CompuServe Messages

Nice, but none of that changes the fact that there are ZERO new FEATURES (hint: speed improvements, optimizations, etc. are not FEATURES, they are PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS–there do be a difference) in 3DSr"4" (which I will refer to from now on in this and all future postings as 3DSr3.5 whether Autodesk likes it or not) that are visible to the end user without the use of plug-ins. Performance enhancements alone have NEVER justified incrementing the integer portion of a version or release number for ANY other software package on ANY platform in the ENTIRE HISTORY OF COMPUTING to the best of my knowledge, and my knowledge of such stretches pretty far and wide. What is so ironic here is that Autodesk itself has done it RIGHT in the case of Autodesk Animator Pro 1.0, 1.3, and 1.3a! Why the rush to have an inadequate product labeled Release "4" when at best it's 3.5? Just because you said you'd have a major new release every year? And you just couldn't deliver this year? That may not be what happened, but that's certainly what it looks like, and it is LOUSY P.R. Note that a review of Release "4" in 3D Artist a few months back called it "Release 3.5" on the cover and in the Table of Contents, though all mentions in the article itself did indeed say "Release 4"–almost as if it had indeed been called 3.5 at one point and Autodesk had informed 3D Artist of a name change and they did a Global Search and Replace on the article itself but forgot to do so for the cover and Table of Contents!