chaecuna posted at 12:03PM Sat, 23 January 2016 - #4250815

@DustRider

This time is different.

First, I see lots of posts showing that people have finally realized that this is not just an episodic change but the beginning of the trip towards rental/always-on-line/cloud hell and therefore things can only get worse.

Second, I noticed that the number of posts of people proposing boycotts to make DAZ change their mind is quite low. People have, on most part, given up on hopes and they are now simply thinking about exit strategies. DAZ managed to destroy in a day 15 years of users trust and trust is something that you cannot rebuild.

Yes, it is a bit different because the issues are a bit different than with with the introduction of DS4 and Genesis, but they are rather similar to the concerns with DIM. Time will tell how it all shakes out, but taking a 30,000 foot view may give insight to possible success of their moves, rather than the numerous predictions of failure (i.e. stepping back taking in the big picture, and trying to remove my personal biases), Most people under the age of 25 now are very used to similar product delivery models, and often prefer them. They are used to, and want, instant gratification, and are less concerned with digital product longevity. So while there may be many forum users who are more comfortable with the "old" ways of doing things, there may be a whole market segment that you never see in the forums, and is very comfortable with connect and encryption. This market segment that would be virtually invisible to forum participants, but of course this is purely speculation, so I may well be completely wrong.

If it wasn't for the fact that I use Carrara and sometimes Poser (oh, and Blacksmith 3D) in addition to DS, I doubt I would have any major issues with DAZ Connect because it wouldn't cause any big issues with the functionality of DS (and you can still export encrypted and/or connect content). I would guess that most of the user base fits the DS only model, as the majority of Poser users no longer shop there, and Carrara users are a big minority. The encrypted content is a bit different issue. Again, more of the younger users are probably a bit more receptive, but anyone who has been burned buy any digital copy protection schemes will be rather reluctant, or simply refuse to buy encrypted content. It's hard to say how large a portion of the user based this demographic is, it could be 1%, 10%, or 50%, or more???. Right now though, encrypted content has only been DAZ originals, so there is still a lot of un-encrypted content available.

Regardless, IMHO, it will be several months before we really see, as customers/outsiders, what the possible acceptance of encrypted content is. DAZ Connect will probably be a bit like DIM, reluctance at first with increasing acceptance over time, with the exception Poser and Carrara users where Connect only products (or products installed via connect) can only be used in DS.

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