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Rant TIME!

Why do developers put out so much crap software? Every year it's the same old crap with the same old bugs. This isn't just in this field, in music production same thing - Sonar 8 this year, next year another version, year after that another version and so on and it's never a major improvement and always has the same old problems.

Why can't these guys STAY IN THE LAB a little longer and come out with something more solid? Look at the video game console market - they only put out a system once a year and they were all solid. Today we must wait longer cause they want to put out something mind blowing the next time instead of simply adding another hole to plug something in and expecting us to flock to the stores.

What I'm saying is people will continue to buy what's current if it's GOOD. Guess money hungry corporations have these guys putting out "3DS Max 2009, 3DS Max 2010, 3DS Max.." so on every year with little stability improvements and a few extra decals. What is this the car business?

It would just be much better if they stayed in front of the drawing board and came up with something worth putting out instead of small updates added to the same old hunk o junk.

Some of these software can't even handle their own features and crash if you click a button. They could take the time to make it more solid. Or is that all part of the marketing scheme? ("Maybe the latest version is better. I need to buy it ASAP!")

As soon as you start learning Turbo 3D Creator 3, Turbo 3D Creator 4 is out. And before you can pop the disc into your DVD RAM drive Turbo 3D Creator 5 hits the store shelves. Ah. Now you're becoming good! but before you can master anything they put out Turbo 3D Creator 2000-whatevr and what are you supposed to do? Throw away the old one? Unbelievable. W. T. F. WAIT A COUPLE YEARS AND LET THE CHILD ENJOY THE TOY

(oh don't bother searching for "turbo 3d creator" I totally made that up...)


Edit about the video game console market I meant to say they put out a system once every FIVE years not one.

Replies

  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    It's just Autodesk and Adobe. Softimage had some pretty large updates until Avid sold it. zbrush is great example of a popular program that gets big updates.
  • jmt
    I guess at this point its just their business model and it would be difficult to change. Like game studios with yearly releases, they just have to keep making them, whether or not the changes are really that big a step forward. They have their schedules, investments, profit etc. planned out. It's kind of annoying but not that big a deal. You can just keep using a program from a year or two ago if you don't want to upgrade.
  • roosterMAP
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    roosterMAP polycounter lvl 14
    i agree. Autodesk needs to stop annual releases. Everything after 2011 is way too slow and unstable for me (especially 2013).
  • acitone
    They managed to add a few cool things in 2013 like the Nitrous graphics driver which seems faster than DX. That and the mCloth modifier which I haven't messed with yet. But they need to stop annual releases and focus on making the software more stable and solid. 2013 crashes very easy, and apparently I'm not the only one sees it.
  • JamesWild
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    JamesWild polycounter lvl 8
    Well, this is always what happens when a company matures and eventually the people at the top, who were once engineers themselves and understand the nuances of developing are replaced with people who only know business. That might be a generalization, but you only have to look at companies like Symantec who are following the exact same course. "Who cares about the quality of the end product, get me a new product out every 12 months"
  • Torch
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    Torch polycounter
    I would recommend not doing what ever makes it crash, to see if that fixes the problem.
  • Blaisoid
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    Blaisoid polycounter lvl 7
    i wonder how do most studios approach this kind of thing? do they update the software asap with no regard for changes and bugs that could make someone's work harder? do people ever have an option to work on older versions?
  • chrisradsby
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    chrisradsby polycounter lvl 15
    Blaisoid wrote: »
    i wonder how do most studios approach this kind of thing? do they update the software asap with no regard for changes and bugs that could make someone's work harder? do people ever have an option to work on older versions?

    In the studios I've been working in they've had 1-2 versions of their 3d-modeling software during 3 years of production. It's usually hassle to update all their own tools and shaders etc etc.
  • WarrenM
    From what I've seen, if people are happy with a version they don't upgrade unless they have to for pipeline reasons. perna uses Max 2009 and won't move unless a miracle happens. I know guys who still use Lightwave for modeling. Hell, there are people who won't upgrade their copies of ZBrush despite the updates being FREE.

    You don't have to buy the new version unless there's something you need. For example, I don't plan on getting Windows 8 for my home machine because Windows 7 does everything I need it to.

    If what you have does everything you need - why shake the jello?

    EDIT : We typically let a few people use a new version of something for a little while and if they can work without issues, then it's rolled out to the rest of the company. It's the only safe way to do it if you're on a schedule, as pretty much everyone is.
  • acitone
    I certainly am going to do the same with Windows 7, it's proven to be a very solid Windows OS since it's been out. At one point I had a problem with generic icons taking over my apps and many of them not running but it turned out to be a virus, not Win 7.

    Microsoft itself used to take their time - Windows 95, 98, then 2000. 95 and 98 were solid cause they were at the drawing boards for a while. Heck 95 was a revolution, but they started to misstep with annual quick releases (ME, Vista) but now they're doing good.

    Just wish Autodesk would cut the crap
  • DavePhipps
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    DavePhipps polycounter lvl 7
    I've been away from all this software for years, and haven't even noticed the releases.What I do know is that the tools and documentation are so much better than they were.

    My advice is to not get the new versions if they do not interest you. The less people purchasing the the annual releases the less incentive to release the products so quickly. Supply and demand. Right now they are filling a market demand and will keep fulfilling it as long as the market will bear.
  • DavePhipps
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    DavePhipps polycounter lvl 7
    I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying that they will keep doing it as long as they are making money from it. when this annual release strategy starts to fail then they will move to another release model.
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    just don't upgrade unless you see a good reason in favor of doing so, i tend to only buy every 3rd or 4th version of things.

    i only upgraded from photoshop cs2 to cs5 last year, and did the same with maya 2009 when i upgraded to 2012 last year, and the only reason why i upgraded maya was because i was getting into python scripting, and wanted a recent version so i can test on.

    hell even in cases where i got a newer version installed i don't even use it, like i got maya 2013(student) installed beside my full 2012 license so i can test scripts, so it only ever gets fired up every few weeks while i use 2012 and 2009 daily.

    just because autodesk, adobe, avid or what ever is trying to use this business model, dost mean you need to support them in it.


    also to show you some extreams, iv done some work in music and post production for film, and most studios around here are still on pro tools 6 or cubase/nuendo 3sx, which are getting pretty dated now, but no one has seen a reason to move yet so they haven't, simple as that.

    the only real downside comes with collaboration between multiple studios, or studios and freelancers that all use differing versions.
  • Sukotto
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    Sukotto polycounter lvl 8
    This really applies to everything nowadays. New cars, new smartphones, new games. Our consumer economy is based on these yearly updates and I agree, it gets really annoying. Consumers have been turned into sheeple, no thoughts of their own. If its new they have to get it, no matter how minute the updates are. I'd say smartphones(iPhones especially) are the worst culprit.

    Like everyone is saying, if you don't NEED it, don't BUY it. I mean I still use an old iPhone 3GS(right before the 4 came out) and bought it super cheap and it stiill works fine. And I still use Maya 2011 too because 2012 and 13 are waaaaaayyyy too buggy and crash prone
  • Ace-Angel
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    Ace-Angel polycounter lvl 12
    Sukotto wrote: »
    This really applies to everything nowadays. New cars, new smartphones, new games. Our consumer economy is based on these yearly updates and I agree, it gets really annoying. Consumers have been turned into sheeple, no thoughts of their own. If its new they have to get it, no matter how minute the updates are. I'd say smartphones(iPhones especially) are the worst culprit.

    Like everyone is saying, if you don't NEED it, don't BUY it. I mean I still use an old iPhone 3GS(right before the 4 came out) and bought it super cheap and it stiill works fine. And I still use Maya 2011 too because 2012 and 13 are waaaaaayyyy too buggy and crash prone
    That's nothing like Autodesk or other companies. They force you to update, because if you miss more then 2 iterations of say Max and such, you're forced to pay full price of 4K for the 3rd iteration of the software, instead of the 1K.

    Not to mention, you need to be subscribed and pay full sub-fee all year around, instead of Adobes more charitable 'plan', where you're not paying thousands at the end of the year.

    On the other hand, I don't ever sees Cars, Phones, or anything else 'forcing' you pay to save money. If your phone of 5 years breaks, you get a new one, if your cars insurance goes up, and it becomes a cash-sink to keep it safe, you get a new one, the consumer has the choice in this case, it's their problem if they act like pillocks.

    Unity is another example, if you upgrade to 4, there is a hefty price tag to pay all around, from the U4 itself to the plugins and such.

    Lets face it, the game industry is kinda trying to actively screw it's consumers through it's own software. Other then Pilgway, Pixologic, Blender Found. in terms of big names, everyone else is trying to force you into a 'update now or pay more' scheme down the line. Maybe if more people spend time 'updating' their software like Pixo does for example, with an nice side-plate of Mac versions, always guaranteeing that they sell a copy, maybe they wouldn't be in this mess, buy hey, I guess discount forced upgrades is the best solution isn't it?
  • Paradan
    gotta do somethin to justify all those 120+ salaries
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