CompuServe Thread

Hi ya James Murphy. Long time. While lurking hereabouts recently, I caught this thread from you to James Coulter. JM > I'd tell you to save your money and JM > wait for the Render/Garden/Farm/Jungle to hit the streets. <g> JM > That would be the most economical means of putting together a very JM > powerful set of optimized Pentiums with less investment in hardware, JM > ram, and H.D. space…plus it would be optimized to outperform anything JM > else with a similiar hardware/software configuration. Render Jungle? Ya know, I try to keep up J.M. So what's this Render _Jungle_ you're on about? Is this a new product or a feature of Rel. 4 ? JM> I love 3D Studio and the people that work with the product, JM> I love working in 3D Studio on projects and creating all this neat "Stuff" JM> I love the unbelievable fast pace of this industry. JM> Business would be much better if people were content to have a level JM> playing ground. James, Sounds like a mantra that's been running through my head. You been reading my mind? Fact is, I've thought about you recently. Interesting developments taking place. Autodesk is doing a major restructuring of the dealer channels. You've been a big advocate and cheerleader. I trust you'll pull through the changes. Lower margins / Higher quotas. A push through mail-order houses and educational channels. A multimedia resource guide in the box stripping away from your add-on sales. Geographical limits on the reach of your advertisements. Loss of a dealership if you engage in a sale that's not "face-to-face." Medallion dealers who participate in co-op dollars while others do not. And a mail-order house that acts in defiance with apparent impunity. Seems like the writing is on the wall. Even though it's not consistent. I've asked for some answers quietly behind the scenes, but I haven't gotten any replies. For years I've been a big cheerleader and promoter of the great work that has issued forth from Autodesk, the Yost Group and Jim Kent. Autodesk has impressed me so much that I've considered becoming a dealer even though I originally became involved with the company's products as an artist and video producer. But from what I can discern, it appears that part of the new "plug-in" environment is the ability to plug-in and unplug dealers. Unless you have the resources of the big distribution, volume / discount houses you're going to find the "playing field" difficult to negotiate. It is __not__ level…..! Smaller dealers aren't the only ones facing a struggle. Autodesk is facing some major challenges in the marketplace. Intergraph, who managed to sneak a couple of pages of advertising into the Autodesk Multimedia Resource Guide that ships with 3D Studio, is now offering a full-blown package of Microstation (no hardware lock) for $195! to students through bookstores at colleges where the program is taught. With Caligari trueSpace, Microsoft? and other software vendors chipping away at our favorite company, the landscape is looking trickier everyday. 3D Studio still rules! For now. Hard-core devotees will argue that nothing can touch 3D Studio. But a company has to remain economically viable in order to continue to ship product. Autodesk is being attacked on all sides, including right here in this forum. When you're number one, everybody wants what you've got. And they'll fight you for it. Don't expect Autodesk to take it resting on their laurels. Autodesk contemplated marketing their products in a number of ways, before they decided on establishing their authorized dealer channels. But they decided. Now the marketplace demands they re-think that decision. Everybody is capable of making questionable decisions. It doesn't stop us from making decisions. We just need to re-evaluate every now and then. I'm sure Autodesk is looking twice at the Resource Guide. Dealers have been expected to attend annual training and support the product. Yet the revenues they believed they would generate from add-on sales when they bought-in, continue to erode as mail-order companies and manufacturers market direct to the end-user. The lower prices are benefitting the end-user up front, but leaving them high and dry when they start looking for support. Though some of the complaints about dealers not being able to support the products they sell are justified, even the knowledgeable dealers, such as yourself, who can and do support the products they sell are going to have to deal with the imapct of competition. New alliances will result. New forms of dealerships will emerge. Look for companies with centralized technical support backing remote sales offices with minimum overhead as one alternative. The definition of "employee" will expand to take on new meaning. This is all part of the change, the mutating landscape. I expect some of these radical shifts in the marketplace will produce a substantial number of victims. The aforementioned Resource Guide will "disappear" from some boxes of 3D Studio before they reach the consumer. Advertisers will complain. Dealers will complain. End-users will continue to complain. The transience demands that you remain flexible and think on your feet. Let's hope Autodesk recognizes the friendly faces in the midst of fire. Keep plugging, Jim. Ya got my vote. Good guys can and do win. Not always. But they can. Even in the Jungle. Kevin Gibson Animation Nation <tm> P.S. I'm getting ready to plunk down a chunk of change for a new system. Feel like making some recommendations with little chance of making a sale? <BFG> Best wishes.