Well you expect that, don't you, to open-up your new laptop on Christmas and discover that some tit has sent the wrong model!

Thought I'd finally be able to play with Poser again today, but nah, the model they sent has one of those crappy displays that change hue and brightness as you move your head around. All the rest of the spec is correct as far as I can tell, but it's supposed to have an IPS display!

Ah well, I suppose it's a blessing in disguise really, I think I'll return it and build a new Desktop PC instead. Seriously though, I'm amazed these types of displays are still manufactured, they're absolutely hopeless and I'm shocked HP are using them on any model, never mind their "Probook" models which is what this thing is labelled as!

INSERT GROAN HERE

Anyway, smells like the ready-made Christmas Dinner is nearly cooked, and at least they're ok as long as you put some Coleman's Mint Sauce on them, so at least something is going right

So you did, sorry man, I think Roxie spiked my drink! You're a bit late for the sacrifice, but I'll put you down for one next year

Merry Heathens and upside-down crosses to ya, just don't forget the Satanists next time, and I'll sacrifice a virgin for ya

I don't know why, but I could not get the Language Advisory tag to work on the post above, so sorry about that!

Just wanted to thank Sam very much for bringing this matter to attention. It pretty much explains the weird conversation I had with Roxie a few months back, here's the transcript of it ...

• Hey dumbass!!!
• Hey Roxie, you ever heard of manners?
• Sure dumbass, but I need to tell you something!!!
• What is it now?
• It's Rex!!!
• What about him?
• He can't switch his cock on, he's tried everything!!!
• Just a bug in Poser, calm down, it'll get fixed.
• No dumbass, every man in the Poser runtime has come down with it as well, it's a cock-eating virus!!!
• Well you do a lot that yourself anyway, so nothing new there!
• Yeah, listen, I'm being serious, so what you gonna to do about it???
• What do you want me to do about it?
• Make them a new one, dumbass!!!
• Sorry, got better things to be doing with my time than sculpting replacement cock-pieces for the entire male runtime!
• So you are refusing to do it???
• Yup!
• Yeah, listen, don't blame me if the Poser runtime population comes to an end!!!
• No worries, I won't.
• So are you going to do it then or what???
• I already told you, no!
• Yeah, well I'll get Uncle Vilters to do it instead then!!!
• Sure, go ahead, you'll get the same answer from him too.
• Dumbass!!!
• Manners, Roxie, manners!

As you can see, her manners have improved zero since she first inhabited my runtime, but I'll teach her some if it's the last thing I do. Anyway, thanks very much for the info, I'll let her know right away what's going on with regards the gens. She's been in a stinking mood about it ever since it happened, she even said something about Rex considering taking-up knitting!

Strange she said they're all effected though, I thought all newer figures had those grafted-on type gens.

Personally, I think announcing that your product is 'Going Subscription' these days is like giving it the kiss of death

There was a very clear and uncomfortable transition period after Adobe popularised this nonsense and caused many to follow. It was uncomfortable because at the time, the Open Source alternatives weren't quite the power-houses they are today, and people were simply not aware of the alternatives. That is no longer the case, so like I said, I think that announcing that your product is 'Going Subscription' these days is like giving it the kiss of death.

• Don't like Adobe Photoshop constantly sucking on your wallet? - Use GIMP instead.
• Don't like Adobe converting "Substance" into "Subscription"? - Use ArmorPaint instead.
• Don't like Adobe Illustrator constantly sucking on your wallet? - Use InkScape instead.
• Don't like your favourite 3D package going subscription? - Use Blender instead.
• All of the above are open source, forever free, and forever subscription-free.
• All of the above work natively in Linux, so you even get to give Apple and Microsoft the big finger.

The situation is really not a problem these days, so while I love Poser dearly, nothing will ever get me to subscribe to it when there are such capable Linux-friendly power-houses out there. In a nutshell, if Poser went subscription then I'm afraid it's going to be a case of 'Bye Bye Poser' where I'm concerned, regardless of how fond I am of it.

QUOTE - "So if a company decides later to change it's mind about how it defines personal vs. enterprise, I'll be forced to either pony up for an enterprise license or go out of business."

Not if it's a perpetual licence you go for, reason being, they would have to define both "Personal" and "Enterprise" within the licence agreement of the perpetual licence. They cannot charge you for a perpetual licence, then later change the licence you agreed to pay money for. If that were allowed, the licensor would be able make any additions they like, and the licensee would have to abide by it.

What you describe is one of the problems subscribers face, because a monthly renewing subscription is only valid for a month, therefore the licensor gets to change the licence agreement every month, or whenever an updated version of the software comes out, whichever is the soonest. With a perpetual licence, though, providing you hang onto the original version of the software which has the licence you agreed to attached to it, they cannot change it, because whenever you install the software, it is that original licence you agree to when you install it, not something else.

I'm no expert, so my post has no guarantee of being correct and I make no claims of it being so. But if the thing you are fearing was valid, that would surely mean that no licence is worth a damn. The whole idea of a licence is that the licensor dictates the conditions, and the licensee only agrees to those conditions and lays down the cash, if the licensee is happy with them.

Makes sense then, the names they gave for the licences being Personal and Enterprise instead of Private and Commercial. They're spot-on despite the language barrier, and to be fair, despite the price, them going that route is a lot better than the Private and Commercial route most others take.

Can't understand why Clarkie is still unhappy about it, because if he expanded at a rate where he was employing someone else (making him an enterprise) before he could afford an enterprise licence, then he would probably be doing the whole expansion thing wrong anyway, especially since it seems the Personal licence allows a person to create and sell as much as they want without even having an income limit.

As long as he doesn't let anyone else use the licence, he'd be fine is the impression I get. I'd have owned a copy some years ago if I had known about this (I'm only a one-man band anyway), so it's a shame the prices have gotten so crazy since then.

LMFAO - Never underestimate Clarkie and his planned rate of expansion

That's a good response from Marvelous Designer though; it did at least surprise, and at least it means that the personal licence can be used to create a sellable mesh. Shame I still can't afford a copy even on sale, but maybe next year.

@randym77 - Thanks for the info, sounds unfortunate then. I can understand them having a built-in Renderosity content browser, that makes perfect sense, and I would have done exactly the same in their shoes if I were the owner of Poser. Not a fan of needing a constant connection though; Clarkie, and until just recently, myself, being perfect examples of why.

@Penguinisto - Same here, the capability is built into my phone (iPhone 6S), I was just wording it so that Clarkie understood that all he needs is the correct sim for a smartphone. I only ever use the phone for two things; those being the broadband connection I told Clarkie about, and the nice camera it has. I never use it as an actual phone, I just leave it plugged into the mains all the time, switched-on so that I have an always-on broadband connection without flattening the battery. When I go out, I only take it with me for the camera, but it gets put right back on mains power as soon as I get back in, ready for broadband duties again (hehehe).

Well, just putting it out there for you, but no, it doesn't work like those old dial-up things

It's just a sim that you stick in your smartphone, just like any other sim. The difference is that it turns your smartphone into a mobile broadband Wi-Fi router, so you just connect your computer to your phone (wirelessly), instead of connecting it to a modem or router.

Works exactly the same, easy as that!

Sorry to hear that, Clarkie, I feel your pain and have only just recently managed to ditch that horrible situation myself. I count myself lucky that I now pay £16 per month for unlimited mobile broadband that also has unlimited tether. In means I can call, text, and use as much data as I wish, and it doesn't matter whether I use a TV, a computer or a tablet, it all just uses my phone as a broadband modem and connects me to the internet that way.

The icing on the cake is that because the sim it uses is installed in my phone, I have those abilities wherever I have my phone. Before that, I was being bled senseless by a landline-based broadband provider, which actually cost me over double that amount and wasn't even unlimited. So just in case you have not thought about it, look into the best unlimited mobile broadband you can get, cause over here, it actually works out better and cheaper than a landline, a lot better and a lot cheaper!

This might have happened in the US as well.

Thanks Jenn, message received and replied to

@Clarkie - It was actually one of your comments that got me curious!

@hborre - Damn, I really hope they remove it before releasing Poser 12 then. I'm ok with needing the internet to activate, but won't buy anything that locks me into a perpetual internet connection, or even a repetitive internet connection.

Sure, but I meant sending them an email, cause even if you had access to their forum, there would likely be a hundred and one different interpretations of what is and isn't allowed. The only way to get official clarification, is to write to them directly and tell them what you were hoping to do with the personal licence.

The answer they give might even surprise all of us, especially since blender devs are now gearing-up to work on cloth dynamics etc. You can bet yer life they've got a close eye on blender, cause eventually, it is likely to have something that will rival Marvelous Designer, and if/when that happens, the company that owns Marvelous Designer will have a very different attitude with regards pricing and licensing (prices could plummet dramatically and licensing become more relaxed due to healthy competition).

The same thing will happen to Substance Painter once the blender-based PBR painting tool "ArmorPaint" becomes more and more capable. Adobe sucked-up Substance Painter, so this will make subscription-free ArmorPaint even more desirable. The Marvelous Designer situation will be no different, in fact, don't be surprised if Marvelous Designer is the next product that Adobe sucks-up.

BTW, here's ArmorPaint, the free PBR painting tool just in case you've not come across it yet:

https://armorpaint.org