Steve Cooper, President of Curious Labs, has just released a list of "bug fixes" contained in the upcoming Poser 5 patch. The list contains 81, that's eighty-one, problems here-to-fore credited by many to be caused by user stupidity or laziness. Mr. Cooper also apologized for the 3-day delay, siting "developement issues" as the cause. Speculation is the CL team is attempting to defeat recent "cracks" made available on the internet. Despite the postponement, Poser fans still stand behind their program 100 percent. User responses to the delay included such statements as, "I'd rather it be late and fixed, than on-time and broken," and, "...slower is better than sloppy." The very same mantra repeated over and over during the year(s) prior to the release of Poser 5 itself. Individual reactions aside, it should now be clear even to the most arrogant, self-aggrandizing, know-it-alls in the poser community that there were serious problems with the Poser 5 program. And further, that users labeled "complainers" and "whiners" by the aforementioned were not only innocent of causing the problems posted, but were also instrumental in bringing about the fixes for them so quickly.

This is great news.

Since you quoted me in this post, let me respond. I have never stated that people having problems were due to laziness, or user error. I for one am not having all the problems that these 81 fixes correct, which actually some of the "fixes" aren't fixes, they are enhancements. I only had a couple, and they weren't major problems at that. Others were different.

Where did you read that CL is attempting to defeat recent cracks? I haven't heard that, nor did I see any post here about that. Interesting. I hope they succeed if true.

As far as the "complainers" being instrumental in bringing the fixes so quickly, well, if the complainers were the ones doing the coding, you'd be right. I suspect that both groups, complainers and non-complainers, were equally helpful in helping CL find the bugs that they were unaware of previously. Some people felt they had to be vocal on the boards, and some prefered to send error reports directly to CL. Which method got CL's attention first?

I got the feeling from reading the "complainers" posts were that they were so dissapointed in Poser 5 that they wished CL would fold. That probably isn't true in most cases, but that seemed to be the tone. I can't say the non-complainers were much better though. Sometimes I think we need to not take everything so personally. A complaint about a software program is not an attack on the reader, nor is it an attack when someone mentions that they aren't having the problem that the complainer mentioned.

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I forgot to include the link to Mr. Cooper's list. Here it is. Jcleaver: I did not intend to infer that you made such a statement, sorry if it reads that way. And the number 81 does not include the Content Room or the Enhancement sections of Mr. Cooper's post. About the "defeat recent cracks" statement, my sources shall remain nameless ;) I believe complaints made in public got CL moving much faster than if they'd all been made privately. But I could be wrong. I agree with your last statement.

So why are we stirring the pot again? Hasn't this dead horse been beat enough?

Well maybe I've not come across them yet but I've yet to hit any major problems anyway...I don't doubt they are there but for me it's been steady as a rock so far...glad there's a patch coming this week all the same.

"Speculation is the CL team is attempting to defeat recent 'cracks' made available on the internet." Like it'll do any good. But, I suppose they have to try. Wish them luck but think they'd be better off fixing bugs. While I've read the list of fixes and enhancements, it is a bit surprising to see so many things listed so quickly. Yes, they should have waited, but it doesn't seem like the program is broken for everyone, so I'm willing to believe they did the best they could within the time they were given (there are always reasons programs ship when they do and it doesn't always have to do with the developer wanting to). I'm waiting to hear what people think, and based on how many major problems remain, this'll affect how soon I get Poser 5. For now, I'm still waiting, but I'm glad to see CL is devoted to fixing things, even if there's a lot to fix.

No PabloS it isn't. We have yet ANOTHER statement from CL saying that a patch will be out. When I actually have the patch, then I'll be satisfied. Getting tired of these promises that end up as empty air. Marque

Before the release of Poser 5, the mantra was: "We want it now! We want it now! Stop teasing us with the pretty pictures! We want it now! We'd rather have any [Poser 5] program than none at all! Release now! Patch later!" But, now that Poser 5 has been released in a buggy state, the new mantra is: "We can wait! Take your time! Stop teasing us with the buggy program! We can wait! We'd rather have a working copy than none at all! Fix now! Release later!"

When I actually have the patch, then I'll be satisfied. Well, I'm only satisfied if the patch actually works. At the moment I'm very, Very, VERY, VVVEEERRRYYY unsatisfied. :[

• Before the release of Poser 5, the mantra was: - "We want it now! We want it now! Stop teasing us with - the pretty pictures! We want it now! We'd rather have - any [Poser 5] program than none at all! Release now! - Patch later!" Since they had three years to work on it, seems like they coulda released it in a better shape than what it is.. I am not complaining, just sorry for those that bought it.

Don't be sorry Petunia, Jcleaver is right, some of us aren't having any problems. Some of the things in the patch are enhancements.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Enhancement is just a fancy word for "doing what should have been done in the first place". *8-)

Or the (highly attributed to) Microsoft Mantra: "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"

"Speculation is the CL team is attempting to defeat recent 'cracks' made available on the internet." They would be better of not wasting their time. They put a serial number into Poser 4 and Pro Pack, that was cracked how quickly? Service packs 1, 2 and 3 for Pro Pack were all "fixed" to recognise the bogus serial numbers provided. They were cracked how fast? Poser 5 I seem to recall claimed to have encryption that a "team of scientists" worked on.... And it was cracked how fast? Please Curious Labs. I appreciate you have to protect your investment somehow, and I also appreciate that you have shareholders to re-assure. But DO NOT waste any more time, money and programmers in screwing around with something that barely lives longer than 24 hours. If wealthy companies like Microsoft, Adobe, Discreet and Alias can't beat the warez wankers, you don't have a snowflake's chance in hell of doing it on your budget. Rather spend your efforts concentrating on the existing program and it's issues and appreciating that for the first time since Poser 1, you now have serious and viable competition. You'd be better off looking to that than screwing around with something that's going to be cracked within days. And yes, no matter the reassurances, the patch WILL be cracked, regardless of what protection you try to put in it. Sorry, it's a simple fact that is undeniable. Rest assured that people who paid for Poser 5 ARE NOT going to tolerate warez, and WILL watch out for infractions and as before they WILL report them to you. But most likely NOT if you keep screwing them around with security that's worthless.

Questor: thanks for saying what I was thinking. I'm a computer geek before I am a 3d artist, so I understand the futility of software security quite well.

"Despite the postponement, Poser fans still stand behind their program 100 percent. " Standing behind the program isn't the same as standing behind Curious Labs, or overlooking a lot of the BS involved in this release.

Agreed, IB. Case in point; I love my Jeep to death, but Daimler-Chrysler can go f@ck themselves for all the overpriced half-assed "parts" that they've foisted on me back when I still worried about keeping the warranty. Now I avoid D/C whenever I can WRT parts and hope their entire board will drown in their own blood and bile, but I'll still sit back and laugh at anyone who dares scoff at my little Jeep from their massive but asphalt-bound "Ess Ewe Vee"... As per CL, I love Poser. I love using it. Poser 5 is just fine for my hobbyist needs. OTOH, if CL doesn't fix their friggin' EULA, I'll be damned if I build any model compatible with P5, or any P5 features. I may make P5 freebies, but then again, since I will only do so under the GNU GPL, and the GPL requires that the author have full copyrights to his work, it looks like P4 will remain the version of choice for my not-so-hobbyist work. I must admit, aside from the longer render times (which Bryce and Vue has made me very used to), I have yet to see any bugs in the program... and I'm doing this on a laptop! Same cure as for Bryce, really - I installed more RAM. If I hadn't just bought a 22" NEC monitor (for $450 I wasn't going to pass it up), I'd prolly just put the cash down towards a bigger, heftier machine. "Individual reactions aside, it should now be clear even to the most arrogant, self-aggrandizing, know-it-alls in the poser community that there were serious problems with the Poser 5 program. " Well, to get back on topic, I think this is way funny. It's (IMVHO) like some kid on the playground, screeching "...See!? teacher said I was RIGHT!" over a blanket statement made to the whole class. (oh boy, now I've done it... :p ) /P

Oh, you caught one of the sale prices on those? Kewl! I saw that, and if I hadn't just bought a 21" Mitsubishi/Nec on sale a month ago for about the same price, I'd have grabbed one.

Well, I had to do something... this old Philips 107s is 5 years old now, and I'm starting to have to jack up the gamma a touch just to get a decent color balance (err, this is prolly the result of jacking up the gamma in-game for it's entire 5 year lifespan... heh.) Besides, a Generic 17" LCD polarized-all-to-hell LCD monitor would've set me back the same amount of cash... it was like buying a big-assed Cadillac with all the trimmings instead of a stripped-down base-model Corvette :) /P

Heya, I like my NEC/Mitsubishi's. Nice monitors, especially for the cost compared to a Trinitron. The sale on the one I bought just made it more attractive. I wouldn't have minded the 22" for roughly the same price through...