Subject: Re: OFFTOPIC- FREE PIZZA
From: "Daniel J. McCoy" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 18 Mar 1996 09:42:07 -0800

At 08:11 AM 3/18/96 -0800, Dimitri Holman wrote this:
[slight editing]
>Go away for 3 days and the LW list has turned into a forum for 3DS-Max 
>bashing / gloating. Just terrible. A few things can be learned from this.
>1) LightWave is a GREAT app for the price
>2) Lightwave/NEWTEK could try to become a bit more competitive.

How much more competitive can they get given that their prices is thousands
less that competing products (and I don't include special discounts)?

>3) Having "Almost all the features of "brand X" for much less"
>   does not always fly, specifically if you're trying to make your
>   tool the tool of CHOICE for professionals.

GEEZ!  LW 4.0 is the FIRST version outside of the Amiga arena with most of
the time spent on porting.  IF NewTek could through the resources into LW
that AutoDesk and Microsoft has to throw at 3D Studio Max and SoftImage, no
doubt we'd see more features faster.  But NewTek DOESN'T have the resources
these two well-established PC companies have.  Give it a rest!  They're
working on it!

>4) Student discounts ARE a means for promoting LW as the tool
>   to use. i.e. student's get real job's and influence
>   purchasing decisions.

Student's can get real paying jobs by buying a full version of LW rather
than a restricted lisence version of a competing product.  What gets me is
that you never stop being a student after you get out of school!  I'm still
trying to graduate from the school of life and working for a living just to
pay bills.  God forbid I get married...  Worse, have children!  :)

>5) The 3D industry is always going to be volatile, ergo
>   developers need to be flexible and responsive to the needs of
>   it's users.

Again, given NewTek's resources working on LightWave3D (what, three to four
people now), they can't respond fast enough to every user's whims.  They
also have other things on their plates (ie: Flyer, universal Toaster...).
What I do NOT want to see is huge companies having a monopoly of the
software market that price their software way too high, have no competition
and don't really care.  What I want is companies such as NewTek that come
out with innovative products for less than the competition, with great
features, and get the large corporations off their butt to realize what the
user wants.  Without the Amiga or NewTek, would we even have 24 bit color,
video processing boards, audio boards, and pre-emptive multitasking on the
desktop?  It's these innovated companies and technologies that keep
innovation moving.  

Let's put these subjects to bed.  Pass a slice of pizza and let's discuss
LightWave.  :)  As it is, I'll probably regret sending this due to the
amount of replies it'll get.

Dan
--
Daniel J. McCoy - [email-masked] or [email-masked]
http//www.pacificnet.net/~djmccoy