Bwcc,
Good ideas. We can assume fairly quickly that Animator’s API/SDK will not support that level of flexibility, so resources would have to be diverted to address that situation and the truth of the matter is, this is the issue that has been confronting EI for years. How do you modernize our front end application (Animator) without creating massive compatibility issues, downtime and user discontent?
Minor attempts to “modernize” Animator have taken place already. There have been API enhancements but none to the level we’re talking about for a modern 3D application. Instead, EITG chooses to focus on its strengths by enhancing Camera. Nothing wrong with that per se. It only becomes an issue when we find ourselves in our current situation. Off balanced and unable to compete. Keeping Camera closed doesn’t help the matter either. Render features are added mainly to keep users upgrading, but the more off balance we get, the more specialized we get. The more specialized we get, the smaller the user base gets narrowed to.
Some questions:
Should Tesla become EI’s new front end application? If so, how long will that process take?
Can Animator be modernized and if so are users willing to wait and pay for less features and more core upgrades?
Should EI alter its business model to be more Open Source? If not, are there solid Longtail strategies out there to help them increase revenue?
Enhancing the API and SDK should attract more 3rd party folks, but what incentives can EI offer to get people to write for EI again?
