete with programs like Carrara or Modo on an even footing.

As it is trying to wring $500 out of people if what they have now is just relatively minor upgrades will go over like a lead balloon, and make it much, much more difficult for them to do business in the future even after they realize that nobody is going to pay $500 for a program that doesn't do as much as all of the other competitors in it's price range.

Don't get me wrong folks, I'm a big poser fan and it works great for what I use it for, but If I'm going to plunk down that kinda caah for a 3d app it won't be the new version of Poser unless the new version of Poser can give 3ds Max a real run for it's money, something I highly doubt.

So yes, I am willing to wait until Smith Micro actually releases some code before I make any final judgements, but honestly I have a hard time beleiving they could have improved poser so much that it would be worth over an almost 200% increase in price over the previous version. 

I think Smith Micro should seriously reconsider there marketing strategy - They are not going to get loyal poser users to stick with Poser if they bump up pricing that hard, and they are not going to get folks who are new to the wonderful world of 3d apps either, not with so many competitors at that price range that have so many more capabilities than poser does. 

If they don't then odds are good applications like Daz Studio will eventually consume what is currently the Poser Market, and I doubt that your going to get a lot of people who already use other apps like Modo or Carrara or the like to switch over to Poser at this point.  Nope, I think Smith Micro is making a monster mistake here - one that will likely cost them a lot of money in lost revenue and unless the reverse field relatively quickly, maybe kill the poser market all together.

Ok.. rant over.. and pitchfork is put away.. for now.. lol..

Stepdad