Autodesk CEO and President Carl Bass steps down
Feb 07, 2017 by Joel LeLievre
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(Update) From his Twitter account, it appears that 3DS Max Product Manager Eddie Perlberg is also leaving Autodesk.
Carl Bass, CEO and President of Autodesk, is stepping down and leaving the company. Bass has been with Autodesk for the past 24 years serving in various roles, but announced in a blog post that he will be leaving, and will continue to serve on the Autodesk board as they the transition. You can read the full blog post on the Autodesk website.
Carl Bass, CEO and President of Autodesk, is stepping down and leaving the company. Bass has been with Autodesk for the past 24 years serving in various roles, but announced in a blog post that he will be leaving, and will continue to serve on the Autodesk board as they the transition. You can read the full blog post on the Autodesk website.
Source: Steve Green
I´m happy he´s gone. This is nothing personal, he may be a nice guy. I don´t know. But his strategy has ruined various great pieces of software. Unfortunately there probabely won´t change to much with a new CEO. Nobody needs your cloud and nobody wants your all-subscribtion based model. cheers
True, nothing left to say!
well said.
what REALLY bothers me is that the rental systems are being defended as “better for consumer”. now i do mind the choices that are taken from us, whether to own or rent, but then insulting me by telling how this is actually a good thing is what pisses me off to no end. if you are that greedy at least admit it.
luckily there are alternatives and hopefully the damage done to the both brands is irreparable. both adobe and autodesk still get my money for the time being. but when im off, i will not be coming back.
I’m not sure it will improve much, probably will get worse – AD obviously don’t care what their customers think.
I just got tired of the garbage marketing were trying to sell us that rental was good for us.
Heh, both Carl Bass and Eddie Perlberg gone, they did a good job of steering the plane towards the ground and then using only two parachutes on board 🙂
Ludvik
Perlberg was a fan of Max but he never was someone other than a happy face to present to the users. His comment in this old item here
https://cgpress.org/archives/autodesk_appoints_new_3ds_max_product_manager_eddie_perlberg.html and his LinkedIn resume are more what you’d expect from a sales\marketing guy who does some graphics. Perlberg was in a no win situation but don’t think that ADSK didn’t know that when they made him product manager.
As far as Bass leaving, the major shareholders of ADSK haven’t been happy with the fiscal performance for a while. Don’t think that the new CEO and board members won’t start to raise rental prices for other regions like they did in the UK.
Anybody want to guess how long it takes them to raise the legacy subscription cost to match rental?
I do not know Eddie’s background, nor do I know his personalit. I don’t plan to judge him personally either. I am just judging results of his work as a 3ds Max product manager. 3ds Max 2017 is the first Max version since I started to use 3ds Max in version 9 some 8 years ago. 3ds Max 2017 is the first version that ended up unusable for production even after several service packs.
I wonder how our studio delivered hundreds of shots with 3dsMax 2017.
right, so it works for you ergo the software is solid.
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-forum/persistent-modeling-crashes-with-2017/td-p/6611632
this is an unresolved issue that literally makes the program unusable for users on w10 and 1080.
That wasn’t a personal judgement, since I never met Perlberg, just an observation based on Max’s marketing videos, interviews, and a quick scan of his past experience. My point is that Autodesk knew what they wanted to achieve and hired the person they thought was best suited to reaching that goal. Compare the CV of the previous product manager, Ken Pimentel, to Eddie Perlberg and ask yourself who you would hire for a marketing/sales role and who you would hire as software manager/developer.
Max 2017 is…not good
Ludvik Koutny
Can you tell have been the roadblock in V2017?
” his LinkedIn resume are more what you’d expect from a sales\marketing guy who does some graphics. Perlberg was in a no win situation but don’t think that ADSK didn’t know that when they made him product manager.”
That’s exactly what a Program Manager is at Autodesk. It a business person that sets the direction of the product based on sales info and marketing strategies. It’s not the guy that leads the software developers.
About Carl Bass, the Autodesk stock is at an all time high in 10 years, btw, and is leaving on a high note. The fact that there is one activist investor complaining doesn’t change the fact that, in fact, Bass made it a $2.5 billion company, and that wall street is all in with the new rental business model. The cloud, rental, it’s all they want to hear. Selling permanent license is not a growth market, and they only care about growth.
Well it doesn’t seem to be helping AME much, and especially Maya by what people are saying.
Their rental prices for Max/Maya are ludicrous compared to what Adobe offers, or even their own maintenance subs.
If their plan is to jack the maintenance subs and/or force perpetual licence holders onto rental, they’re going to have a shock.
Or you know, they could try not treating their customers like crap by consistently narrow down (sorry simplifying) their options.
Cloud/rental is not a panacea.
Frankly anyone buying into it is leaving themselves open to being screwed.
you’d maybe expect a bit of an upturn maybe, but i’ll not be holding my breath on the subject…they’ve all but killed owning software…rental is not what i require esp. at their pricing.
its sort of funny to read these lofty fairwell speeches that boast such great consumer rapport (amongst other things). from where i am standing as a lowly max user, it comes off as either deluded nonsense or lies.
adobe and autodesk clearly and ultimately have no regard for the userbase, certainly not enough to change course from their anticonsumer practices. they will kill software at whim or leave it in limbo (mudbox), cite “hard times in the industry” only to turn around and buy yet another company or software and then let it atrophy.
i dont have anything personal against these gentlemen but its supremely ironic to read so many posts defending the subscription system and appealing to our trust and then simply bail.
both adobe and autodesk are beholden only to profit. i do think the developers have passion but the deciding elements are always about squeezing cash out of customers. i dont mind paying, but i do mind being treated like an idiot.
max has seen improvements but my disdain for autodesk will not ever change and i wish both adobe and autodesk ruin. i know its impossible but a man can dream.
These CEO are awesome, they come, ruin a lot of people and take bad decissions for customers (and in extension for sjare holders even when they don’t know that) and they step out with a lot of money in their pockets and to be CEO of another company… this was the case of the former EA CEO and not Unity CEO, ruining Unity with it’s corporate blindness…
I hope the next CEO will step back this non sense rental only licensing scheme and all the traps so the old users loose their permanent licenses and are forced towards rental…
Don’t get your hopes up. Also don’t think that the CEO of a publicly traded company can act without the approval of the board. Some of biggest shareholders have been behind the move to rental only. There is no way a new CEO will go back to perpetual licensing since the board will not nominate someone who isn’t 100% in favor of rental only.
https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/autodesk-ceo-carl-bass-announces-resignation-hedge-fund-reorganization-takes-place-105200/
http://fortune.com/2017/02/07/autodesk-carl-bass/
juan you surely cannot be that naive to think that.
http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2017/02/07/autodesk-ceo-bass-to-step-down-street-unfazed-subscriptions-the-focus/?mod=yahoobarrons&ru=yahoo&yptr=yahoo
Will I didn’t see that coming. It’s possible we’ll see a change in direction the next year or so. But personally I doubt a reversal of the subs only policy is going to happen – I’m not sure why but I suspect any changes will be more subtle than that. The company seems to have invested so much into going down the subs road.
(edit – obviously I meant ‘Rental’ when I said ‘Subs only’…) Also, its too early to say but maybe this will turn out to be a step in the right direction for users. But then the simultaneous stepping down of Eddie Perlberg seems a bit curious.. ominous even?
Mixed thoughts on this one. I’m not sure I can act too outraged at rental software in GENERAL, since I’m effectively renting Houdini…but at $200 / year for what I’m getting… But I AM bothered when AD makes noises like cancelling subs and just going 100% rental.
Very glad Bass is gone…doesn’t have anything to do with him personally, but there was quite literally NO statement he EVER made on Max or software with which I agreed.
Perlberg is odd for me as well, because I think he meant well, but either A) did not care one bit about VFX and film with Max, or B) was thwarted at every turn by executive leadership if he did indeed try to change things.
I don’t see it as positive or negative, because I think it’s about 65% likely Max will never be salvageable, but will just drift along as an OKAY solution, primarily for ArchViz.
Jim, Both A and B are true, but only one of them is correct about EP.
I get that the comments are moderated, right? Does anyone know the guidelines for posting? I actually got a screenshot of my last just in case, as it seems like two posts of equal standing with respect to comments and such will get deleted at random…?
It’s kinda funny, SideFX present their Houdini update and one day later Autodesk CEO steps down…
Same thoughts excatly 😀
If I was working at AD, I would step down too after what I saw in Houdini 16!
I’m convinced that Autodesk(developers) doesn’t “try” to hinder 3ds max. Rather they really tried/trying to help it.
there are many great features in 3ds max that many don’t notice therefore don’t appreciate. The works of devs/coders go unnoticed most of the time.
I just think that the ones driving the direction of 3ds max, doesn’t know how to drive properly.
Of course they try to help, they are an amazing team of people full of knowledge and willing to make max bigger!
The problem is that Autodesk corporated behaviour ignoring the users and going againste them won´t let them enjoy or do anything with max, not because max will have or no a lot of new features, but because max will be abandoned slowly and replace with alternatives like Houdini+Blender or something similar…
Rental only is not acceptable for any company,it´s just a black hole of moeny with no reason.
Cheers.
Back in the day I was using 3ds max…as a student…it was my first DCC, my first “love”.
It was hard, but I left and learned Cinema 4D. I am SO happy with it!
Then I learned Houdini and I am even more happy with that piece of magic.
All my HEAPS OF MONEY I give to software companies other than Autodesk.
Maybe…and only MAYBE !!!….
if Autodesk (the shareholders) come crawling back, bow down, kiss and wash my feet
…and reintroduce perpetual licenses and sell 3ds max at EUR 999…
…maybe then I shall deign myself to buy 3ds max.
!! Skål til Amarok !!
Thorbjorn.
No you won’t. You won’t be back. You’re not leaving Houdini for this again. Your ex is your ex for a reason. Keep moving on.
Yeah! After putting in the time to learn Houdini, I can’t think of one reason you would consider moving back to Max or any AD product. Houdini will kill Max and Maya within 2 years. Look at both companies development paths and commitment to their product.
AD will only exist in arch/vis world.
Why is he leaving just before the year of subscriptions ?
This can’t be good.
I’m scared of Houdini, don’t make me go there.
I felt scared too when AD killed Softimage. We decided to give Houdini another look. Now I am the happiest I’ve ever been at work. You will laugh when you look back.
Houdini looks intimidating at first but it is just a matter of putting in the time, once you get expressions and VEX there is no alternative product in the market to compete. Houdini is the universe when it comes to 3D… the possibilities are endless.
I tried Houdini, and felt everything was complicated, just adding a box or doing a test render is complicated, you have to sop a rop in order to write an expression to key a node to connect stuff and you render is ugly and slow…
How did you learn it ? Any advice ?
well it use to be complicated but to render you just need a camera and you click “Render Mantra PBR Houdini is less complicated than it appears
Don’t know, this whole restructuring ADSK is going through is not over, and it’s a hole they have been digging for quite a lot time already. I’d not worry about Max at all since it’s the ONLY software keeping the whole M&E afloat, and it has been this way for while now.
Yes… it will stop…
If Autodesk want to have a money- they must thinking about market rules and what user need. I’m no more never pay to AD even a penny.
Users ALWAYS will be have a choice.
With FREE Blender. Mega powerful and mega cheap Houdini – all we have choice don’t work more with AD.
Killing a software – wrong strategia.
Maya – wrong choice for a lead 3d packadge.
Rental only- a very wrong idea.
Autodesk plans to ‘converge’ rental and maintenance subscription within 2 years
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=6&t=1425473
http://www.studiodaily.com/2016/11/…reduces-piracy/
And how do they want to make this? Rising our price to the absurd rental price?
I´m about to renew my subs forced by needs, but my plan was also to abandon all Autodesk within two more years… so we are syncronyzed… I hope I can do it…
Cheers.
And as SpaceFrog says in CGTalk:
ery interesting facts from the quick summary at the beginning;
Maintenance subscription count: 2.09 million (including 13k Arnold subscriptions) , a decrease of 34,000 from Q2
New model subscription count: 861,000
This one is remarkable:
AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT revenue was $80 million, down 44%
Revenue from the Media and Entertainment business was $34 million, down 13%
Revenue from the Manufacturing product family was $147 million, down 16%
Revenue from Asia Pacific was $85 million, down 39%
Revenue from EMEA was $191 million, down 15%
By geo, revenue from the Americas was $213 million, down 10%
Interesting figures.. I’m guessing AutoCAD taking a big hit could be down to moves in the market other than simply Autodesk’s move to rental. eg: BIM (Revit etc) is steadily taking over from CAD in construction. So if Revit had seen a hit that big I can see that being a big red flag for Autodesk… I’ve no idea what Revit’s figures are like. Also CAD is pretty competitive with Bentley and Vector Works.
What can I say? hmmm .. Goodbye bastard!
For Eddie, I just can say Nice try bro.
I’m really sorry to hear that Eddie is leaving, Max was improving steadily under him, I hope the team is doing alright and is continuing the great work they were doing these past couple of releases.
+1
Totally agree. At the past EUE conferences, it was a treat hearing Eddie talk about Max. It seemed like he really cared about the product. And the great improvements with him as product manager made me decide to get back onto maintenance.
I agree with all of you, the problem was and will be that in fact the product manager does not have any kind of power over the product and over it’s licensing scheme, so he could have done nothing…
The problem here is Autodesk as a mamooth, a big slow mamooth that will be extinct because is killing his own feed system, so it will be dead sooner than later, or at least with the need of a change of mind and strategy, we think Autodesk onlly cares about shareholders and nonsense licensing policys etc… but shareholders doesn’t care about Autodesk at all either… if the company goes wrong they just sell their shares and bye bye Autodesk!
And so far Autodesk is not doing very well in any area, not just M&E, but ANY area, a reduction of a 44% of revenue in Autocad is not a good sign for Autodesk, but hey, leave them go with their abusive and silly licensing schemes…
Hey Juang, I think this Mammoth-Autodesk comparison is unfair 😉
Unfair towards the mammoth which was a herbivore and gone extinct because of climatic changes and maybe because it was prey for men. Autodesk is more like a carnivore which overharvests its ecosystem and starves to death as a consequence. At the very ending it will start to gnaw on its own feets, as there is’nt anything there no more to satisfy it’s greed.
I´m sorry… you are right, it´s unfair to the mamooth 🙂
That’a good comparison, and a bitter one. I’d add that the ecosystem changes rapidly and Autodesk just doesn’t evolve in a way so it can keep up with the rest out there.
Submit a bug…SP1…SP2…SP3… oh wait another version’s out…oh, the bug’s still there…SP1…SP2…SP3… feels like throwing my money out to the window by now.
Requesting a feature takes 3-5 years if all goes well and it ends up on some excel sheet. But that’s as unlikely as winning the lottery.
Development seems to be so much more effective when looking at other companies. And not listening to the userbase is reason no. 1 for long time failure.
Open-source Softimage or at least bring it back.
They can’t, there are a lot of third party licenses in there, if the strip all of that and open source Softimage two things will happen, the first one, Softimage will be left without preactically anything, you know, third party licensing that can’t go open source… and the second one, they will loose customers that love Softimage hence a big community of users will start to grow to feed softimage and bring it back to it’s awesomeness, and this time for free… so it’s not going to happen… Autodesk killed softimage and it will stay dead for their revenues… even when all they do is loose revenues because they think customers are cows that they can drain…
Cheers.
Fred: “The Program Manager…. It’s not the guy that leads the software developers.”
Me: Oh yes it is. Though indirectly… Though they never live in the city, state, nor country where the software developers live. Which is what is wrong with a lot of this stuff. They set the direction, and the directions eventually trickle down to the software developers. In fact the software devs hardly ever talk to the PM. Thus how can they give feedback as to what really needs to happen to the software. Rarely say, hey who approved this stuff? What usually happens is the devs/engineers say: “Captain the engine can’t much more of this, we need to take it in for repairs” Whereupon the captain says: “Damn the repairs! Set the engines to ramming speed!!”. Then the enginners shake their heads down in the enginneering bay, pop open a bottle of wine and say their goodbyes.
The Product Manager historically has not been a programming guy. Instead of shoring up existing features and strengthening the base, PM’s have always been racing to stuff in new features.
I remember once years ago some max users wishing for a Giga-Polygon core like softimage had.
The PM (Having no clue) said max did have a Giga-Polygon core. I was stunned.
Most of the Max SDK is not even thread-safe, let alone giga-poly capable.
So here it is nearly 25 years later, and max has every single UI technology offered on windows platforms. It still has Win32 GDI, GDI+, Some MFC, Winforms, WPF and now QT (Which is built on Win32). The only relatively modern part of the app is the 3D Viewport which got a complete overhaul years ago. The PM’s were never interested in a UI overhaul, nor a parameter block overhaul, (Max still has Parameter block 1, which is a joke. I got the cold shoulder from the dev manager when I asked if we could remove PB1). The idea of locking the SDK every other year was just a dumb marketing ploy since plugin makers recompiled their plugins anyways. The effect of which was to lock in bugs and old technology.
I don’t see things changing unless Max gets a PM who has been with it since day one. And who is willing to move, live and work with the devs. They should be someone who is a programmer, and who has ideally programmed on 3dsmax. I think Tom Hudson would be ideal for the position.
I think you are right except in the last part.
No matter the PM max or maya has, the problem is in Autodesk itself, it’s all bells and wisthles but if you see the real business movements Autodesk is doing it all goes to remove your tool from your hands and force you to depend on paying them to be able to do ANYTHING, so the PM could be the greatest parson on the world, he/she could try to do whatever but ultimately it will be useless because Autodesk wont let the software grow bigger and greater for their users, instead they will feed as few improvements as possible to maintain an aspect of R&D, but in the end there is going to be a lot less improivements than before because they are not forced to improve the software so you pay for it, you are already forced to pay for it…
… the thing here is for how much time small people is going to stay buying this kind of absurd and unethical licensing system, that is going to be worse as time advance, and for how much time big companies like Sony Entertainment, Disney, Pixar, etc… are going to stay funding Autodesk and paying a lot more than what they deserver… big studios are not filled with idiots, their accountants are as smart as Autodesk accountants, and they will get some special deals for sure, but it’s not going to be susteinable, because small studios are not going to be able to afford the price of Autodesk passport…
… and for the ones that will try, they will have to rise prices, but those small/medium studios will have to face the compatition of other studios that will give the same quality for less price, and those studios will have a lower price because their tools will remain permanent license or opensource license.
And if you don’t think this is possible, please check this reel of the effects of “The Main in the High Castle” and read the statement of the studio who made it:
https://barnstormvfx.wistia.com/medias/u6ncrwhp6s
Blender is their main software and cycles their main render engine…
They can gain more money and the client pays lass money… the maths are simple, their costs are significantly lower with Blender than with any kind of Autodesk software, and without any loss on their ability to work.