Someone wanted bthe Talk to MC forum closing down because Metacreations isn't likely to listen to Poser and Bryce suggestions any more. But those suggestions are useful. Perhaps rename that forum "Poser and Bryce Improvement Suggestions"?

I'd like to add to BuckRoger's suggestion. The download page for the new Poser patch includes Larry's email address and askes that all problems be reported to him (Meta isn't supporting the patch (yet?)). I'd hate to see such a nice guy get buried with a zillion emails for each problem, so maybe we could compare notes, verify the problems, and report them a few times each as possible.

If we had public access to the source code, like is with e.g. JPG handling and the Gnu software, we could all help to find and correct bugs, "many hands make light work". E.g. I found a place in the JPG-handling software source code where the code is too intricate for the Borland C++ 4.52 compiler to cope with, and I suggested corrections via the JPEG-L email group.

Maybe public source would help fix the current bugs, but it would also end Poser's viability as a commercial product. I don't think Poser is much like Linux or other open-source software. There's a huge number of Unix weenies out there who have the knowledge and skills to make useful contributions to those projects. Also, the software is rather general-purpose and attracts enough users to allow companies like Red Hat to make money just by preparing nice packages and selling support. I think Poser has a smaller user base, and a lot of it's users would rather use the software than tinker with it's innards. How many Poser users have program development tools (such as C++ compilers)? How many have both PC and Mac computers, and development tools for both, so they can work on porting issues? Even if there were enough technically-inclined people to do the coding work, are there enough users to make it worth someone's time to gather the pieces, test it, cut a release, prepare a manual, and do all the other work to put a nice package in the stores? Or would we have to live like the early Linux users, chasing all over the net for pieces, assembling them ourselves, and hoping it works?