Price change imminent?

[Hirazi Blue]

Well, I'm definitively not "from Autodesk", but I imagine this to be their reaction:

BTW: today's also the day Autodesk finally completed its acquisition of Softimage
(i.e. no more Avid|Softimage support and product activation)

[ThomasHelzle]

Yeah, I read that on the mailinglist.

[Bellsey]

BTW: today's also the day Autodesk finally completed its acquisition of Softimage
(i.e. no more Avid|Softimage support and product activation)

A very inaccurate statement.

[Hirazi Blue]

@Bellsey - The concept of a joke is completely beyond you, now isn't it!
And your policy to almost only post to criticize my posts specifically is getting old also!
And no: you don't need to answer...

[Bellsey]

It's not that I don't get the 'joke', but you often make these comments as if they were fact, and kinda retract them.
And no, I'm not singling you out either, its just happens to be you who posts these types of things and in some ways baiting us. And I'll admit to biting.

[Hirazi Blue]

Ah well, Bellsey's never to blame, Hirazi Blue is a much easier target!
And the whole idea of me baiting you: get a life!
;)

[Bellsey]

I'm not being personal, and I guess your 'humour' just gets lost in translation on a forum such as this.
The main thing I try to do when posting on these types of forums is to be fair and also provide the correct facts where applicable. I can't help the fact if its your posts I respond to more that others.

[Hirazi Blue]

Okay, last point taken (although you probably understand, why it felt that way).
I am however NOT baiting you or Autodesk.
I'm a cynic & everybody surfing this forum should know by now...
And I really though this smilie would make the less serious intentions of my post perfectly clear...
Taking my remarks with a "pinch of salt" generally helps!
Let's end this now...

PS If I really hated Softimage and/or Autodesk as much as some of my posts might suggest, I'd really have something better to do that administrating this forum all day.

[Bellsey]

ok, tell you what, as you're the admin here and you often have a lot of questions, lets try and setup a meet and you can ask me what you want and and I will try and answer.
It can even be over a web conf, if you like, which I can setup.

[ThomasHelzle]

Graham, instead of not liking what Hirazis said, could you set it right?
Since I understood Stephens remark on the mailinglist on activating older versions of XSI the same as Hirazi?

What answers can you offer on the topic of Silver Subscription?

Cheers,

Thomas Helzle

[Bellsey]

Unfortunately I can't offer any answers regarding Silver Subscription and Softimage. I can see why only Gold is provided with Softimage, as like Stephen said, this is the closest match to the level of support Softimage offered pre-Autodesk.

The simple reason, is that I don't know why Silver is not offered, I can only speculate. I think if we did offer Silver with Softimage, than users would have to understand about what they would get for playing less. Dropping to Silver wouldn't offer quite the same level of support as Gold, and if you are used to the current level of support and feedback you get with Softimage and Gold, then perhaps that's something you don't want to give up? Maybe it would depend on the type and size of user?

Being completely honest, the overall price adjustment caught me out, just as much as it did everyone else. We normally receive information of this type ahead of time, so we can brief our business partners, but in this case I don't recall seeing anything. I did escalate this, to find out why levels of communication seemed different, and now the quarter is over its being looked into. But I wouldn't expect any kind of explanation, if there was a problem somewhere, it will get addressed and we'll move on.

[ThomasHelzle]

Graham, thanks for the reply.

What are you able to do on your side to see that we get silver subscription for XSI?

I'm not sure if I will continue with subscription, even with silver available, but at least that would influence the decision in a positive way.

Cheers,

Thomas Helzle

[Bellsey]

there isn't a massive amount I can do, to ensure Softimage gets Silver Subscription, other than escalate the issue within my team, which I have already done. Chinny and Luc-Eric do see what goes onto the list, so I'm sure they are aware of peoples views.

[ThomasHelzle]

Ok, so let's see what happens.

Cheers,

Thomas Helzle

[mattmos]

Thanks for doing what you can Graham. This is a pretty massive issue for the smaller shops/freelancers as you can imagine, and although I try to be rational about autodesk and the product direction it does feel like we're being squeezed out. If we have to make some noise to get the subscription issue addressed then I'm perfectly prepared to do so, but it would be good to know which department/individual is the best person to contact regarding this?

[Bellsey]

I don't think its appropriate for me to give out a particular persons number and contact details about this. Autodesk is a big organisation, and there are many people and things to consider over the issue of providing services and pricing and also Subscription.

The information will go up the chain and decisions may or may not be made. I think the important thing to remember here, is to manage your expectation. If a decision is made about offering Silver for Softimage, at some point, then I'm sure it will be communicated, but I must stress that I can offer no guarantee that anything will happen.