@Clarkie
Just so you know, my post was at SM in general, not Nerd :-)
SM have been like this for as long as I've known them.

@Dale
About a year ago I would have been inclined to agree with you about Blender, but it's just one of those things that feels a bit unconventional to grasp, but once you grasp certain aspects of it, you start to realise that actually, Blender is probably the best designed of the super-powerful products out there.  I've had (and sold) both Cinema4D and Lightwave, and honestly, Blender is way better designed once you understand the basics.

As for graphics, if the latest version of the GIMP (2.8) isn't powerful enough, then I don't know what is!

It wants for nothing, and I think the key with GIMP is to spend some time customising it first, get it laid out and behaving how you want it to.  People who don't like the GIMP simply don't realise how powerful and customizable it is.  The attached screenshot is one I posted before, that's my GIMP, it's how I like it, nothing like the default, and because it's how I like it, it blows Photosuck into the next galaxy.

It goes without saying, both Blender and GIMP are available natively on Linux as well, but anyway, this is going to look as if I'm derailing the thread, and that is not my intention at all.

Poser has a new product manager, so it's in his best interest that Poser does well.  Personally I think the survey is a joke (as good as useless), but hopefully the next release of Poser will be the one that saves it, or at least puts it on the right track.  If surveys are responsible for the current state of Poser's animation tools, then you need to worry about the outcome of that survey, cause hardly anyone bothers with Poser for animation.

Like you said, Poser isn't just a stills product, it's an animation product, so I think it's about time it lived up to that "Animation" part.

Image of Customised GIMP 2.8: