On May 20, SMSI terminated their Executive Vice President and General Manager for Productivity & Graphics, Jon Kahn.   (was this the guy in charge of Poser development?)

Copy of 5/3/11 SEC filing form 8-K/A “Change in Directors or Principal Officers”:

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/110520/smsi8-k_a.html

SMSI stock hits new low for the year yesterday at $4.82/share, (down from its 12 mo. high of $17.03).

Time to buy stock cuz you know it'll go back up some when the next Poser comes out.

i got $284 and a couple o' coupons how much will that get me?

Yikes.  I didn't realize the stock had dropped that much.  :scared:

Don't sweat the stock price, Wall Street hasn't had any relationship to the viability of companies for at least a decade.

It is a casino. 

I'm just remembering when the stock dropped (far less than in this case) for a former employer of mine.  Immediate layoffs, all over the place.  Heads rolling, everyone freaked out about losing a job.  I hope the Poser team is okay.

Quote - i got $284 and a couple o' coupons how much will that get me?

Do the math, $284/$4.82 per share. I don't think Coopin's are transferable...

did they say why it went down, or why cisco stock went down? it's a total bummer having a double dip in silicon heaven IMVHO.  now the only guys who can afford mega-mansions around here are the russian and chinese internet barons AFAIK.  and forget about the free sushi and segways - no more frills and luxuries around here, I tell ya.  altho they did have an $100,000,000 wine auction yesterday. 

That is a harsh severance agreement too.

It appears that there has also been a fair amount of insider selling since the market high, so while it could simply be them taking advantage of the earlier stock run-up, or, perhaps they’re anticipating some other sort of major shake-ups. 

However, as no one has been announced to replace Kahn, and SMSI’s primary marketing focus is now clearly in their communications and cloud software applications, and not graphics,  one must wonder once again if we’re looking for a new landlord for our poor little’ol neglected Poser.

OK, --- just for some wild, speculative fun, …and other than the obvious candidate, DAZ, … who would we users suggest might be a good buyer for Poser if it were to be put it on the market again?

**Ssgbryan said: “**Don't sweat the stock price, Wall Street hasn't had any relationship to the viability of companies for at least a decade.     It is a casino.” 

True – it also appears that the stock is currently trading lower than its book value!

** and I don't own any btw - just like to keep an eye on the Mother Ship.

Quote - It appears that there has also been a fair amount of insider selling since the market high, so while it could simply be them taking advantage of the earlier stock run-up, or, perhaps they’re anticipating some other sort of major shake-ups.

However, as no one has been announced to replace Kahn, and SMSI’s primary marketing focus is now clearly in their communications and cloud software applications, and not graphics,  one must wonder once again if we’re looking for a new landlord for our poor little’ol neglected Poser.

OK, --- just for some wild, speculative fun, …and other than the obvious candidate, DAZ, … who would we users suggest might be a good buyer for Poser if it were to be put it on the market again?

RDNA. :D

Quote - > Quote - OK, --- just for some wild, speculative fun, …and other than the obvious candidate, DAZ, … who would we users suggest might be a good buyer for Poser if it were to be put it on the market again?

The person who just bought r.....otica. They are in the buying mood :rolleyes:

 

When it show up here in one of the banner ads, then it's time to panic and not before! :laugh:

Do the math, $284/$4.82 per share. I don't think Coopin's are transferable...

Darn...i was hopin' we could get some good use out of these pizza coupons.

Quote - OK, --- just for some wild, speculative fun, …and other than the obvious candidate, DAZ, … who would we users suggest might be a good buyer for Poser if it were to be put it on the market again?

I think we should all chip in and have BB buy it ...

Ahem…   wella,     uh, …upon re-reading this morning, I find my use of “neglected” above to be a regretfully callous mischaracterization, on a serious topic, - worth retracting.  

Truth is, I really have been impressed with, and do appreciate, Mr. Smith & co. for so actively continuing its development, and maintaining the product as the premier application on the market.  My bad!!!

  - with disc drive in hand -  “Please Sir,…I’d like some more!”

[Nance wanders off, back into a corner, mumbling: “I will NOT get overly dramatic when posting, … I will NOT get overly dramatic when posting, … I will NOT get…   oops!”] 

I'm still thinking it would be wise to invest at those lower prices.

daz ain't buying poser.  I dunno about autodesk.  but the cloud is where it's at.  if steve could come off med leave to give a short speech, it must be worth something.  it's the "desktop-PC-free" post-literate society.  apps and files stored and run in the cloud, then we just view the results on our padds.  less is more.  no bulky USB keyboards nor page-up/page-down/home keys for the antediluvians :crying:  it's shifting to gestural.  why waste manufacturing facilities on keyboards, when 95% of buyers can't even use spel-chekrs or apostrophes correctly?

I would definitely invest right now if I had the cash D8

"daz ain't buying poser. "

Agreed they have no need for poser....NONE!!!!!
At least Carrara can Do some modeling
and Bryce easy landscapes
Poser will have no place in the age of the "Genesis" Figure

"I dunno about autodesk."

Well.... AutoDesk Owns MAYA, 3Ds Max,MudBox  and Softimage
and Motionbuilder.

Thats Games,Films and TV all with Superior Cloth ,Hair, Particle Systems, Character setup&animation tools and integrated VRay&MentalRay renderers.

I honestly  Doubt Autodesk Would take poser if it was offered to them FREE ...Much less actually buy it.

"The Cloud"
Just another name for Mainframe Computing
except you will need  $$broadband$$$access and permission from the software lords and likely the DHLS* to access the mainframe to  model a cube.
No thanks!!!! I will stick will to  STAND ALONE/LOCAL installs of my CG tools.

*(DHLS= Department of homeland Security)

Cheers

Quote - daz ain't buying poser.

Good gosh I hope not.  

Quote - Just another name for Mainframe Computing
except you will need  $$broadband$$$access and permission from the software lords and likely the DHLS* to access the mainframe to  model a cube.
No thanks!!!! I will stick will to  STAND ALONE/LOCAL installs of my CG tools.

Centralization would sound worrisome.  They could force us all to render our NVIATWAS with something other than a sword.  Or a Vicky!  Or forbid the whole thing.  Or make it compulsory.  :scared:

Yeh, silly example.  :unsure:  That whole idea sounds worrisome to me, though.  So I guess I'd better go read up on it, to see what I'm actually trying to worry about....  :unsure:

Quote -
Poser will have no place in the age of the "Genesis" Figure
*** ***

Nonsense! You have no idea what they're doing with the next version of Poser yet.

I'd SO love to have a BASH-DAZ-thread. I havnt seen anyone of those....

Here's a heretical thought for you...

I don't give a monkey's if SM ditch Poser and the app rolls over and dies, apart from the loss of employment associated with such things.

I still have the content I bought and my copy of Poser still functional.  It won't blow up or uninstall if Poser (the entity) goes down the pan.  Unlike paint or pencils, your software and content doesn't need renewing periodically.  I'd be sick as a dog if Staedtler went under because their pencils (Lumograph) are IMO the best in the world.  Fortunately, I have quite a large stock so even if the worst happens I'll be good for some time yet.  :)

Ultimately it doesn't matter.  There will always be a usable app kicking around, even if, in some distant scenario, we all move to a cut down version of Max or similar.

Quote - Here's a heretical thought for you...

I don't give a monkey's if SM ditch Poser and the app rolls over and dies, apart from the loss of employment associated with such things.

I still have the content I bought and my copy of Poser still functional.  It won't blow up or uninstall if Poser (the entity) goes down the pan.  Unlike paint or pencils, your software and content doesn't need renewing periodically.  I'd be sick as a dog if Staedtler went under because their pencils (Lumograph) are IMO the best in the world.  Fortunately, I have quite a large stock so even if the worst happens I'll be good for some time yet.  :)

Ultimately it doesn't matter.  There will always be a usable app kicking around, even if, in some distant scenario, we all move to a cut down version of Max or similar.

Couldn't agree more. I've already decided not to buy the next poser version anyway. Since Poser 6, there's nothing really new for me in Poser at all, except for some needed improvements, like speed and working undo. The rest of the new things that are in Poser 8 (IDL, new library, new bone structure) don't even remotely interest me at all, some of the new things I do find quite annoying to use actually. If Poser 8 wasn't rendering that much faster as it does, I would not even care to use it all, I would still be using P6.

Poser as is works fine for me, I don't need anything new and to be honest, what has been announced so far for possible new poser features doesn't even interest me at all, I've got no use for it. Poser as is wil suit me fine for many years to come and I've got more then enough content to keep me happy for a long time and it doesn't get old, does it? Even if SM stops developing poser, there will still be support in regards to poser content for many years to come.

I'm still wondering if there is even a big enough market these days to justify the development costs for poser. If someone told me that the cost to develop poser 8 & Pro 2010 has been more then they sold copies, I wouldn't have a hard time believing it. If they announce that poser development will end, I will not be sad or be surprised at all.

Someone may end up buying Poser again, that's up to SM, don't know their policy on that. I doubt it will be DAZ (lack of interest) or RDNA (lack of funds for such an operation). Anyway, we will see what will happen.

"Nonsense! You have no idea what they're doing with the next version of Poser yet."

No but we have some Idea where DAZ is going tech wise hence  my certainty that poser has no place in DAZ's Stable of Aquired apps
@ Samtherapy Thank you !!!
 I stopped buying the poser app itself at version 6
for reasons already stated

and im still Chugging along nicely with my "Old" Seats of Adobe CS3,
Realflow4 ,Cinema4D R11Studio
and none of them have fallen over and died of Old age yet
despite the $$$new shiny releases$$ with higher version numbers

Cheers

SMSI proudly announced the release of Anime Studio® Pro 8 today, -- and their stock had another single-day loss of almost 10%.  

Sheesh!  These guys can't catch a break.

Quote - did they say why it went down, or why cisco stock went down? it's a total bummer having a double dip in silicon heaven IMVHO.  now the only guys who can afford mega-mansions around here are the russian and chinese internet barons AFAIK.  and forget about the free sushi and segways - no more frills and luxuries around here, I tell ya.  altho they did have an $100,000,000 wine auction yesterday. 

Cisco won't be down for long.  The harsh economy is actually going to be a boom for Cisco and for companies like Cisco.  After business lessons have been learned, many organizations are going to turn towards Cisco.

In the past years 5 years Cisco has been seen as an "addition" to daily operations.  The bad economy is actually going to make companies like cisco a requirement.  Especially in the school systems.

Quote - SMSI proudly announced the release of Anime Studio® Pro 8 today, -- and their stock had another single-day loss of almost 10%.  

Sheesh!  These guys can't catch a break.

People have to keep in mind that things like Poser and Anime Studio are not necessities.  Because of this, people are going to put these types of purchases at the very end of their "Things to buy list."

If anything Smith Micro will need to add software that people feel they "have to have."  Visit their product page and tell me how many of their software titles do you feel that you need to have.  They just need to expand their product catalog.

why are those guys waiting to sell as it bottoms out?  it would only keep going down if they keep selling their shares AFAIK. if they held them, then if somebody bought SM (not poser), maybe it would go up.  that's the deal: they gotta buy the whole company, not just poser or something apple obsoleted (stuffit).  maybe if they push those cloud gizmos some more; run it up the flagpole a few times and see if anybody salutes.

DAZ is supposed to announce something this month.  I forget which app of theirs it relates to though.

Anyway, check the SIGGRAPH vendor floor map and see if SM's booth is smaller than last year's.

I'm amazed Rendo is still online during the downward swing of content buying for Poser during this stagnant economy.

blinks

The problem with the stock market is that if you make things sound plausible, anyone will take your advice as credible. 

Simply put, the stock market is almost never a marker for how well a company is doing, only how high the public's confidence is in them.  Now, public confidence CAN have an effect, but simply basing a company's future on their stock price is...well, it's simply foolish.  SM's stock prices are nothing if not unpredictable.  I've been watching their stock prices for well over 2 years (there's a great tool called UpDown.com, you don't have to pay any money, and it helps you learn how the stock market works, should you choose to learn), and it's been all over the place.  There are ups, there are downs, usually not in correlation with any significant release, personnel change, or even stagnation.  It's simply the way the market moves.  One week, tech stock will be popular, another week, it will be commerce.  People who say they can read the stock market (including brokers), are either trying to sell you something, or trying to instill unnecessary fear.  At least, that's been my experience. 

Jen, you've outlined the causes of the current economic downturn perfectly.

Drug gangs haven't had a downturn in their ecconomy.  Hell...they're monied up and ready to be our next bankers,  should round two of the banking crisis come about.

Quote - Jen, you've outlined the causes of the current economic downturn perfectly.

Uhhh ....not exactly

for that you need...

11 MINUTES

Cheers

Thanks for the link wolf359.  The whole banking industry is paralyzed.

...and on artificial life support via "Quantitative Easing*"

( *Trillions Conjured into existence by the Federal reserve)
to prop up thier balance sheets and called it a  "recovery"

LOL

Cheers

Hi wolf359, 

Has anyone surveyed their local banks?  Are they in the same mess as the international banks?

Hi I personally dont deal with the banking system for reasons I outline: 
HERE

but below is a partial List of Regional
Problem banks but it is nearly a year old so it might be out of date

http://calculatedriskimages.blogspot.com/2010/09/unofficial-problem-bank-list-september_18.html

Cheers

i can respect your opinion of the banking system.  Problem is there's a couple of banks that are very aggressive and decided to launch a banking/currency war.  Next battle is this fall and if we lose it,  we lose the war.