First of all, my credentials in order to assure you that I know something about what I am going to write: programmer since 1984, professional software developer since 1987, freelance consultant since 1997. Have developed (among other things) real time image processing applications in C/C++.

Several times I have had the misfortune of having to take ownership of old code. It is a nightmare, especially if the code was not been developed in an object oriented way. Just understanding what a routine does can be a multi-day task... and I am talking about understanding, not about fixing or extending!

In addition, every time a new developer / team assumes the ownership of a codebase, their quirks/habits are added to the existing stuff like geological strata, slowly but implacabily eroding whatever structure was there before. Programmers can slow this architectural decay but cannot stop it unless they perform extensive (and costly) code refactorings.

Sooner or later you reach the point where it is faster, better and cheaper to rewrite the thing from scratch.

Bryce 1.0 appeared in 1994 on the Mac so we can safely assume that it is early 1990's procedural code, patched by several different teams over 14 years... the translation into English of what DAZ people said is: we tried REALLY hard to make something more than some limited modifications (Bryce 6.0/6.1)  but eventually had to admit that the codebase has by now degenerated so much that it is uneconomical to keep on trying to mantain it, so we are planning a grand gesture (OSS) in order to get out elegantly of this quagmire...

The writing was on the wall since Carrara3D Express release: C3DX does roughly what Bryce does and I think it is based upon Carrara code so it is a newer and maintanable codebase (if you are a programmer, just have a look at Carrara SDK: it is clearly written, documented and exhibits a clean structure).

You part ways with people, you can do the same with programs... so either stay with DAZ along the Carrara path or come to Vue land.

Bye!!!

GIMP 2.7.4, Inkscape 0.48, Genetica 3.6 Basic, FilterForge 3 Professional, Blender 2.61, SketchUp 8, PoserPro 2012, Vue 10 Infinite, World Machine 2.3, GeoControl 2