"But, the simple fact is, you cannot count on your software company to make your content for you."

That is pretty much what DS users are doing. I don't know whether DS was created in fear of Poser cratering, or whether it was on the roadmap and perhaps simply acclerated. Either way, they seem to be in earnest. Having both application and content in house is unusual, but beyond their flagship figures, a lot seems to be brokered. Daz, IMO is all about doing something new here, not necessarily replicating the traditional 3D business model(s). They're coming at 3D from many directions, figure rendering, modeling, models, avatars and more I've probably missed.

Is it Microsofty? Probably not. MS rarely ventures into hardware and usually fails miserably - X-Box being an exception. Daz looks more like Apple to me, building a self-contained ecosystem. It's a work in progress, scattered, lacking a high degree of integration etc. Also, I think they need to give users a better idea of where they're going, at least at the big picture level. I have doubts that they can pull it off, but I guess I admire them for taking the shot.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken