I don't come in here much these days, as many people can attest to, but since I'm waiting for a $@&^! code change to finish propagation across a massive infrastructure...

Disclosure: I stopped using Poser years ago, so some of what I say may be out of date. I also worked for DAZ, though roughly 12 years ago. I am today someone who farts around with CG for fun in his spare time, and rarely (and in the last decade definitely not) for profit.

That said...

As others have said, it's all about what you use the software for. Some use it as a digital barbie-doll set. Others use it as part of their professional production pipeline, or to whip something up quickly for a small CG job. Others still use it to mock-up something for a non-CG project. I am not you, and we are not him, etc.

This means that whatever priorities SmithMicro may settle on, I can say for certain that they're going to have just as hard of a time trying to figure out which part of Poser's declining userbase should be catered to, or if they should try at capturing a different demographic entirely.

However, Poser is facing a couple of problems here that need to be addressed, both externally and internally.

I watched as Poser went from an ambitious (and awesome, and quite groundbreaking) project, to being abandonware, to being brought back to life by a hotly passionate userbase, to being a redheaded orphan that got passed around from one corporate foster home to another**, and then ended up living quietly as a latch-key product, mostly kept alive by an absentee father of a corporation.

I should explain that last bit. Smith Micro is a company that is known as more of a caretaker than as an innovator. They have historically bought-up orphan products, and kept them going just enough to milk whatever small profit margin the product can muster. They're not well-known for taking something and overhauling it into a new, exciting product (SM marketing droids' assertions be damned). One only needs to look at their product catalog for proof - it's a jangled disconnected bag of once-novel software that industry at large has long since cast off (e.g. Stuffit - once a stalwart of Mac Users everywhere, now just something used occasionally by folks with a massive jones for nostalgia). On the plus side, without SM keeping it on life support, Poser would have probably died about 10 years ago, so there is that...

I want to make it clear that I mean no insult to SmithMicro (or to anyone) by saying any of this, but I am however stating facts here, and it helps explain the environment that we're working in during the discussion.

Now - given all of this, I don't hold out much hope of Poser doing much in the way of overhauling what it is, or of innovating too much beyond just keeping up with the Joneses, feature-wise (mind, DAZ ain't the only Jones in CG-town, either). It's just not Smith Micro's style.

That's the internal problem.

Meanwhile, externally, DAZ Studio has bled Poser's userbase count white, and has then went on to swell their own userbase count, mostly by bringing in fresh blood from the world at large. Poser pretty much relies on DAZ to stay alive long-term, but the opposite is certainly no longer true (it used to be true up until 2007 or so, but not these days.) There are of course perennial competitors that crop up (anyone else remember MakeHuman?), but they're nothing like the DAZ juggernaut. DAZ also has competition of sorts (HiveWire 3D, founded by one of the most awesome mesh-mongers on the planet in my estimation), but they make stuff that works just fine with DAZ' software, so it's not much of a threat on their radar... shrug. Now, HiveWire3D could be a benefit to SmithMicro, and SmithMicro would do well to boost their support of Mr. Creek's venture, but that only solves the native-content shortage issue... and currently, only by a little.

Did I mention that one has to pay $349 just to get the full suite, and $129 for the gimped version - meanwhile DS is a whopping $0.00 for the full version?

Give me all the justifications you want, but the days of pricey CG suite software died when they stopped selling Maya for $22k a seat, and potential newbies aren't going to care about your subtle arguments, no matter how many times you use the word 'value' in them.

Unless these problems are addressed, I don't see much more than continuing decline into obscurity for Poser. This obviously needs to be fixed.

This is what you and all other Poser users are looking at. I'm sorry if it's not rosy, but it is what it is. I promise I'm not just naysaying here. I've offered solutions over and over in these forums for years on end, but to no success. Too much work, too much time, not enough profit to be realized, 'Sorry Mr. Miller, but we don't see much future in going that direction', etc... the excuses were plentiful and staggering.

"So why do you care, you old butthead!?"

I care mostly out of nostalgia. Poser has changed a lot since the late 1990s when I first stumbled on it. DAZ has changed a lot since I last set foot in their offices. From a cursory glance in here, Rendo hasn't changed all that much though ( ).

That said, it looks like my work email has informed me that propagation is complete, so now I get to go do some sampling to ensure that the changes took hold where I needed them to.

PS: @EClark1894: Your argument has value to it, certainly - but given the fact that the advertising copy you quoted has had that phrase 'limited time' in it since DS Version 1.0 was released in late 2005? Meh. Not going to put too much stock in DAZ suddenly trying to sell the razor and the razor blades - it wouldn't fit their business model at all, and I daresay would be counterproductive to it (if not suicidal).

Tschüss for now (or so), /P

** Historical note: DAZ|Studio was first made as an insurance policy for DAZ, should Poser go under back in those turbulent, uncertain years.