So they didn’t make to wait for long: they cancelled pixologic’s free upgrades policy already. It was very cool reason to buy a license before (I have friends who bought it something like 15 years ago and got all upgrades for free until right now). Now and onward - subscription only.
Thank you, maxon. 
3 Likes
I guess that’s the end of an era… Looks like there are none other propriertary (commercial) softwares that works like Zbrush did until the end of 2021, i.e. it provides free upgrades for all users/customers who own the software before.
As ABBA sung: “Money, money, money Must be funny In the rich man’s world Money, money, money Always sunny In the rich man’s world”.
That’s a pity but none can do about it. 
2 Likes
One step at a time greed makes Open Source the new Industry Standard.
It is because of these things I went Open Source. Proprietary is too volatile.
4 Likes
Yeah, it’s starting to be downright scary to use proprietary, you never know when the products you trust get bought 
I was a fan of Allegorithmic, never thought they would be bought, but then Adobe came. I also did not expect ZBrush to be bought. Although I quit using it after Blender’s sculpting improved, it was still a sad shock. I am just crossing my fingers that Serif (Affinity) does not end up the same 
3 Likes
I have had a bad feeling about Proprietary since 2018 but I never thought Zbrush would fall. there are others that should have fallen first. Blender is good but it cant replace Zbrush workload in polycount. I just hope it does not get abandoned. I still cry for Mischief. Allegorithmic was raising too fast they were bound to make a deal with the devil.
I think Affinity will be safe.
3 Likes
Any company that is traded on a stock exchange, or is in any way built on, or need of, external money, for example having to take out a loan to purchase inputs (raw materials, a machine, …) to keep the business going, is at risk.
Debt-free companies, run by only one owner, are safe as long as this person is alive and stands by their company. If a company is owned by more than one person, e.g. a community of heirs, there is a risk of disagreement and in the worst case part of the company could be for sale.
Only open source seems to be safe.
Michelist
4 Likes
When we buy/invest in a piece of software we are also buying the company believes, what it stands for. If the company states upgrades should be free for example, we are also believing this will be a good investment. We are led to think that we finally found a company that truly hears and understands the users and begin to develop some kind of relationship with it.
Then, out of nowhere, the company we believed in is bought and none of what it stood for remains.
Never really thought much about these issues before but this proprietary/open source debate is really important. Again, when we start with a piece of software, we begin a relationship. We expect it to stay true to its believes.
4 Likes
Unfortunately there is no true open source CAD software that is 1. Parametric, 2. Can do Nurbs modeling 3. Can do Subd 4. Handle large amounts of data (Free CAD is python so no go) 5. Has a good UI/ UX.
The entire CAD side of the world is proprietary and that is what scares me most. All the things that engeneers require are at risk and so are the people who depend on it (I.e. the entire world, potentially). DWG is still proprietary despite having been reverse engineered iirc.
People don’t seem to realise that investing literally means providing access to the best software for all at an affordable price. That’s why software companies shouldn’t be influenced by speculation and profits.
I have MoI, which is from Michael Gibson, an ex-Rhino developer. He seems like a guy with very nice principles. So for those few things I need CAD Models, I am very happy.
ZBrush is a crazy beast for me right now. I’ve spent about 10 years in this program now, first learning at my university, then pulled the trigger about 5 years ago and finally bought it from my own money - last year I got to start my first real projects with it for the company I work in. It is a roller coaster of feelings right now, however I can’t do all those things in Blender yet, tried it over and over again.
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.