If I may put on my old man persona and wave my cane around a bit...

WILL EVERYONE PLEASE JUST CALM DOWN...

Pen is right, what they're discussing does indeed have to do with both platforms. Problem is — for me anyway — is that they're doing it with such high-level jargon (and yes, Pengie, you both are) that your average Poser use (and Studio user for that matter) is going to read it and wonder just what the hades the two of you are talking about, then quite possibly jump to the wrong conclusions, and then we see everyone getting upset and tables are flipped and drinks are thrown and nobody has a good time anymore — except for those us who enjoy the whole throwing-drinks-and-flipping-tables kind of stuff.

From where I'm sitting — which is in a rather lovely little neighbourhood in Montréal, by the way, and no, you may not move here because then the whole place will just get spoiled — Peng's discussion demonstrates one of the real killjoys of this program, and it's something I noticed in the Poser Wishlist thread: people wanting to use things that only a handful of users will get anything out of. Sorry, but the grand majority of us using this — and I mean, an even larger majority than those who want to walk away screaming from the Hair Room — do so because we enjoy working with the platform itself... not how well it integrates with this or that absurdly expensive software used by high end VFX houses well out of the reach, or desire, of 99.999999999% of the combined Studio and Poser market. So why should the developers focus on something that only a tiny fraction of you are ever going to even consider looking at, when there are much larger issues to be addressed that could help everyone using these things?

This is seriously what I do not get about software developers. Apple releases a new MacOS, and everyone goes ga-ga over the new bright and shiny... until we figure out that a lot of our software doesnt work anymore because some pinhead developer found some new coding toy that he just could not resist putting in that will make only a tiny fraction of users jump for joy. Meanwhile, the rest of us — you know, the 99.999999999% of OS users — find that our software no longer works: not because it's died or expired or anything so mundane... but because some pinhead software developer decided to completely change the rules, for no other reason than he could.

And so it becomes this perpetual chicken-and-egg thing: OSs are "upgraded" for pretty marginal reasons and then software packages have to scramble to update with a brand new version, which means an added expense for the users that's a pretty pointless one, all things considered, until another pinhead OS developer finds some new toy and throws that into the mix, and it all starts all over again.

Do you have any idea how absurdly frustrating that is?

And here, we get that similarly tiny percentage saying, oh, we need Poser (or Studio) to work with this high end software package so it'll make us look all cool and professional and stuff... when in reality, both Poser and Studio do a pretty damn good job of looking professional anyway, all while working in environments that, I"m sure, seem downright primitive to some of you. OMG, someone's actually running Mac OS 10.6.8? Does he use a dial landline as well? Does his TV have more than thirteen channels?

Well, here's a clue: the bulk of my professional, high-end work is done on a Mac running... yes... 10.6.8. And it is pretty damn high end, thanks for asking. I'm also running the same professional-grade software on a second Mac running 10.10. Sometimes bright-and-shinier aint any better, and while people are complaining about bug issues in the latest Mac and Windows OSs, those of us with no real reason to "upgrade" are happily living in a relatively bug-free existence.

Yes, there are times when upgrades are a great thing... but nowadays they're more a frustration than anything else, serving no purpose save to give Apple and Microsoft an income stream that benefits their shareholders and not their users... all because some pinhead developer found something that only a tiny fraction of users want to see.

So how about we get both Poser and Studio up to an acceptable level for the user base as it stands right now before saying how cool it would be to have this or that extension or plug-in or whathaveyou that really not many people could even think about considering the option of the possibility of caring about.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.

On my Mac.

Running 10.6.8.

Have a nice day.

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