Quote - I agree with all you said above, mikej. I also understand why ice-boy tinkers - same reason I do. It's something to do, and it helps the "poor" people, makes me feel good.

I could buy better software, but then I'd have to be an artist and what's the point of that?

Let's not forget that Firefly was a replacement renderer - not an evolution. There's no technical reason why another renderer could not be added. It won't be, but there's no reason it couldn't. It is not a complete re-write.

I can tell you enjoy it. I've read through most of those long-ass threads about lighting and shaders and all the math. I spent well over two hours the other night reading over that "nodes for dummies" thread and trying things out along the way. You've beaten the nodes into submission with the brute force of the immutable laws of mathematics, and it's quite impressive.
I don't know if you're on the Poser beta team, but if you're not, you should be.