I have to wonder aloud sometimes, when I'm using my beloved Blender, how other companies like Autodesk and Maxxon survive with Blender in the world.  I mean, I know everyone has their preferences, and some apps are good at certain things, while others at other things, but the more I see just what I can do with Blender, and how powerful the software really is, it makes mne wonder how Maya or Cinema4D or 3dsmax can survive still?  Especially when they are charging THOUSANDS of dollars for things that Blender does just as good for FREE?

The reason I'm making a thread about this is because I just got a spam email from a company who were offering classes and tutorials in 3dsmax and Maya, and making it seem like if you want a job in the CG industry, these are the softwares you need to know, and use.  So I went to look at Maya, and saw it costs $5000 or some such crazy nonsense!  That got me mad, because looking at the feature list, I didn't see one single item there that couldn't be done also in Blender, for free!  Why on earth would 3D studios use these expensive softwares when something like Blender is out there?  Imagine the cost of operations, and how much money the FX industry could be saving if they all just switched to Blender!  Imagine how quickly the production of Blender would progress if every studio out there were using it in production, and giving their input and suggestions on how to improve it!  How could it be that Blender hasn't put others out of business yet?

The only software I've seen that's way different than Blender, and maybe more powerful, is Zbrush.  That thing looks like it's lightyears ahead in what it can do, but that's about it.  The others out there don't seem like they offer anything we don't have in Blender, and it boggles my mind that they can still sell their wares for such prices!

Ok, rant off.  Just wondering how Blender hasn't put most of these guys out of business yet, and how they could still have the nerve to charge sooo much for their products when a free alternative is out there.

If anything, I love Blender more than most, as I actually compile my own from trunk (git), but I can sort-of understand why mainstream CG people stay with Max or maya.

To illustrate the point, I'll use Windows as an example. Whilst a lot of PC users have migrated to Mac or Linux, most elect to stay with Windows, because they feel only Windows will do everything they need it to do.

Fair enough.

I use Linux 99.999% of the time. It does everything I need it to do and then some. However, I do use Windows (on bare metal, so dual-boot) for Poser Pro 2014. So, I'll use Windows when I simply can't accomplish something I want/need to in Linux. It's rare, but it does happen.
But I'll be the first to admit that Linux is a philosophical choice as much as it's an economic one. And most importantly, recently it has become an efficiency choice: I can do things from the command-line (Terminal) infinitely more efficiently than via a GUI. Like trim rubbish off the ends of a video whilst preserving the original quality. Hard to beat ffmpeg for that.
What I'm saying is that I'm happy to learn new workflows, particularly if I end up saving time or improving quality of output in doing so. But I can be understanding of folk who have developed a workflow in, say, maya which would be unachievable in a reasonable amount of time -- if ever -- in Blender. For organisations who hire these people, artists who have trained on maya at uni and who understand how to achieve their goals with that software, a $5000 /seat price-tag is worth it.

This is the nature of pro software: you're going to pay a premium to get all the bells and whistles. Same for MS Office: who really needs all that grunt to write a resume? I could make the same point for Photoshop, which here in Australia costs $1700 MORE to the consumer than what it costs folks in the US. Is Photoshop really WORTH $1700 MORE to the casual graphics artist than, say, Photoshop Elements or even GIMP? no.
I mean: $1700? really?
No.

So, re your original point, HMorton... for us casual 3D modellers, Blender is more than powerful enough. CG houses ARE beginning to see some value in aspects of Blender and so are including it in their pipeline, but for them, Blender will never be suitable to answer all their needs.

Blender isn't maya. Which is a good thing. :)

I came over to Blender after development on Hexagon and then Silo just stopped dead in their tracks. I learned most of my basic modeling skills in Hexagon which I thought at the time were great and well with in the budget for a novice to learn on. My first attempt at Blender was 2.49b and well it just scared the hell out of me that I didn't pick it up again and give it a serious go at learning when 2.5 came out. Learning all I have about Blender and the information shared here like Robyn I am also on a dual boot system using Linux Mint and yes even started experimenting with doing my own build of Blender on my Linux side still have to figure out a few steps since I have not full got the build right but working on it. But to go back to HMorton statements and since I got into exploring 3D modeling thru my former job of providing tech support to a few graphic studios have learned that Blenders not so popular past of having a steep learning curve many studios do not have the time or wish to take on the cost of switching over to a software package that still has that stigma of a steep learning curve. I have been fortunate that thru my experience with these companies I have had a chance to experiment and try out software like Maya, 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and some others and they are full of bells and whistles that Blender is catching up to and more 3D artist are looking at blender as a viable product to include into their workflow. But as long as big companies have the ears of the studios like interest groups have the ears of our political head honchos  (sorry couldn’t think of a better analogy) Big Studios will not be making the change to fully incorporate Blender into their workflows. But it is happening and Blender has made much head way in the last two years like Linux has come along so far in the last 10 years. It will happen as hobbyist like us continue to brag and show off what Blender is capable of.  That is my 2 cent input. I do like threads like these

studios like to use stable(not constantly being modified) or proprietary softwares

back in highschool i started with an autocad program that was "highend" for the time but was still only 2d, i was using it to design mechanical parts for heavy construction equipment. while in college a friend showed me a fledgling opensource program that was so unstable that it was pittifull but i stuck with it, that was the original beta for blender

i started playing with it and it because normal, not long later i got my hands on pixars software and stared playing with that as well

it seemed like every week or so a new for blender hit the web while everything else was only touched once a year or so

i messed with bryce until daz got their hands on it and ive tried poser, silo, mudbox, carrera, hexagon, sculptris, argile, and alot more and keep going back to blender but just like i do most people learn one software and never leave it