ace dont they already have to do that to move to the 3.x opengl? might as well work it in while they are rewriting everything anyway or the reason will still be “have to rewrite everything” right after having done exactly that.
Last I checked, rewriting the OpenGL code doesn’t mean rewriting everything in Blender (just the code that draws graphics to the screen).
With the particles for instance, it’s not the OpenGL code that does the actual particle and hair calculations (it just draws it).
Might I ask for a link? Because as far as I can recall, I never posted on Polycount under my Herbert name. You know, there are others around with that name. 
edit Oh wait, I see your point. My experience stems from the last couple of years. Generally people seem to be quite positive about Blender. Of course, could be my charming personality in real life, and people just being courteous and careful with their words.
On the web many people lack that affinity towards others, and criticize for the sole reason of criticizing.
Cycles - still behind other softwares renderers.
Particles - imo quite tedious to work with and some node based editor for them would be a blast!
Lack of texture editing with nodes using cycles - how is this not possible yet? It does work in blender render…
I’m a Maya user since… Maya 2.0 (well, i’m more or less a veteran)
I’m a Blender User since 1.5 year.
IMHO, Blender is better
instead of Maya, you have a nice modifier stack (solidify, booleeans, shrinkwrap, bevel modifier are great for hard surface modeling)
Curves are better handled in Blender. You can create in a click tubes, manage the twisting of deformed meshes on a curve…
Blender has great sculpting and painting tools, and Is better for creating camera based modeling (you can zoom easily in the cam view)
And can import export shapes and camera animation in FBX
Actually, when i wokging in cg studios, i only use Maya to publish scenes
I’m in no way a veteran. When I was learning Blender and a bit of Maya PLE, I watched a tutorial (in Maya) where the guy was modelling half of a human head unmirrored almost all throughout the session. And I don’t remember when he applied the mirror, but that broke the deal for me. It didn’t have a mirror modifier or something similar. Even Wings had such basic feature. But like I said, I’m no veteran. Maybe it’s not an issue with Maya experts.
Can we stone the OP now?
The real question is what Blender is missing that it’s not commonly seen in professional use. The problem with “random” open source software is often that even if it was missing just ONE feature it may make it useless in professional work where you simply have to do something in often shortest possible time. I have actually witnessed this myself when I was doing simple image processing work with Gimp. The problem was that Gimp kept crashing randomly which in Windows takes time to restart it etc. Not to mention your work was lost to the last save. When you have lots of images to handle it was simply too much, you can’t deal with it. So I switched to paint.net and finished the job. Even paint.net has (or had back then) a bit rough UI for some actions so -everything- that makes it easier does matter in a big picture. If it’s a hobby things like that doesn’t matter, in fact you don’t even realize they exist.
I’ve used Modo, 3DS (needs to be destroyed) Softimage, Maya, Blender, and C4D and done decent modeling in each. It’s a hobby of mine to experiment with other 3D programs, I’ll usually pick one to play with on the side every other week. Regardless of all the programs I’ve used, I choose to main Blender for modeling, because once you figure out the program, at least to me it feels THE MOST comfortable to model in. It has some limitations as far as capabilities, and if this were a competition based off that Modo would win and for me it’s second in comfortably. However, a few addons for Blender easily make up for most of my wants/needs, so I have no real problem using Blender. Thus, Blender=BEST for me.
Yes, but we talk about Blender not Gimp and blender dosn’t crash so much.
It’s one think I really like with Blender, even with nightly builds, it dosn’t crash.
You can crash maya by adding a shader on a mesh with a smooth. I crashed it a lot of time with only that.
One thing I love in maya is the auto save system, that’s why I asked to my friend for this system on Blender.
Honnesly, the true lack in blender is alembic for import/export
FBX is nice, but limited, with alembic we could work with maya, max, nuke etc.
For the rest we can use blender or external softwares like zbrush, realflow etc if blender is not enough.
When we work on maya or max, we always use external softwares too, we never use then from A to Z.
It’s the same with blender, we use specifics softwares for specifics tasks.
When I was on maya before blender I used maya only for low poly modeling, I sculpted in zbrush, made my retopo in topogun, my uv’s in uvlayout, the render in guerilla and the compositing in nuke.
Now, I use Blender for low prescult with dyntopo, retopo, sculpt in zbrush, uv’s in blender, maps in painter or mari, render with cycles or octane or guerilla and compo on blender.
Blender can’t do everything, but he can do a lot and it’s really fun !
And it’s why we use it.
I wouldn’t relegate GIMP down to the title as ‘random FOSS app.’ just yet, but it does face the threat of finally disappearing into obscurity unless the GIMP devs. really focus on fixing the application’s usability issues (their new version shows a little work towards doing that, but they really need to find ways to kick development up a few notches).
The good news though is that not all FOSS is like that, and as Blender and Krita shows, can actually showcase some power.
I think one of the main reasons against Blender is the uncertainty of development.
There will always be Maya or Max - well they killed XSI.
But what happens when Ton is gone - also there is no tech support.
I think those security reasons are often a problem!
I’ve been using Modo Indie for months now, and for me the things I prefer mainly are that navigation feels more fluid, UI less cluttered and generally all round everything just feels more natural.
I think I prefer the render engine. I’m doing a lot of product stuff and it’s much easier to get noise free renders, with a look that seems perfect for product viz. The range of procedural textures available makes me feel like a God, preset materials come in abundance and the shader tree is insanely powerful when you get your head around it.
The modelling workflow is extremely powerful, and again everything feels fluid and natural. With that said, I don’t think it’s THAT far ahead of Blender nowadays. Things as simple as being able to draw out a mesh (this is usually where someone tells me it can be done in Blender all along :(). Mesh fusion has also saved me huge amounts of time recently with my modelling when topology doesn’t matter.
With all this being said - I still wonder half way through a lot of my projects whether I should just take it over to Blender. I don’t know if it’s just the learning curve of MODO slowing me down too much or i’m just that damn in love with Blender.
Hi blenders,
First of all - nice community here 
Isnt the OP refering to just modelling ?
Related to that i would say it depends on the certain Task/Project.
In a production you have several stages like Concept, Sketch, Layout … . For every stage you choose the tool of choice to get it done fast/convenient. Thats your “Pipeline/Workflow” . If the Result is great (at least for the Client) than it doesnt matter what you used as long as you are happy and in Budget.
For example i would use Sketchup if i concept an Interior out of my mind. I would use Zbrush when it comes to High Poly sculpting. I would use Vray if i had to do some Photoreal Renderings.
When i started a VFX Buisiness (1999) we thought we need Alias (former Maya - bundled with SGI) or Softimage (bundled with DEC Alpha) to be “professional”. We established a “preliminary” Pipeline solely with Lightwave UNTIL we had the right Software. Guess what - our Clients loved what we did with LW. It had the right “Look” and the Tasks never exceeded what LW was “capable” off.
That was the Point i learned - Its the Tool for YOUR Hand what makes the difference.
And sure - we re assuming every Software needs a minimum amount of stability to be used on a daily basis.
After Years of Maya and 3DS Max , last year i added Blender (frustration about AD) and all i can say is - i was very surprised. It fits really well for All Tasks related to Creative Concept/Layout and Blocking. Even for smaller and not so specialized Jobs its serves well for me!
I cant really tell what makes other modelling Packages better, but i can tell why i prefer Blender over the others i know:
shortcut philosophy (direct acess)
3D Cursor (you hate or love it)
non clattered UI (every window can be everything)
hands on (direct) Modelling
paint/sculpt directly in Blender (big saver)
direct feedback of Rendered Viewport (cycles)
Animation front end like Graph/Dope/Action Editor (that sucks totally in Max)
Smoke and Hair Features
Whenever i have an idea - i fire up Blender and just start. I am not batteling - i am creative. Thats what Blender gave me back. I find that hardly in the other tools i used till now (at least out of the box).
Thats my Perspective as a Freelancer.
What i miss to fully go with Blender as a One man Show (even for specialized Projects)
Proceduralism
more/better/deeper access to features like Particles, Smoke, Hair, Animation system (Action system), Modifier system, Shading System (total physical)
better Performance on sculpting/viewport
and some which i dont remember right now
thanks for reading
yours
Damir
Though it is true that a lot of businesses think that way – given how volatile commercial software is to being discontinued due to buyouts and bankruptcies I think it gets proven over and over to be a false sense of security.
Blender’s source code is available all over so at least it can’t be marked EOL on the whims of a mega-corporation like XSI, Freehand, and various other software has over the years. Should Blender be abandoned, at the very worst studios dependent on it would have to rely on inhouse developers to take over maintenance on it.
I trust more a person continuing his life-long commitment that a firm keeping its strategy. Unless Ton has a meeting with the usual movie bus, he will go on with Blender; a firm gets a new CEO and he immediately tears apart everything to show that he is the biggest and baddest dog in the pissing contest.
Little off-topic question here…
What’s the matter with the incremental save that Blender already has?
Remember my post for auto save 
http://www.blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?369007-Saving-system-proposal/page2
Oh yeah. We already talked about this. My apologies. 
I always find i t funny when some use SketchUp instead of Blender because it is more commonly used …