CompuServe Messages

Judy, there's nothing I can say about your prejudice for Microsoft, except I think you are misguided. But I did want to address your game comments: >> I do think that SGI and Alias is where a lot of game makers here in the East seem to be interested in and prefer over 3DS. << I don't know about the game developers back east, but I've worked at two game developers who have used SGI's and one regrets it and the other was forced to by Sega and is secretly using 3ds for much of it's character sprites. The former example, (my previous employer) probably has 2 SGI seats to 40 3ds and is regretting the SGI's when they see equivalent or better output for far less money. The latter was given a couple of Indy's with Softfromage (Softimage) because Sega said so and Sega paid. We did use them quite a bit and I liked Softfromage but I used it mainly to get a wishlist for r5 and ultimately fell back on 3d Studio to create some of the characters which will probably be marketed as SGI graphics by the suits. Nor could I ever afford a high-end Indy with Softfromage or make it pay, so it was a bit of a moot point. If/when the developer is no longer doing work for Sega, the Indy's will go back and will be replaced by the latest PC's with 3d Studio. The owner made this very clear. So, I believe the developers you know back east are either experiencing: 1) wishful thinking 2) are being pushed by marketing types to be able to add the sexy "SGI graphics" label to their games. 3) have more money than sense and may live to regret it. Finally, I will say something about your preference for DOS versus NT and your inclination towards Alias. What do you think Alias runs on? It's basically Unix – probably the oldest multi-tasking dinosaur around and really not that efficient or fast or bug-free. Gosh, there's more to say and some of it constructive but that's all for now.