Autodesk - We help bring good things to an end

#141

Hopefully this one time in “fighting city hall” will actually work out for the best for ALL of us. As much as I’d love to take the credit, you have to realize that everything just added up - because everyone here e-mailed AD and the petition and furor on the forums - THIS ALL has really done it. The BBB was “just one more nail” in the coffin to (perhaps) force AD to alter its tactics.

Yes, hopefully who ever gets the e-mail frist will please post it here. Some of us never registered with AD - only Kaydara and Alias - and even though AD may have our contact info (in my case they do) they haven’t sent me any e-mails. July 13th is the cutoff date for activations according to that e-mail they sent out. I would expect we’ll hear something BEFORE then. Then again… it IS Autodesk. :slight_smile:

Megalodon

#142

Well Said Megalodon. And we need to stick at it till there is a long term solution.

Consider this scenario- AD sees a small, but growing, semi organized response to their MB STD decision. It’s not a huge deal, but someone at AD decides it might be worth doing some preemptive damage control. The best way to do that would be to throw out something like this 3rd party license activation scheme. It solves a bunch of problems for AD.

1- It seems some users are already happy and ready to accept this deal. (don’t be surprised if AD expects you to sign a realease against any future claims)

2- AD looks good- ie. published info ie 3DW etc will have to include this to show that AD is doing the “right thing” after all.

3- Once the pressure to have AD give users a “perpetual” use solution dies down AD drops 3rd party activation and …well, I think you can figure the rest out.

It might be good to reply to that BBB letter explaining that this still does not satisfy perpetual use rights.

#143

What are some of the good alternatives to MB?

Maybe pushing the alternatives to MB will get AD’s attention a bit more.

#144

Projectmessiah.com is one

I believe a future version of modo will have animation capabilities. The future and current 3D applications are alternatives. It really depends on what you use MB for.

#145

megalodon…

my name is actually mike…

mark is close though:thumbsup:

#146

Softimage|XSI is another and you can get it cheap. Like $499 cheap so it wouldn’t be too steep an investment to switch.

#147

Precisely what I did. This is one solution, but it is a “bandaid that may end up falling off and we’ll all end up continuing to bleed.”

D*mn… sorry about that Mike. :wink: My memory/brain ain’t what it used to be! I will “endevour to persevere.” :slight_smile: (Then again, think of it like our US government… Mark, Mike… only two letters different… let’s go in and invade anyway… :wink:

Megalodon

#148

I’m looking specifically for a software package that specializes in Motion Capture: re-editing the mocap to specifially fit my characters, layered keys, raw mocap editing.

Is there any competition (specifically targeted towards mocap use and not key-frame animation) out there?

#149

Thank you, Kevin Stubbs, for making me aware of this thread.

This is smelling like a class-action suit all the time. A subpeona for the user-base of the standard edition, in preparation for a suit, may yield many more than ‘a thousand users’. At that juncture, a remedy of a full-blown version of MB at it’s present state for each of us affected might affect AD’s attitude toward this process.

I was one that recieved this email and am quite annoyed that they’ve attempted such an extortive act. I am quite pleased that this effort is in full force and am willing to assist as best I can. I’ve signed up on the petition. I also have ten lawyers envelopes sitting on the floor as they chased the ambulance from an accident I was recently in. One of them may be interested in a toss with a leviathon like AD.

TRULY, if we aren’t activated, they won’t have reason nor motivation to remedy this. With the specter of bad press, bad relations with customers and a long and ugly suit in the offing, mayhaps they’ll find the motivation to give us some frikkin’ numbers instead of the remedy of the whole program and fees for a law team.

Thank you all for standing up for yours and my rights. Bob Marley’s song, “Stand up for your Rights”, could easily be our song of action.

#150

Bad press and relations with a few cutomers won’t sway anything. Just look at other companies like Microsoft and Apple. BTW, they have a legal department on salary. Most large companies do. It’s easier for them to hire more lawers than they need, than it is for a few users wanting to come up with a class action lawsuit. It’s easy to scream “lawsuit”… hell it’s almost more widely used than the “f” word these days. That doesn’t mean 99.9% of the people who actually say it follow through. You can try a lawsuit but 99% sure it won’t go anywhere. Their product… their ability to change usesage of the software as deemed necessary and the fact that they did come up with a resolution (posted in this thread) will have the lawsuit go nowhere. Also, the longer people wait on drafting up the lawsuit the more chance it won’t happen at all as people’s anger will subside or they’ll just plain forget.

#151

How do you KNOW that? You don’t and are only speculating.

Or would it be easier to continue to operate ONE SERVER to continue activation of software we were sold that stated PERMANENT LICENSE?

Yes, and JUST as easy to say the BBB is useless. Well… apparently SOMETHING hit a chord and Autodesk is doing SOMETHING about it. If we went with your attitude we wouldn’t even have that. You apparently are a “glass half empty” guy and would rather complain than DO something about it.

Again… a resolution that would not have even been considered by Autodesk had not the people here and on other forums expressed their EXTREME DISAPPOINTMENT by e-mailing them, discussing it here and on other forums and by several of us using the BBB. You have no idea (again, you just assume) that a lawsuit would go nowhere. You really don’t know. And people’s anger subsiding? Perhaps… until they want to use the software again or their machine crashes and they have no crack. Then they get angry again and come back to a forum to fume. We have tried to DO somthing here rather than just “word off” on a forum. Perhaps you could do the same?

I know this is not the case, but you sound like a person they would hire to go into forums and let everyone know how futile their attempts would be at fighting the behemoth known as Autodesk.

Megalodon

#152

Oh to be so blase about things. I admire your ability to shrug off getting shafted by companies, remind me to offer to sell you something some day. :twisted: Of course, the price may rise once you agree to buy it and there’s no guarantee it will work once you get it, but hey, you sound like that’s not a problem for you anyway. :deal:

Are you absolutely sure you don’t work for Autodesk?

#153

I’ve already said previously that your time would be better-spent finding a replacement product.

Autodesk does not particularly care about the hobbiest market. (Name me one successful product of theirs that is.) Its that simple.

#154

I guess you don’t understand the nature of being a hobbyist then?
I can’t simply throw money around when a company shafts me, I simply do not have it to waste. I’m sure it’s great for freelancers where everything is a write-off and no thought is given to if money is wasted or not. I applaud you all for your casual attitude and trust, should you yourselves get shafted in the future you will smile, shrug and say, “well, who cares?”

It’s very unwise to think that if Autodesk get away with this, they will not try similar actions on the higher priced products in the future as the user-base seems to be very laid back about it all.

Maybe I’m just mad because I work darned hard to get enough money to support my hobby, darned hard, so I get miffed when not only do I get conned, but the general consenus seems to be “we don’t give a damn 'cause it ain’t us”.

If this ever comes back and bites y’all on the bum, don’t expect anything but hilarity from me and my fellow hobbyists. :banghead:

#155

Unfortunately… it’s not “that simple.” We all here have a product called Motion Builder Standard that works for us - AND… it will continue to work for us providing we can continue to obtain activation keys (or receive a permament one) and we have no need (at this time) for a “replacement product.” I for one already own Messiah Studio BUT would like to have a running version of MB Standard since it IS a permanent license.

Your answer is just to let AD screw over those of us who PAID for a permament software license and take this lying down. What would happen if everyone had this attitude? Well… the US would probably still be a colony of Great Britain, etc. It is NOT about finding a replacement product since Messiah is a great piece of software - it is about using the software we want to use since we paid for it AND it is about being fair.

Megalodon

#156

Has any one bothered to contact Protexis yet?

Here is their website, with all the contact info:

http://www.protexis.com/support/index.htm

#157

I emailed them but I hav’nt had a reply yet. I’ll be in contact as soon as I do.

#158

I’m glad you admire getting the shaft… I guess. It’s happened to me too many times to remember in the past so it’s just something you deal with. I doubt you’d have anything I’d want to buy, but come up with something, so I can have a good laugh, as I’m doing right now with your attemp to bring some sarcastic wit to this thread.

Are you absolutely dense in understanding I don’t work for Autodesk? I could care less for Autodesk. I don’t like the fact they bought Alias. I don’t like the fact they killed off Edit and some other apps. Shit happens and will continue to happens when it comes to software and hardware developers. If this is the first time it’s happened to you… that sucks. If it’s happened to you before, then you should already know how it feels and know there’s really not much you can do to rectify the situation. I’ve posted that before, but I guess you’re not reading everything. They’re no different than. .eeeh screw it. You can read previous posts… this is just a mindless revolving thread that has no end. If you want support for your product, you know where to go. The link has been posted more than once in this thread. Now it’s on you and good luck with your MB Standard license. >:)

#159

Personally, pixelmonk, I think your taking this too far. Why be so negative about a problem that a lot of people are upset about. Even if you think it’s pointless going down some kind of legal root or that Microsoft or some other company will just screw you over no matter what you do. That does’nt mean that people should not try. In the bottom of Pandora’s box there was one thing left and that was hope. Theres a difference between being realistic and downright pessimistic. In your earlier posts I would have agreed with some points you made but now it seems like you are just going around in circles.

Do you actually own a copy of Motion Builder?

#160

Seems to me I can come up with any crap as you are quite happy to take the stance that if you buy something, it doesn’t matter if you can use it. So sure, I got a garage full of rubbish I could flog ya!

Are you absolutely dense in understanding I don’t work for Autodesk?

Yup that’s me, as dense as they come, gotta be to hope to get anything but condescending and supercilious responses. :banghead:

I guess the “Meh, why bother” attitude is worth adopting, wanting to be able to use what you’ve bought seems far too much effort. Hey, maybe folks should just crack the software, oh no, wait, we’d be in breach of the EULA then, wait a minute… :twisted: