CompuServe Thread

#Why I won't upgrade

2 messages in this thread
#136957From: Peter M. GruhnNov 18, 1994 6:48 PM
Actually, when I find the bucks, I will upgrade. But that's because I'm still running R1. I would have upgraded faster if the splines had made it. I'm pretty sad at making funny shaped stuff, and that just might have helped me out. What's in a name? The cost of the upgrade is in the name. A 3.0 to 3.1 could be a free download or a $15 mail in with no manual. A 3.0 to 4.0 is $xxx. A major production. Nothing new in the actual program. Hmm, I've been feeling a little antsy about this actually. Since I'm still on R1, I have no IPAS experience, but I worry that the program is going to keep upgrading and I'm going to have to keep paying for it, but the new features that we want are going to be "let third party types take it". Talking to people who deal with Architectural CAD, I hear "Yeah, ACAD is all over the market, but if you want to do architecture with it, you really want to buy these n extra packages. But <other package> which includes Architecture stuff and is actually better than ACAD anyway. Just not as omnipresent." I worry that in five years, people are going to be saying "Yeah, 3DS is all over the place, but if you want to do modeling and animation, just go buy <other package> because it actually includes all the stuff." This fear was bolstered when I saw a message that said, regarding the eventual availability of the patch module (")Don't ask ADesk, ask the guy who was writing it.(") I am unable to watch all of the threads and all of the messages, but as a one off, that was pretty scary. Best I can tell, 3DS is _still_ tops on this platform. I hope to continue to think so. I will spend the upgrade, because in the end I will get an overall better package for my $700 than anybody else offers. – gruhn
#137181From: ROBERT RITGERNov 20, 1994 10:18 PM
Peter: /__________From your message___________\\ Talking to people who deal with Architectural CAD, I hear "Yeah, ACAD is all over the market, but if you want to do architecture with it, you really want to buy these n extra packages. But <other package> which includes Architecture stuff and is actually better than ACAD anyway. Just not as omnipresent." I worry that in five years, people are going to be saying "Yeah, 3DS is all over the place, but if you want to do modeling and animation, just go buy <other package> because it actually includes all the stuff." __________________________________________ Your take on this third party approach to development is similar to mine, I don't think this approach is best for me, a customer. Adesk makes their millions, third party developers will rake in their share yet the customer must spew forth these millions to a growing number of software sources. For me, I want the one-stop shop. I want all of the options eminating from the same source, hopefully guaranteeing compatibility, integrated support and coordinated upgrades. At best I want it all built in. In architectural animations I don't use too many IPAS routines. I would have figured the character animators and game makers to be the ones more vocal in their disdain for the third party development strategy. I don't know how they stay up on all of this stuff, its gotta be a nightmare. The move I am most comfortable making is going to the Yost Group directly for IPAS plug-ins and beseeching them to include more of them in the core package. If it means putting out a "deluxe" edition of 3DS with all of the goodies in it, so be it. Bob