Since there is no real, actual reason that things won't run on win2k if they run on XP, since XP is essentially Plus! pack for win2k, all you are looking at with things that won't install on win2k is a version check, and on occasion XP specific DLL checking. I've yet to come across anything that won't run on win2k; I'd be glad to help anyone out, just e-mail me. I don't use iTunes, so haven't got a fix for your specific problem yet. But I'm sure its out there.
Texans. My great-great-(etc)- uncle William B. Travis came down to Texas to help straighten you guys problems out once before; I do NOT expect once of these things to maintain airworthiness, due to intense over-perforation, for over 5 minutes, you hear? Don't make me come down there! Seriously. The debate over legalities is all well and good, but we all know it's just wrong, correct? Blow that sucker out of the air with extreme prejudice.
thats the impression I got. As an aside, however, I seem to remember this sort of thing from the past; I fuzzily but relatively certainly recall it being advertised that you could send up a.5kg, I think 5cm cube for $10,000. I could swear that this was something that wasn't a prediction, but a fixed deal. Anybody else remember this? I'm a alleged past expert in this sort of thing, so I worked out a solar powered oystershell (so to speak) Mp3 player that would play Black Sabbath "Sabotage" in its entirety over a 200mw transmitter once a day. I didn't finish working this part out completely, but I was going to have a small gyro spin up just prior to air time, use the differential voltage on the solar cells to nail down it's angular position in relation to the sun, and use precession to align the antenna to where a onboard clock would say the earth was. This is just scraped from the back of my head, but I do have schematics laying around somewhere. I had the money set aside for doing this in 2000, then the dot bomb came along and I decided I had better uses for the money.
I'm fairly certain that when the warez community comes out with a way to completely and totally disable the DRM system Vista will perform about as well as XP home on an anemic computer. or maybe even better. But, I have to ask, (excluding those of you with Tablet PC's, because everything I've read indicates that Vista is pretty nifty on them) why? Do you really think anything you do will work better on Vista than it would on XP Pro? I'm in the "you can pry Win2k from my cold, dead, hands" camp myself. But XP pro or MCE doesn't suck too bad.
I have to admit it sort of puzzles me. Most places I've worked were Exchange environments; when you logged in in the morning you turned on outlook or Mozilla app suite or pine or whatever, and when someone sends you a e-mail you get an Immediate Notification that you have a message. Sure, if you are working with a dodgey mail server or are severely bandwidth crippled IM might make more sense, but how often is that the case? strange.
I agree with you almost completely. I think there is one major factor you are leaving out; until people can walk over to the software aisle, pick up 3 titles, and have at least ONE of them work on their Linux PC... the great unwashed Wally World masses will not switch to Linux. I have to drive a little over an hour to buy software or hardware from anyplace that has comparable prices to Walmart, and I need a shower, so I'm one of those unwashed Walmart shoppers. And I've been running Slack since 2.1, Unix before that. Until the time that regular people can use a Linux PC to do what they want to do, like play a popular gaming title or run the latest version of boxed Tax software, it'll never go mainstream (outside of internet appliance use). never. ever.
I pretty much value my statements. I'm curious, which version did you buy? was there any primary underlying reason? I have heard a couple of reasons I can't argue with, like better integrated tablet PC support and a requirement for robust DRM (long story).
If you consider actual sales, it is bombing. I'm talking people purposefully buying it, not getting it with a new computer whether they like it or not, or getting a free copy from their school or any of a myriad number of ways that MS has artificially inflated the sales figures on Vista. I can not back this up with numbers, as number are very hard to get on this subject; the only things available are fuzzy percentages.
Somewhere on the internet there has to be a website dedicated to getting Colbert on the ballot as an independent in all 49 states.
I WILL vote for him as a write-in if I have to. But i would campaign to get him on the ballot in Kentucky.
maybe... Maybe Ron Paul should announce him as his running mate? it would be so nice to go to the polling place and not feel I had to vote against someone.
I don't use Vista and wouldn't recommend most people would, at least
until hardware catches up, and Vista SP2.
However, lots of FUD has spread about Vista:
If my system is running DRM, it uses more CPU power when I do anything with video. So i use Win2k on my render machines.
First
of all DRM takes a toll on your HDMI enabled hardware, and less so on
your CPU. You buy more expensive hardware for the extra
chip and protection to do
the crypting.
But there's no DRM applied to plain video. It's simply not, never was (can't say never will).
Second,
rendering video is even less relevant to playback of DRM-ed video. DRM
in Vista means absolutely nothing for your rendering machines.
I
simplified my rant too much apparently. In general terms, Vista uses
more system resources no matter what you are doing than XP or Win2k.
The more free resources, the better the system runs applications. on
the DRM issue, i'll just give you a few links to follow, ok? here
is one on how Vista DRM causes system slowdown no matter what you are doing;
The next related issue is with Distributed rendering, or rendering a
animation on several network machines at the same time. While there is
a fix for both these issues(that a lot of people are reporting doesn't
work), the Vista DRM system has been linked to slowdowns in copying files, and reducing network speed to about 5% of normal; you can read about that here.
There is also a issue that hasn't been fully nailed down yet where
whenever you access a "registered" codec (like, you know, when you are
rendering?) the DRM system on Vista goes nuts and slows things down.
that particular error only seems to be effecting some some people and
not others, andd has not been conclusively proven to be DRM/Vista
related. yet.
I
also like to play games. The less bullshit my computer has to deal with
in the way of DRM, non-needed glitz & glow, the better it will run
games. So I use Win2k for games,
and sometimes run them on my Windows
XP MCE laptop.
Again DRM, no DRM is applied from Vista on
*games*. DirectX adds new shader capabilities which game producers may
opt to use or not use. If they use them it's to make games look better.
Or you'll tell me now you prefer games look same as in the pre-DirectX days.
Some
pre-directX games are pretty darn nice in the graphics department, and
I would prefer OpenGL to DirectX in general, but that isn't what I was
talking about. I wasn't specifically implicating DRM in making games
slow, it was more the "Vista uses more system resources" thing I
mentioned above; the less resources your system uses to just sit there,
the more it has for applications. There is also that whole "DRM
system polling every piece of hardware 30 times a second" thing; I have
to think that, on comparable systems, the one NOT doing that would be a
bit faster.
Essentially,
unless you have a 64-bit processor or an older "Hyper-threading" CPU,
you will be better off running Windows 2000 than XP or Vista; your
system will be able to work better and will give you less problems.
XP
is just a minor revision of 2000. Is the skin that makes you feel bad
about XP? It can be completely disabled. I run XP and it's disabled. It
lookslike Windows 2000.
It
may look like it, but its not. Windows XP comes with integrated DRM;
Win2k doesn't. XP has product activation that can kill your system when
you make changes to it. whether or not you disable the crap, XP still
uses more system resources than win2k. and there is that whole
networking & thread limiting thing. But i actually don't have
anything against
Really? you think so? you don't think I was maybe trying to keep from posting a thousand word paper, so abbreviated some concepts? Tell you what. pick a Vista and/or DRM topic. let me take a shot at meeting your criteria for non-ignorance.
Thank you. I don't have a tablet PC, Do you think the enhanced handwriting recognition and better all-around pen-friendly design rely on Vista to operate? would the applications work if they were moved over to a XP machine? I'm pretty sure there was a implementation of cleartype for win2k, it was installed along with the Microsoft Ebook reader back in version 1.0 or something like that; unfortunately, they fixed it so that it only worked in the reader. I'm afraid that is what will be happening with XP & vista; the new innovations that are actually useful would work perfectly fine on win2k & XP... but they will only release it for vista.
Sorry, got to rant. I do animations semi-professionally. I work with a lot of media clips, do a lot of encoding. If my system is running DRM, it uses more CPU power when I do anything with video. So i use Win2k on my render machines. I also like to play games. The less bullshit my computer has to deal with in the way of DRM, non-needed glitz & glow, the better it will run games. So I use Win2k for games, and sometimes run them on my Windows XP MCE laptop. I've got a pretty nice laptop, a HP DV8230US, running, as I mentioned, XP media center. It's got a decent PVR capability, and is "Vista Ready". I tried Vista on it. My nice snappy laptop started acting like the P120 laptop I gave my 4 year old to play with. Essentially, unless you have a 64-bit processor or an older "Hyper-threading" CPU, you will be better off running Windows 2000 than XP or Vista; your system will be able to work better and will give you less problems. If you have a 64-bit CPU, an older hyper-threading processor, or want to save a little effort, WinXP will do everything that actually matters better than Vista on similar hardware. Everything. no exceptions. I just can not fathom why anyone would accept a computer with Vista if they had a choice; how is Aero going to help you do anything? neither XP nor vista out of the box is more secure than Win2ksp4 running a free copy of Tiny Personal Firewall & Spybot, and every other new "feature" that it has either hurts your performance or cripples fair use. I'm really serious on this question. All the Vista defenders I'm seeing in this thread, are you running it by choice? what is it doing for you that Win2k or XP or Debian couldn't do better?
I realize that TFA is mainly referring to console games, but the statement is still kid of dumb. (not the Pong parent) Civilization. XCOM. MOO1&2. Wing Commander. Railroad Tycoon. Harpoon. Steel Panthers. Master of Magic.
I just find it endlessly frustrating that The Powers That Be are trying so hard to kill PC gaming; the only things being released these days are Real Time Strategy (RTS games are NOT strategy games, developers; I love strategy games) & FPS; I like FPS's but consoles will always be better for "twitch" games, except flight sims.
Hopefully when Spore comes out next year (with any luck) the developers will remember that there are a hell of a lot more people with PC's than there are with consoles; I would love a modern interpretation of Wing Commander (with joystick support, Mr. Roberts) or, of course, Master of Magic (Age of Wonders: Shadowmagic is close, but not close enough).
Ever step back, take a look around, and consider the possibility that you are a whiner? I realize you would probably me happier in a Matrix-like virtual reality environment where there was no actual danger of you or yours being physically injured, but their is a significant minority of the population that enjoys actually living, not just walking in place until the day they die. if you were just being a troll, I apologize, good job.
Just to be clear, you are implying that they are taking the worst parts of Vista, the DRM and hassle, and putting that into XP? this would be to make it so that there is no reason not to "upgrade" to Vista, as both products will suck pretty much equally? Sounds about right. Darn good thing I'm sticking with Win2k until they pry it from my cold, dead hard drive.
Have to admit, after RTFA, that I'm less inclined to worry about it. Does anyone happen to know if this applies to the non-commercial versions, like 6.02i, or 6.5 user compiled? or is it only the commercial releases?
I've done some work for various lawyers in past, private investigation sort of stuff. I've also written some software, applied for a patent on the process. neither one of those things would I ever willingly turn over to the authorities; the investigation stuff reveals mistakes made by a number of otherwise nice folks, and the process I patented I did so that I could keep other people from using the process on moral grounds. To reveal either set of secrets to the gov, I would have to trust that they could safeguard the information well, and not abuse it. yeah. Right.
As I started out as a mechanical draftsman, Your post is not quite as sarcastic as it could have been. I've sharpened my rulers with a whetstone, used a scalpel to amend ink, and made my own Ink. I can use a sliderule, also.
Good point; I know that some of the problems I had were due to issues with the openGL interface. If i can ever get over the pulsing headache i get when I think about it, I'll give it a shot on my Slackware box.
This is a rebuttal. Background: My very first job, in the late 70's, was as a Draftsman. I used the very first version of Autocad, back in '83(?). I've been using 3dstudio since before it was a actual product. I used Lightwave on an Amiga in '91 (VideoToaster rocked). I changed careers, and only play with 3D these days. But I play with everything, Vue d'esprit, Poser, Maya. I've tried pretty much every 3d application I hear about just to see if it's worth parting with my limited hobby money. Never had a problem figuring out the wildly different UI's (except Maya, a little. I was overthinking it). Do you get what I'm saying here? I figured out Truespace from a german language version. I don't read or speak german.
I tried out blender first when it was shareware.. 2001 I think. The UI was a nightmare. I had a decently new copy of 3ds, so shook my head and forgot about it. Then the game "The Movies" came out. I got hooked. after poking around, I found out that the only import/output scripts for customization were blender scripts, so i grabbed the latest version of blender. I tried. I really, really tried. I grabbed the tutorials, FAQ's. I bought "The Official Blender guide". I even had a "Blender Guru" come on to my system in VNC to walk me through the (allegedly) simple process of opening a file, applying textures, and exporting using the plugin. it took 3 flipping hours. Blender may be a great engine. But the interface is a crime against logic, nature and makes me revise my opinion on whether or not true Evil exists. If you are thinking of getting into 3D software in some way, as a career or a hobby, keep this in mind: If you waste your time learning the Blender interface, you will not be able to use that "knowledge" with ANY OTHER APPLICATION.
Slashdot Mirror
Unfortunately for your comment, Fair Use rights are are being targeted on a day-to-day basis.
Since there is no real, actual reason that things won't run on win2k if they run on XP, since XP is essentially Plus! pack for win2k, all you are looking at with things that won't install on win2k is a version check, and on occasion XP specific DLL checking.
I've yet to come across anything that won't run on win2k; I'd be glad to help anyone out, just e-mail me.
I don't use iTunes, so haven't got a fix for your specific problem yet. But I'm sure its out there.
Texans.
My great-great-(etc)- uncle William B. Travis came down to Texas to help straighten you guys problems out once before; I do NOT expect once of these things to maintain airworthiness, due to intense over-perforation, for over 5 minutes, you hear? Don't make me come down there!
Seriously. The debate over legalities is all well and good, but we all know it's just wrong, correct? Blow that sucker out of the air with extreme prejudice.
thats the impression I got. .5kg, I think 5cm cube for $10,000. I could swear that this was something that wasn't a prediction, but a fixed deal. Anybody else remember this?
As an aside, however, I seem to remember this sort of thing from the past; I fuzzily but relatively certainly recall it being advertised that you could send up a
I'm a alleged past expert in this sort of thing, so I worked out a solar powered oystershell (so to speak) Mp3 player that would play Black Sabbath "Sabotage" in its entirety over a 200mw transmitter once a day. I didn't finish working this part out completely, but I was going to have a small gyro spin up just prior to air time, use the differential voltage on the solar cells to nail down it's angular position in relation to the sun, and use precession to align the antenna to where a onboard clock would say the earth was.
This is just scraped from the back of my head, but I do have schematics laying around somewhere.
I had the money set aside for doing this in 2000, then the dot bomb came along and I decided I had better uses for the money.
I'm fairly certain that when the warez community comes out with a way to completely and totally disable the DRM system Vista will perform about as well as XP home on an anemic computer. or maybe even better.
But, I have to ask, (excluding those of you with Tablet PC's, because everything I've read indicates that Vista is pretty nifty on them) why?
Do you really think anything you do will work better on Vista than it would on XP Pro?
I'm in the "you can pry Win2k from my cold, dead, hands" camp myself. But XP pro or MCE doesn't suck too bad.
I have to admit it sort of puzzles me.
Most places I've worked were Exchange environments; when you logged in in the morning you turned on outlook or Mozilla app suite or pine or whatever, and when someone sends you a e-mail you get an Immediate Notification that you have a message.
Sure, if you are working with a dodgey mail server or are severely bandwidth crippled IM might make more sense, but how often is that the case?
strange.
I agree with you almost completely.
I think there is one major factor you are leaving out; until people can walk over to the software aisle, pick up 3 titles, and have at least ONE of them work on their Linux PC... the great unwashed Wally World masses will not switch to Linux.
I have to drive a little over an hour to buy software or hardware from anyplace that has comparable prices to Walmart, and I need a shower, so I'm one of those unwashed Walmart shoppers. And I've been running Slack since 2.1, Unix before that. Until the time that regular people can use a Linux PC to do what they want to do, like play a popular gaming title or run the latest version of boxed Tax software, it'll never go mainstream (outside of internet appliance use). never. ever.
I pretty much value my statements.
I'm curious, which version did you buy? was there any primary underlying reason? I have heard a couple of reasons I can't argue with, like better integrated tablet PC support and a requirement for robust DRM (long story).
If you consider actual sales, it is bombing.
I'm talking people purposefully buying it, not getting it with a new computer whether they like it or not, or getting a free copy from their school or any of a myriad number of ways that MS has artificially inflated the sales figures on Vista.
I can not back this up with numbers, as number are very hard to get on this subject; the only things available are fuzzy percentages.
Somewhere on the internet there has to be a website dedicated to getting Colbert on the ballot as an independent in all 49 states.
I WILL vote for him as a write-in if I have to. But i would campaign to get him on the ballot in Kentucky.
maybe... Maybe Ron Paul should announce him as his running mate? it would be so nice to go to the polling place and not feel I had to vote against someone.
I don't use Vista and wouldn't recommend most people would, at least until hardware catches up, and Vista SP2.
However, lots of FUD has spread about Vista:
If my system is running DRM, it uses more CPU power when I do anything with video. So i use Win2k on my render machines.
First of all DRM takes a toll on your HDMI enabled hardware, and less so on your CPU. You buy more expensive hardware for the extra chip and protection to do the crypting.
But there's no DRM applied to plain video. It's simply not, never was (can't say never will).
Second, rendering video is even less relevant to playback of DRM-ed video. DRM in Vista means absolutely nothing for your rendering machines.
I simplified my rant too much apparently. In general terms, Vista uses more system resources no matter what you are doing than XP or Win2k. The more free resources, the better the system runs applications. on the DRM issue, i'll just give you a few links to follow, ok? here is one on how Vista DRM causes system slowdown no matter what you are doing; The next related issue is with Distributed rendering, or rendering a animation on several network machines at the same time. While there is a fix for both these issues(that a lot of people are reporting doesn't work), the Vista DRM system has been linked to slowdowns in copying files, and reducing network speed to about 5% of normal; you can read about that here. There is also a issue that hasn't been fully nailed down yet where whenever you access a "registered" codec (like, you know, when you are rendering?) the DRM system on Vista goes nuts and slows things down. that particular error only seems to be effecting some some people and not others, andd has not been conclusively proven to be DRM/Vista related. yet.
I also like to play games. The less bullshit my computer has to deal with in the way of DRM, non-needed glitz & glow, the better it will run games. So I use Win2k for games, and sometimes run them on my Windows XP MCE laptop.
Again DRM, no DRM is applied from Vista on *games*. DirectX adds new shader capabilities which game producers may opt to use or not use. If they use them it's to make games look better.
Or you'll tell me now you prefer games look same as in the pre-DirectX days.
Some pre-directX games are pretty darn nice in the graphics department, and I would prefer OpenGL to DirectX in general, but that isn't what I was talking about. I wasn't specifically implicating DRM in making games slow, it was more the "Vista uses more system resources" thing I mentioned above; the less resources your system uses to just sit there, the more it has for applications. There is also that whole "DRM system polling every piece of hardware 30 times a second" thing; I have to think that, on comparable systems, the one NOT doing that would be a bit faster.
Essentially, unless you have a 64-bit processor or an older "Hyper-threading" CPU, you will be better off running Windows 2000 than XP or Vista; your system will be able to work better and will give you less problems.
XP is just a minor revision of 2000. Is the skin that makes you feel bad about XP? It can be completely disabled. I run XP and it's disabled. It lookslike Windows 2000.
It may look like it, but its not. Windows XP comes with integrated DRM; Win2k doesn't. XP has product activation that can kill your system when you make changes to it. whether or not you disable the crap, XP still uses more system resources than win2k. and there is that whole networking & thread limiting thing. But i actually don't have anything against
Really? you think so? you don't think I was maybe trying to keep from posting a thousand word paper, so abbreviated some concepts?
Tell you what. pick a Vista and/or DRM topic. let me take a shot at meeting your criteria for non-ignorance.
Thank you.
I don't have a tablet PC, Do you think the enhanced handwriting recognition and better all-around pen-friendly design rely on Vista to operate? would the applications work if they were moved over to a XP machine?
I'm pretty sure there was a implementation of cleartype for win2k, it was installed along with the Microsoft Ebook reader back in version 1.0 or something like that; unfortunately, they fixed it so that it only worked in the reader.
I'm afraid that is what will be happening with XP & vista; the new innovations that are actually useful would work perfectly fine on win2k & XP... but they will only release it for vista.
Sorry, got to rant.
I do animations semi-professionally. I work with a lot of media clips, do a lot of encoding.
If my system is running DRM, it uses more CPU power when I do anything with video. So i use Win2k on my render machines.
I also like to play games. The less bullshit my computer has to deal with in the way of DRM, non-needed glitz & glow, the better it will run games. So I use Win2k for games, and sometimes run them on my Windows XP MCE laptop.
I've got a pretty nice laptop, a HP DV8230US, running, as I mentioned, XP media center. It's got a decent PVR capability, and is "Vista Ready". I tried Vista on it. My nice snappy laptop started acting like the P120 laptop I gave my 4 year old to play with.
Essentially, unless you have a 64-bit processor or an older "Hyper-threading" CPU, you will be better off running Windows 2000 than XP or Vista; your system will be able to work better and will give you less problems.
If you have a 64-bit CPU, an older hyper-threading processor, or want to save a little effort, WinXP will do everything that actually matters better than Vista on similar hardware. Everything. no exceptions.
I just can not fathom why anyone would accept a computer with Vista if they had a choice; how is Aero going to help you do anything? neither XP nor vista out of the box is more secure than Win2ksp4 running a free copy of Tiny Personal Firewall & Spybot, and every other new "feature" that it has either hurts your performance or cripples fair use.
I'm really serious on this question. All the Vista defenders I'm seeing in this thread, are you running it by choice? what is it doing for you that Win2k or XP or Debian couldn't do better?
I realize that TFA is mainly referring to console games, but the statement is still kid of dumb. (not the Pong parent)
Civilization. XCOM. MOO1&2. Wing Commander. Railroad Tycoon. Harpoon. Steel Panthers. Master of Magic.
I just find it endlessly frustrating that The Powers That Be are trying so hard to kill PC gaming; the only things being released these days are Real Time Strategy (RTS games are NOT strategy games, developers; I love strategy games) & FPS; I like FPS's but consoles will always be better for "twitch" games, except flight sims.
Hopefully when Spore comes out next year (with any luck) the developers will remember that there are a hell of a lot more people with PC's than there are with consoles; I would love a modern interpretation of Wing Commander (with joystick support, Mr. Roberts) or, of course, Master of Magic (Age of Wonders: Shadowmagic is close, but not close enough).
PS: get off my lawn.
Ever step back, take a look around, and consider the possibility that you are a whiner?
I realize you would probably me happier in a Matrix-like virtual reality environment where there was no actual danger of you or yours being physically injured, but their is a significant minority of the population that enjoys actually living, not just walking in place until the day they die.
if you were just being a troll, I apologize, good job.
Been there, Done that.
and in afterthought, it would have made a great T-shirt.
I'm pretty sure I can't switch to Qwest. but I'm going to try to find SOME way to give them money; this sort of behavior deserves it.
or Vesa Local Bus. or MCA. But I think the most VRAM ever found on a MCA video card was maybe 8MB.
Just to be clear, you are implying that they are taking the worst parts of Vista, the DRM and hassle, and putting that into XP? this would be to make it so that there is no reason not to "upgrade" to Vista, as both products will suck pretty much equally?
Sounds about right. Darn good thing I'm sticking with Win2k until they pry it from my cold, dead hard drive.
Have to admit, after RTFA, that I'm less inclined to worry about it.
Does anyone happen to know if this applies to the non-commercial versions, like 6.02i, or 6.5 user compiled? or is it only the commercial releases?
I've done some work for various lawyers in past, private investigation sort of stuff.
I've also written some software, applied for a patent on the process.
neither one of those things would I ever willingly turn over to the authorities; the investigation stuff reveals mistakes made by a number of otherwise nice folks, and the process I patented I did so that I could keep other people from using the process on moral grounds.
To reveal either set of secrets to the gov, I would have to trust that they could safeguard the information well, and not abuse it.
yeah. Right.
As I started out as a mechanical draftsman, Your post is not quite as sarcastic as it could have been. I've sharpened my rulers with a whetstone, used a scalpel to amend ink, and made my own Ink.
I can use a sliderule, also.
Good point; I know that some of the problems I had were due to issues with the openGL interface.
If i can ever get over the pulsing headache i get when I think about it, I'll give it a shot on my Slackware box.
This is a rebuttal.
Background: My very first job, in the late 70's, was as a Draftsman. I used the very first version of Autocad, back in '83(?). I've been using 3dstudio since before it was a actual product. I used Lightwave on an Amiga in '91 (VideoToaster rocked).
I changed careers, and only play with 3D these days. But I play with everything, Vue d'esprit, Poser, Maya. I've tried pretty much every 3d application I hear about just to see if it's worth parting with my limited hobby money. Never had a problem figuring out the wildly different UI's (except Maya, a little. I was overthinking it).
Do you get what I'm saying here? I figured out Truespace from a german language version. I don't read or speak german.
I tried out blender first when it was shareware.. 2001 I think. The UI was a nightmare. I had a decently new copy of 3ds, so shook my head and forgot about it.
Then the game "The Movies" came out. I got hooked. after poking around, I found out that the only import/output scripts for customization were blender scripts, so i grabbed the latest version of blender.
I tried. I really, really tried. I grabbed the tutorials, FAQ's. I bought "The Official Blender guide". I even had a "Blender Guru" come on to my system in VNC to walk me through the (allegedly) simple process of opening a file, applying textures, and exporting using the plugin. it took 3 flipping hours.
Blender may be a great engine. But the interface is a crime against logic, nature and makes me revise my opinion on whether or not true Evil exists.
If you are thinking of getting into 3D software in some way, as a career or a hobby, keep this in mind: If you waste your time learning the Blender interface, you will not be able to use that "knowledge" with ANY OTHER APPLICATION.