19 Feb
2001
19 Feb
'01
1:14 a.m.
Mark Green skrev:
> >> >3D software maker Softimage was
acquired by Microsoft, managed
> >> >poorly for several years, then sold to Avid. That's probably
> >> >the connection you're thinking of.
> >>
> >> Another SGI firm, then.
>
> >Not exactly, SGI owns Alias|Wavefront which is the main
> >competitor to SoftImage. The one main benefit of SoftImage
> >being bought out by Microsoft is it started both companies
> >moving their products to cheaper platforms.
>
> I didn't mean that they were owned by SGI, but that they specialised in SGI
> products. As for moving their products to cheaper platforms, is that any
> advantage?
You bet. Ten years ago the hardware for a typical
animation station
was around $75,000 (a high end SGI), then you put around $75,000
worth of software on it, for a total or around $150,000. I now
teach at a media school, where I have a class of 60 students
learning 3D modeling and animation. I need around 30 stations for
this class, at $150,000 each that's a significant investment. Moving
to a PC based platform at least reduces the hardware costs. Over
the past decade the cost of Alias and SoftImage software has also
decreased.
True, it's a lot of fun if you're low on money, but moving killer apps (the
apps that make a platform viable) to the PC platform, you only consolidate its
ubiquitous status.
I bought four 310VGX's at the Alias fire sale,
which was actually
conducted by SGI.
Old m68k machines?
--
En ligne avec Thor 2.6.
If you consistently take an antagonistic approach, however, people are
going to start thinking you're from New York. :-)
--Larry Wall to Dan Bernstein in <10187(a)jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV>