I completely, absolutely, and utterly disagree. :)But I do see where your coming from. Here's my POV for what it's worth. We created Poser. Not the people that paid us to do so. We all suffered through merger after merger and one bad corporate decision after another. Constantly fighting for dev resources and money. The corporation has almost nothing to do with the product itself. We always fought against the fact that at Meta, Poser was just another of the 26, HSC, Meta, RayDream, Specular, Fractal, so called "family" of products. We put up more than money, we put up our time. I don't get paid extra if I'm up until 3 in the morning answering Poser related questions. It was sooo nice to be able to finally add features we wanted, without resistance, for example, we never did a Carrara plugin due to red tape. Never could have done a Max or LW hosting plugin at Meta due to competition. But we jumped on those lightning quick as CL. And you'll see more. We felt that Pro Pack was the best way to do this because not everyone wanted or needed these features. They were the most requested but we wanted to sperate this to give existing users and potential customers a choice. Most of our users don't own Max or LW or even do animation. But if you want 4 pane views and a setup room the option is there also. I have already stated elsewhere on this forum, and we will publicly state on our Web Site that if something happens to CL we will post a free updater to eliminate the copy protection. Thanks again for your posts. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

1. 1. 1. Let me clarify. You can register each serial# 3 times. The copy that is on one machine cannot be moved to another simply by copying it. Two different aspects of protection. You'll spend less time emailing us for additional installs than you've spent on this thread. Yes Poser 4 is still wonderful as is, and will continue to be regardless of whether you're required to register or not. Even if you don't upgrade to 5 or the Pro Pack when the time comes, you can count on continued support from CL. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

1. Feel free to contact us with your opinions and suggestions. I'm steve@curiouslabs.com. There's also a complete list of emails and phone numbers on our web sight. I think everyone here at CL is reading the threads though. We really do value what you have to say. This is a really good thread but check out some of the others if you have time. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

2, 3, 4.) Again you don't know that it won't stop warez. we feel that it will and that's our objective. If you register and threby prove ownership, then you won't have any problems. There were warez sites that were serving a few hundred copies a day. If we require registration we will prevent the use of those warez distributed seial#s by allowing only reasonable use. Poser is no less fun than it was or no more difficult to use. Registering in this manner is quicker and easier to do than most other web transactions. I can't believe that that's all it would take to get someone to stop using Poser. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

Attached Link: http://www.curiouslabs.com

1. We never based the price on piracy and won't. We set our price based on development costs and marketing research. I think it's a good deal. Campare it to Character Studio for over $1000. And the learning curve is not as steep. And there's a lot of content and a wonderful Poser community that provides more content than we ever could. You don't know that the protection will be cracked. We don't know that it won't. We do know that other companies using this type of protection have been very successful. We're just trying to make it difficult for Warez to use and distribute not for you to use. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

Attached Link: http://www.curiouslabs.com

Great posts but I need to make one comment. Marque, We did develop this from the get go. The original creator, Larry Weinberg is our CEO. Steve Cooper came on just as Poser 3 started development and was instrumental in the look and feel of what Poser is today, and it's success. Seath Ahrens is our VP of development and has been writing code since the start of Poser 2. You can find their bios on our website. I have been working on Poser since early in the Poser 2 dev cycle as has Joe "Grova" who most of you have had contact with, and there's a few other lifers in QA, customer service, tech support, and so on. I'm not sure where you're seeing the uncaring attitude or from whom at CL. I'd certainly like to know. I can assure you that we will continually provide you with fixes. I would have liked to have this updater out in Feb, but we had to switch gears a bit after the release. We'll continually attempt to improve our turn around time. Thanks **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

Attached Link: http://www.curiouslabs.com

Bug, It actually all ties in together. We didn't want everyone to have to register twice or risk registration info not being carried over to a new database correctly, or worse risk security by putting up the wrong type of registration database that wasn't correctly implemented. Cheers, I understand, but this is something we must be steadfast on. Telling anyone at this point where the code was or how to remove it would defeat our purpose. I hope you run through the process to register and then unregister to see how it goes before you make that decision. Morally I'm opposed to accepting cookies through Netscape, but if I want to use some features on some servers, I have to. I'm also opposed to amortization, but if I want to own a house I have to allow it. I can't pay cash for a $200k house but in the end I end up paying over a million for it because the interest is amortized. To me that is theft and it's immoral. I'm obviously trying to influence your decision here and maybe my analogies aren't the best, but I really do understand where you're coming from. We deal with these issues daily and inmost aspects of life. I hope that you stay with us, but I would understand and appreciate your decision not to. I didn't mean to twist your words. I just misunderstood. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

Please take pictures of the beating and send them to me. :) or better yet DV.... Just kidding of course. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

Attached Link: http://curiouslabs.com

snazzy: Thanks for your input. I'd hate to think what would happen on the forum here if we raised the price. Unfortunately many have stolen the towels, soap, maids, and the front desk is next. If we want to keep renting rooms we need to do something. Keep in mind that if it's the eleventh hour you still can install and have that grace period to register, during which time the app is fully functional. attygww 1) We won't drop the security, we feel it's the right thing to do. It's more of an inconvinience to order a book on Amazon, or buy concert tickets on line. We're not the first to do this. Many successful SW companies have done it and you'll see many more. 2) Yes absolutely. The main purpose of this is to fix bugs and we've done a lot of that. We are concentrating on quality and usability. This came out before we were ready and the focus has been on the fear of the unknown not the bug fixes. No ones asking about good stuff. 3)Yes we did consider that, but downloads from About.com and I-drive were tracked at over 1gb per day per account and my best guess was that at any one time there were 5 accounts serving up Pro Pack on each. That tells me that it is a hot product being that it's only a 24mb download. That's two of hundreds of download sites. We could find no warez sites prior to ship and we looked. Would they all have bought? No way, but add it up... 10 or even 5% would have made a huge difference to us and therefore to our legit customers. We'd rather be working on features. Thanks for posting your opinions, they really do matter to us. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

Thanks for your comments, we're hoping that we can curb the warez downloads mostly. Will there be a crack? I hope not but of course it is possible. We think we've found a pretty good solution and we'll see how it goes. 28) Great suggestion. It won't be there for this updater but we'll see if we can do it in the future. Do you think auto checking such as Real Player or most Virus software does would be acceptable? You can always send me specifics on what you're looking for as far as features and fixes. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

That's unfortunate. I am also sitting here at two in the morning feeling dejected and frankly pounced on. I apologize if I made you feel dejected. Our purpose is not to cause you inconvinience. If you register and have proved ownership by doing so, then we'll help you out as best we can. You are a valued customer. Why does requiring registration take the fun out of Poser? You want a great product and that requires money. We'll be fighting to survive instead of hiring the best engineering talent available, this affects you also and we are on the same side. If Piracy continues to this extent, Poser 4 may be everyones last version. Think about this for a while and please don't feel dejected. We really need you guys and are not trying to punish you. Poser will still be fun and possibly be even better because of this. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

This is a great thread. A few comments: We are taking the real world head on. Poser will only be dead if we don't combat our piracy problem. Anything can be cracked it's just a matter of how much time is required. You will see almost every software maker aside from the OS developers moving towards this. Piracy has become a hobby and it's hurting us. We'd rather be focusing entirely on Gee-Whiz features, or just any features but we also need to ensure our survival. Instead of starting an open source competitor come in and write some code for us pro bono. :) Show us how to do it right. The wish list is still alive and kicking. Some of the stuff was put into Pro Pack. For example "Easier Character Set Up" Pro Pack features were primarily user driven and we'll continue to do that. You can send wish lists to me if you....wish.

Great questions, thanks. 15)It may, but I'm not sure. I'd rather verify then post this one. In any event we'll try to handle more than the default 3 installs if there's a legitimate need. We're not trying to limit you, it's warez downloads we're trying to beat. 16)Registration is available by phone or fax, and even snail mail. There's a grace period in which the unregistered app will still be fully functional. 17)I think we've addressed all the serial# issues. Now, if the serial# is available for download on warez site and we find it, the serial# won't work due to the fact that we'll exclude it. 18)We only use internet access once to register and it's not required. After that there's no still need for a connection. 19)The purpose is to fix the bugs. We're calling it Service Release 1 even though it's more than just fixes(see22). We'll continue to update Poser and Pro Pack and I hope that our turn around time continues to get better and better. 20) I hope my previous comment/post on this was adequate. Let me know if not. 21) Again we'll handle those cases in a timely manner. I hate to be vague on how the protection works but please understand, I must be. We're not trying to keep you from using the product or inconvenience you. It really won't be that difficult to continue use. 22)OK I'm going to let the cat out of the bag here. You guys support us and I guess I should let you know first. It will support 2.x, 3.x, and 4. We were going to wait for the release date to announce it but..... Kupa may whip me for this one. :) 23)There will most likely be that check box that asks if you want to receive info on future versions and related products. Check it as you wish. 24)Please clarify, I'm not sure what you mean or what you'll copy 25)It won't, so it's not an issue. 26)Well, without seeing or using it I don't know how you can call it invasive but no we have not. Again we're not trying to inconvenience legit buyers but trying to stop warez downloads. It's become a necessity for us and I believe that the real threat here is fear due to lack of info. It's really transparent once registered and non invasive. 27) We will. We'll have an FAQ up on the site in the next few days. We'd planned on having it up there by the time we released to avoid most of this but it was "leaked" to the German press before we had time. Thanks again for the great questions. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************

DraX I must be honest. Many get that impression. You often mention that you're a supporter or that you've paid for the product, yet your choice of words and the things you mention suggest otherwise. A few others from the forum have emailed me directly to let me know that they felt you were out of line and off topic at times and offering their support. It's not my place to try and figure it out and you are entitled to your opinion and to say whatever you want. Regardless of whether you bought the product or not. It's two different issues. I said that to you once before and I personally don't have any issues with what you write as long as it's on topic and done for the sake of productivity. Meaning that, in the end, it makes Poser a better product.

DraX, To put this one in perspective, and I mean no ill intent, I have to pay a dollar more a gallon for milk at the Quickie Mart at the end of the street, or take the time to drive 20 minutes to the super market and then stand in line. In this case Pro Pack is the much much cheaper gallon of milk, it's easier to open and pour, and it's at the Quickie Mart. We believe we're doing the right thing in our current situation. But I respect your opinion and appreciate your feedback. There are holes in the geometry because empty obj group names are being ignored on import. We adressed that early on and did our best to make the solution know on this forum. I remember several posts from you on this and I apologize if the work around was unclear. We can start a new thread to revisit that issue if you'd like. The updater will include that fix so there's one reason to upgrade. We did have some CR2 problems that are also being addressed but can easily be fixed with a little knowledge of CR2's. tech@curiouslabs.com can help you with any issues you may have. If not, I'm available to do so.We did not purposely do anything to prevent you or anyone else from using old content and will never do so. We didn't have the resources to test as much content as we would have liked due to the fact that we were a new company. An unfortunate bug that popped up after we shipped. **************************** Steve Yatson Product Manager Curious Labs Http://www.curiouslabs.com ****************************