OK, so the sky isn't falling, but AD isn't marketing SI well

[Bellsey]

btw, I wasn't joking.

[Hirazi Blue]

btw I knew that...
but before this turns ugly again, I'd rather give up/in...

[Bellsey]

All I'm saying is to me, personally, I thought maybe people overreacted to the announcements about the Premium Suites. Of course people are entitled to their views, that's fair enough, but we just announced the Suites, that's all. Yet within hours people seemed to be hailing the end of Softimage. Madness really, but if that's what people want to think, then fair play to them, I have nothing against that and then that's the beauty of forums like this, everyone can have their say.

But, you made it sound like we seem to jump from one Softimage 'crisis' to another, lol.

[wacom]

Maybe Hirazi was saying the last crisis was the acquisition crisis from Avid to SI, but if you go back in time there are two more for Softimage right (SI->MS, MS->Avid)? So it's kind of like any fertile ground or trade route I guess as they seem to produce quite a few...altercations and new leaders!

IMHO- the last "crisis" caused by the companion upgrade was really just some of the un-resolved anger, frustration, and confusion caused in the "crisis" before- which would be the AD acquisition. A lot of the road map for SI on the technical side was being shown...but a lot of users wanted to know the over all direction of where SI was heading, and where it fits in AD's portfolio as it seemed absent from the site in the capacity to which the SI userbase would like to see (or is that just me ;) ).

Kind of like WWI was never "finished" in a sense and lead to WWII if my 3rd grade understanding of military history is correct. Uh oh...Goodwin's law is proving true!

[Bellsey]

I'm sure many people do still perhaps feel abut 'raw' following the Autodesk acquisition of Softimage, but that's the past now, it happened and sooner or later you have to let it go and move on. Personally I don't believe the acquisition has had an overall negative on Softimage, it's been mainly positive. But, I concede there's still work to be done and room for improvement.
For me, Chinny's comments sum up alot for me, judge the guys on what's delivered(or not) in the releases, and not on the 'what ifs', 'why isn't' and Autodesk marketing.

[wacom]

I'm not the largest AD fan to be honest, but I have to admit that so far the proof is in the pudding and things look good IMHO. Even some other users on other platforms have reluctantly conceded to me that SI is doing just fine under AD and looks really good. So Chinny's not that far off the mark as to how many people's minds work in terms of a sense of value and fair, even those who...well will never like any company larger than can fit in a four door sedan!

Again though- I'm not worried about what is going to happen in terms of my use of SI or others in the loyal userbase in the next several years, I just wish more people knew what they were missing and on that front I think there is room for improvement.

[Hirazi Blue]

Just to clear things up (I hope) and not to add a new chapter to this potential flame-war: I should have probably put quotation marks around the word crisis, as it may have been too strong of a word. And the previous "crisis" I was referring to was the "heated debate" about the "companion to" slogan.

[mixepix]

This reminds me of a time (long ago) when I worked with a software package, of which the main source of information was a company-run mailing list. First rule of this mailing list was that you weren't allowed to talk about the bugs in the software, or else you would be banned permanently. As the software however was full of bugs that left the people on the mailing list few things to actually discuss.

Haha, actually I think I know exactly which software package you are talking about. Some wasted years I spent on that one.

[Maximus]

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread. ... ost6656463

that is a potential client for AD, and look the impression he got,
i just dont think we panicked for nothing, serious lack of marketing from AD is evidence for sure.

\o/ Peace.

[Hirazi Blue]

At the risk of starting this whole thread all over again, I personally found the way Raffaele Fragapane (ThE_JacO),, a well-known, respected member of the worldwide Softimage community and moderator of the SI-forum @ CGTalk, replied in that thread sounds very wise to me:

Somehow AD sold a lot of SI licenses with what they did, so there must be merit to it, but they still managed to give people a chance for panic mongering and worry, so it obviously needs tweaking.

(my high-light)

The idea of "THEM" giving "US" a chance for panic mongering and worry seems a fair assessment of the order of events in which these things really go down... But getting "THEM" to acknowledge that, will probably be next to impossible...

Oops, I did it again...

[electricgeisha]

It is still beyond me when you raise questions... things like panic mongering are passed on to those questioning actions. Oh well I have conceded that if you say anything negative you just get labelled with some name.

Look forward to future releases of SI.

[Maximus]

i posted that link because that guy is a living example of the stuff people are asking/complaining to AD.
I have no doubt that Softimage is doing great, everything is fine, developers got hired and the future cant be brighter, that doesnt mean that AD is marketing the product in a good way, and with marketing i only mean "give softimage more web visibility" just that, since the world moves on web.

There is no panick mode, no crying and nothing like that, i just wanted to point out that the posts we found here, cgtalk, xsibase, xsimailing list are more than justified from a client/user point of view, just hope AD got the point, thats it.

Also the forum are made to speak your mind, and untill the words keep a constructive and respectfull way, i dont see any problem with this, its actually cool to chat with developers and AD staff really.
Its what we always wanted.

[electricgeisha]

I agree totally. As users we are allowed to speculate from the actions AD takes... that is something they need to get a thick skin about and not call people fear mongers etc.. when trying to explain the lack of areas we point out. I am sure SI sells more seats under AD, I am also pretty sure McDonald's would sell more chicken drumsticks if they chose to buy the Kernels secret recipe... what I am getting at they do have market penetration regardless of the poor attention SI has gotten over the past few years. Also Lagoa etc was produced externally by a independent giving them the attention they have gained of recent times... I can see this, the "fear mongers" see this, it is called general observation and we all should feel free to discuss it.

[Rork]

Ugh..... it's keeps on going.......

Can someone just kill this thread, it's going nowhere and in loops...

[Bellsey]

I agree, lol.

One thing I will say though is, it will be IBC soon, in Amsterdam. I will be there for Autodesk, so if anyone is there and passing the booth, then I'm happy to chat and try to answer any questions.

Also, there will be other reseller based events that I will be present at, between now and the end of the year.

[electricgeisha]

I think the problem here is and maybe why this goes around in circles.... Bellsey and co you come across extremely patronising (hence your disclaimer I guess on your profile.)

You dismiss what we say, you are not in a position to comment further due to your restrictions therefore it is always left open ended.

I won't bother commenting here any further as any questions against the flow of what is accepted by Autodesk is obviously totally out of line.