CompuServe Messages

I think we can all be pretty positive that Hash Inc. is well aware that without effects, AM will not be as popular as it should. I think Jim Jonah is probably right about Hash deciding that a new interface is a priority. I personally think that anyone who thinks that the interface is too confusing or difficult to use is just too lazy to learn it. But in order to attract new users, Hash has got to make a program people want to use, and since it seems that the #1 complaint is the interface, I would have to agree that it deserves top priority. Ease of use is a big selling point to John Q. Public these days, for hardware and software at all levels of sophistication. Martin has shown that he thinks toward the future. He also realizes that folks still have ties to the past. That is why there is a .DXF import/export option. Anyone reading Martin's Minutes should know that he believes that the polygon modeler is mostly a thing of the past, but because so many still use .DXF files, he eventually included that capability. There is a guy who works right across the street from me who is a Beta tester for AM. According to him, they are working on gravity, but since there has been no mention of this from Hash, I take it with a grain of salt. Unfortunately, people have the habit of not liking change, some, to the point of resisting it. They don't seem to understand that the computer is not like a refrigerator or television that you buy and use for years, but it is more like an Indy car; it requires constant tweaking, overhauling and improving. In the next few months, we are going to see the $499 computer system. Yes, it will be a slow, almost worthless piece of junk, but Joe-I-don't-know-how-to-set-the-clock-on-my -VCR is going to see an outwardly nice looking machine that can run almost all of the popular games and software, and yes, even get you on the NET. So he gets it home, and finally up and running with the help of someone who actually knows what they are doing, and is ready to play DOOM II. That's when Mr.-why-do-I-get-the-feeling-I've-just-been-suckered finds out that he needs a math coprocessor, more RAM, a video accelerator card, a sound card, a CD-ROM drive, speakers, and a monitor with something much better than the .39mm hunks of blurry glass that are shipping with a lot systems even now. Suddenly "Ha Ha! I got my system for hundreds instead of the thousands you spent," suddenly comes back to echo with an icy chill in his ears as the hungry dust is already settling down onto a shadowed lump of metal and plastic before the attic is even closed. Maybe that scenario is a little exaggerated, but take a look at reality. Windows 95 is not going to be a completely 32 bit coded OS. There will be some 16 bit coding, and it will be there for basically one reason: Gates knoes that there are millions of users who are running on only 4 megs of RAM and refuse to buy more. Why is the PC outselling the Mac by about 10-to1? Why is VHS the video format of the household when Beta is much better? For the same reasons. Greed. Mac systems are not built with any better parts or engineering that PC systems, but the cost and architecture are designed for the sole purpose of lining Apple's pockets. Sony was unwilling to share the beta format to create healthy competition, so the public, not liking to be told it has no choice, made one. Originally, True Type was a joint effort by Microsoft and Apple to force font users into a single format. Agian, we didn't like being told that there was no choice, so the first efforts of True Type failed. Until they were given away free with Windows 3.1 and System 7. Suddenly there was a reasonable alternative to Adobe, who, I think out of desperation to revive its lost market share, has since purchased Aldus. The point of all of this is that the users determine the sucess or failure of any product. Like any other company, Hash, I think, is trying to please the majority of us a majority of the time. Effects, obviously are a topic for debate. Will we get them? I think we will in time. Most of us, to do the type of work we want to, probably need them. I know that I do, so much so that I am going to have to make a decision shortly to give up AM. I don't want to, but the competition is fierce, and I can't afford to fall behind. I will always support AM, and recommened it to anyone as their first consideration in buying a 3D application, dependant upon what they want to accomplish. Nothing compares in features and performance vs. price. If I do have to make the decision to switch to another application, I will still keep up on AM's progress in the hopes of being able to come back to it. Michael S. Flynn