Comment on Microsoft to stop forcing Windows 11 users into Edge in EU countries
barsoap@lemm.ee 1 year agoIf it’s 3dsMax yes you can switch over, if Blender doesn’t suffice there’s Houdini and many many 3d graphics studios are in fact Linux shops – Linux inherited that particular slice of the market from IRIX. Some seats will still be on windows or more likely Mac because ZBrush, AfterEffects and generally Adobe. If you’re using Maya there’s no issue in the first place as the thing runs on Linux.
If it’s AutoCAD, though, tough fucking luck. Once upon a time there was Siemens NX but they pulled Linux support and free CAD/CAM is nowhere close to production ready.
And, no, retraining people generally is usually not cheaper than paying license fees, by a long shot. Maybe if you pay out of your nose for Houdini but actually only need Blender but who does that in the first place.
CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Are you speaking of just short-term, or long-term as well?
barsoap@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Long-term for the likes of Hollywood contract studios is “till the end of the production” so, yes. It’s also insanity to switch software while a project is ongoing so you’d have to shut down the studio and then start it up again at which point they’d likely be bankrupt. They’re not even upgrading software versions.
Now if you’re the likes of Siemens or Airbus who more or less on a whim write their own CAD/CAM packages sure it pays off to re-train your engineers, using a software that was tailor-made for what they need to do was the objective in the first place, increasing their productivity. But you won’t make a Maya artist more productive by sitting them in front of Blender. It’s more like switching between vi and emacs: Both are very capable and have steep learning curves due to their sheer power and productivity focus (and one of each causes carpal tunnel. To wit, Maya doesn’t have right-click select).
CosmicCleric@lemmy.world 1 year ago
So if I’m to believe you then no one should ever retrain for any better products ever, because it’s too cost prohibitive?
That we should use a static set in cement set of products until the end of time, even if a better ones come out that require training?
barsoap@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Nah there’s definitely another option and that’s to abolish capitalism.
Did you know that with the automation tech from 10 years ago the world could already have 70% unemployed and yet produce western middle-class living standards for absolutely everyone? The reason it’s not done is not that investing in automation doesn’t have a gigantic ROI, it’s that it’s too long-term for capital to care. Also we don’t want that kind of power in the hands of capitalists anyway but that’s another story. The Diamond Age it’s called, I think.