I was just curious as to what proof you have that PPP was downloaded through Warez sites as much as you claim? In my routine searches for sites giving away Poser (I already explained my reason for this, I don't feel I need to again, or that you need to question my actions in doing this when Anthony knows I try to email him with a couple of URLs per week), I came across a few Warez message boards.... ones that I found out have been up for a long time, and run by people who have played the warez game even longer then that. I posted questions on these boards asking about Poser Pro Pack. I posted these questions quite some time ago, not just yesterday or anything, but a few days ago, and before that, actually; a few days after Pro Pack was released. Why did I do this initially? Well, because I believe that Curious Labs IS a good group of people, and that they have made a great effort to keep Poser alive for the community of Artists who use it. I wanted to know if they were getting scammed, and hopefully help them locate these scammers. When doing my searches, I got a bit bewildered. "Pro Pack? What's that?" It took me 3 days of searching to find a site that even claimed to have it, and their's was really just a bulls%&#; gateway to some porn site. I found plenty of people who knew what poswer was... a couple of sites giving away Poser. No Pro Pack. None. Nadda. Nowhere. When this initial search came up inconclusive, I was very pleased. The hackers didn't CARE about Poser, so why would they bother cracking and distributing Pro Pack. They didn't think anyone would want it? Who knows. The important thing is, they weren't giving it out... at least not in anywhere NEAR the numbers I expected. Then, this whole protection thing pops up. I read the post on Curious Labs' website claiming that Warez is the reason for their sales dropping. I for one recall several.. not just a handfull, but SEVERAL users posting on these very forums, after the bugreports about Poser Pro were mentioned here, that under no circumstances would they purchase Pro Pack until the bugs were fixed, and the investment was actually in a full, working piece of software, rather then a broken one that destroyed their backwards compatibility and didn't do some of the stuff it claimed to do. I don't blame them, I felt the same way. It is my opinion that THIS is what caused their drop in sales, not otherwise. As has been stated before... 95% of the people who download Warez wouldn't have been purchasing the product in the first place. And I never saw ANY evidence of this massive distribution that CL claims happened. I don't think they are lying, not at all... I believe they are trying to rationalize their product's market failure, and are unwilling to blame themselves for it. Yes, Curious Labs made a mistake releasing a product that didn't include some level of protection, but they also made a mistake by releasing a product that didn't do what it was promised to do and didn't allow backwards compatibility. I personally think the latter is the part they have blinded themselves to, out of the love for their product, and out of the human need to always blame anyone other then yourself. I do it, you all do it, whether we realise it or not. It is important to look internally for the sources of your problems before looking externally, but we are not always willing to do that, because it is a very difficult thing to do. And most of us don't. If this was the case with Curious Labs, as I personally believe it was, and as some of you may believe it is but didn't want to say it, then we definately should not crucify them for it. They are human, they make mistakes. We're human also, the same thing happens. What we should do is everything possible to help them make a better product that WILL meet the expectations users had when they purchased the Pro Pack, and to correct the failed promises and bugs that caused many people NOT to buy the product. That is what both ourselves and CL should be concentrating on. I don't agree with the method they have chosen for Authorization... and I can understand why, if they have truly made themselves believe that the product's failure was due to Warez, that they have chosen to do such a thing. But I also think they should consider the possibility, even for a moment that I'm right. And if I am, then all of the users that didn't buy ProPack because of the bugs already had every intention of buying it once the bugs were fixed. I know several people who have expressed in the past the reasons for their rejection of PP was the bugs, and almost all of them have previously claimed that they WILL buy the software, providing they can afford it, as soon as they will be able to buy a fully working product.... even if it required downloading an update to make it work right. Now, take a look at what has happened here in these past few days. We've had lots of people state publically that they now refuse to buy another Curious Labs product. There be might be several others who have held that in private opinion. They have risked cutting their customer base extremely through a product upgrade that otherwise probably would have brought sales back up to exceptional levels. Think about it. All of these people were waiting for this update, so that they could finally rationalize for themselves spending the money to purchase PPP. Now, a lot of these same people, as well as people who already have purchased, have vowed not to purchase another CL product. EVER. Now, this may have just cost Curious Labs a large number of sales of Pro Pack, and most likely of anything else they release. simply because they were being human. I think it's a tragedy... but I must apologise for my previous, less calm and thought out posts. I sounded as if I was attacking CL for being human, and I wasn't trying to, I was just a bit angered and annoyed at their decision, because of the overall inconvenience it presents. Like I said, they were being human, as we all are, and as we all only can be. We shouldn't persecute them for it, nor should we boycott them in the future because of it. It is something many of us would likely have done in their situation... lay the blame elsewhere, and then try to protect ourselves from it ever happening again. I still feel that CL's focus should be the product itself, not fear of the unknown. Not paranoia. And I feel that if they had reflected upon these things fully, rather then be a little arrogant of the circumstances, that that is exactly what they'd be doing.... Making better products for it's clients and for themselves. But please, don't persecute them for it. Don't put them up on a cross and lynch them with hammers and nails because they made a mistake. I just hope it's not too late for them to correct this mistake and win back the support they should have had, both financially and morally. These are just my feeling on the issue. My true, heartfelt feelings. I think we all need to give CL another chance, but I don't think that we should give it over without reason. I ask simply for consideration, and for people to at least wait it out, the way you did with the original release of PPP, before you go off and condemn them. Enough people who own PPP will upgrade and be able to tell us what the experience was like. Perhaps we should wait at least until then.- - - - - -

Thank you for taking the time to listen. Hopefully my words are actually considered, rather than blown off. Thank You, Ron 'DraX' DeFreitas