Yeah, the high end companies are being forced to bite the bullet now and realise that future, sustainable revenues will come from a large customer base at a decent price, NOT a small base at a high price. For people with patience: just stand back and watch as Maya, Max, Cinema and the rest plummet in price over the next year - this is only the beginning. It's the beginnings of a price war. Because once the step has been taken off the price pedestal, the companies in question HAVE TO compete with pricing, not only functionality and reputation. And that means the prices will drop, drop, drop. Suddenly it's a hard market. Also, the costs of development have now been covered by the ridiculous pricing thus far, so they need to think in terms of long term survival, not only covering old costs. And I'm sure there are other new and exciting competitors (as yet unknown to us) all over the place waiting for a chance at a market share. I'm guessing that all these packages, full version, will cost about as much as Photoshop in a year or two. Harks back to the stone ages........ Hey, I remember my first cd-rom burner, bought in early '95. For PC. It cost the equivalent of $4500 and the software cost over $3000. (!) I kid you not. Single speed. Now you get both for about $100. Talk about broader customer base, competition and decent pricing!