Open question to BM: How would you feel if you just bought Resolve?

[Dave Blackham]

I had to deal with this kind of nonsense when I worked at BM 8 years back. There are some very simple principles here.

First, is the licence you bought still worth the money you paid for it? Pretty hard to argue that one. A year before you paid out your precious $1,000 it was selling for $850,000. You poor dear, you've been ripped off. Horrible, mean old BMD.

Second principle. Just because the producer's daughter gets the free licence doesn't mean she has any idea or talent for the job at hand. It's the oldest, tiredest old industry whinge that "soon anyone will have the gear I have and I'll never get a job". True - if you're a no talent, unprofessional bum - but if you are actually a talented, professional operator, charge for you and you'll get work. (not suggesting you are a no talent unprofessional bum ,merely saying relax, you'll still get work). The same old cry of the sky is falling went up when Final Cut Pro was released, when Mini DV came out, when Red entered the market. The only people to suffer are those who hide behind their lack of something real to offer by having the most gear. Flawed, elitist business model and glad to see the back of it.

Three, how can you complain that BM's decisions have destroyed the industry and will put people out of work when, as has been pointed out, hacked and pirated software costs nothing either. Most producers I know have Macs and PCs full of hacked and pirated software. Whilst they lack the will to spend money on software and gear, they also lack the will to learn how to use it or the time to actually complete the job. Sure, there are those that will elect to become one man bands and do it all themselves. This forum is full of such types (of which I am one) but most of us actually have a background as DP's or editors etc.

Don't trade on the gear you own or what you paid for it. Trade on your talent, professionalism and experience. The moment you start putting the price you paid for your gear on your rate card you open yourself up to getting slammed by the big post houses, who will always have more than you.

And, lets' do the math here. One percent of purchase price per day. So you paid $1,000 for a Resolve license. That's worth, let me see - $10 a day in rental. Over a 10 hour day thats... My hourly rate is $70. If I offer Resolve Lite I can only charge $69? Come on. Gimme a break.

Well said.

Some years ago in the world of Sd we purchased an odd ball color corrector, wasnt expensive but not cheap either, actually it had very good signal processing but it wasnt at that time a name in our city. The colorists were very good and before long we have cornered the local color correction market and other clients began to come to us from further afield. The point is we made it on skills not expensive named kit. Now you can make it on your skills, named kit whilst its also inexpensive. $950 is not expensive for the software in any ones book. The other components of the suite, monitoring computor and so on may cost a somewhat more but not the $850,000 than it once used to. Id like to think we get repeat work because we are good at what we do, not because we have expensive kit.

[Rob Ruffo]

If your livelihood depends solely on the tools you have and not on your talent then you are in the rental business. And even that needs talent. There's a point in there somewhere for Mr. Ruffo.

There is no point at all in that for me. Just because I invest money in gear, and expect some kind of reasonable ROI on that gear, does not mean I EVER talk about that to clients. Did you read my other posts? If you bought an Epic-M for 58K last week and this week they were free, would you say "That's cool, it's all about talent?" If you would, I'm glad I'm not your bank manager. this is 1K, not 58K (although it was 250K for many 2 years ago) but it's the same principle, and it's the principle that bothers me. Did any of you ever take any management courses!?

[Rob Ruffo]

Well said.

Some years ago in the world of Sd we purchased an odd ball color corrector, wasnt expensive but not cheap either, actually it had very good signal processing but it wasnt at that time a name in our city. The colorists were very good and before long we have cornered the local color correction market and other clients began to come to us from further afield. The point is we made it on skills not expensive named kit. Now you can make it on your skills, named kit whilst its also inexpensive. $950 is not expensive for the software in any ones book. The other components of the suite, monitoring computor and so on may cost a somewhat more but not the $850,000 than it once used to. Id like to think we get repeat work because we are good at what we do, not because we have expensive kit.

In New York, L.A., Montreal or Toronto, I can guarantee that would not have worked, not in the advertising world at any rate. Jake and I (and many BM users) work in a different world with different players than some of you guys.

[Nikhil Kamkolkar]

Rob, the business model of giving something away for free is not new. Consider facebook. Consider google. If you think they are simply advertising driven, consider twitter. These companies are in it for the long term, and what they give away today for free, they are reaping benefits in many other ways - whether its data, patents, consumer base, distribution platform and on and on. Giving hardware away for free is not the same situation as software. Once built, software bits can be replicated at close to zero cost (disk space and download bandwidth may be the biggest cost). Can't say the same for hardware (such as the EPIC M).

[Rob Ruffo]

Can't wait!

@Rob - I guess all I'm trying to figure out is if there's a solution you or anyone else here can propose that doesn't include asking a manufacturer to NOT drop prices, and infact, RAISE THEM to maintain an aura of mystique (Tiffany's model perhaps?). If that's the only solution to the issue at hand (and I agree there's an issue at hand), then its a pretty odd solution to even consider, let alone pursue. I mean, a class action lawsuit against a manufacturer for DROPPING prices...? How does that even get argued in court?

I guess I just don't get the solution that seems to have been floated here (if I'm understanding the thread correctly). I get that there's a problem (perception, downward pressure on pricing, disappearing business models, image-driven and/or if-its-expensive-no-one-can-fire-us-for-choosing-it CYA producers etc). But the (seemingly) proposed solution baffles me.

EDIT: you have to understand my perspective is that of someone who saw the Hollywood Studios go from using expensive SGI boxes to clusters of inexpensive Windows NT workstations without batting an eyelid and delivered more and more stunning VFX work. No one ever mentioned wanting to pay SGI prices for the Win NT boxes.

Yeah, but those NT boxes were not running FREE software, they were (and are) running generally expensive apps - hardware is not software and does NOT usually follow Moore's law. I would have said nothing if they would have dropped their price by an incremental percentage. I think a solution is that BM refund those who want a refund and who bought recently.

[Rob Ruffo]

Rob, the business model of giving something away for free is not new. Consider facebook. Consider google. If you think they are simply advertising driven, consider twitter. These companies are in it for the long term, and what they give away today for free, they are reaping benefits in many other ways - whether its data, patents, consumer base, distribution platform and on and on. Giving hardware away for free is not the same situation as software. Once built, software bits can be replicated at close to zero cost (disk space and download bandwidth may be the biggest cost). Can't say the same for hardware (such as the EPIC M).

Facebook did not charge $1000 one day, and then nothing the next. I am mad because I feel BM burned people in many ways, including those developing for-pay apps. They hurt the business. I do not respect scrorched-earth business practices.

[Rob Ruffo]

Maybe you could teach me? I am new to Resolve and would pay for tutoring sessions. Or better yet, maybe one of your friends that is being hurt the most by BMs decision could do it?

PM me, I will refer you to them.

[Nikhil Kamkolkar]

Relatively speaking, they were. Prices were slashed across the board even back then. In any case, today, free versions of softimage and (I believe) Maya are available.

Here's my guess as to why companies are doing this. Including RED with REDCINE X.

All these software packages require IMMENSE amount of time and effort investment by their operators to gain any degree of expertise in it. So even when BM gives DVR away for 'free', its not really free to the end operator who invests time and energy and training dollars into it. There is always a cost associated with it. Frankly, from 250K to 1K, it might as well have gone from 250K to 0K. No difference at all in my mind.

All of which is to say, I believe BM may be doing the RIGHT thing, and not the wrong thing as some folks seem to believe.

[Nikhil Kamkolkar]

Facebook did not charge $1000 one day, and then nothing the next. I am mad because I feel BM burned people in many ways, including those developing for-pay apps. They hurt the business. I do not respect scrorched-earth business practices.

I appreciate the fact that this hurts a variety of parties. Just to state this, all of the companies I mentioned were highly disruptive and uprooted entire industries. Someone more knowledgeable can speak to the variety of businesses wiped out, but as always, like the phoenix rising, they also gave rise to a crop of NEW businesses and business models. I mean, I just purchased a 15K (RED) product over the web, never having even seen or touched it. They have enabled a huge pyschological mind shift in the consumer. I'm personally trying to decide if I invest my time and effort into Davinci, RCX, Smoke on the Mac, AE etc etc. The fact that Davinci has shown foresight, and aggressive resolve in being a survivor and a player, endears me to their software solution.

[paulherrin]

Immature, emotionally-biased complaining is not only extremely counter-productive, it's also (with all due respect) terribly aggravating, as you've already found that most people don't even want to try to understand what you're feeling. I understand you're upset. Any number of people would probably be at least a little peeved in your situation, and I'm not saying you shouldn't look into Resolving it. But seriously man, please check yourself and clear your mind. Getting a refund is not going to make you feel better. If it's not this it will be something else. Broaden your gaze to understand a world of different people and ideas and motivations, then you may perhaps realize, maybe it's not about feeling better. I'm right there with you, I get upset about the silliest of things. And I wish someone would set me straight from time to time. So that's what I'm doing, take it or leave it, but it's time to grow up. It's always time to grow up.

Now, if you want to make a legitimate plea... take a deep breath, and go look outside your window. There are millions of people out there working and struggling through extreme hardship, literally just barely saving themselves and their loved ones from starvation as the result of oppression. Look at this world for just a moment, and if you still think that you should spend more energy fighting this terrible wrong than what we'll call actual injustice, I'd only personally ask that you do so privately and respectfully with the company. You may find that more successful than rallying defiance. In any case, I advise you spend less energy on things that will profit you little, and invest more energy in those things of greater value.