Big companies are eating small development teams like that last piece of apple pie!

I have used a bunch of software over the years, some you may not have even heard of. Got plenty of viruses too (3,000+ I think). I am starting to see something very annoying these days.

I stumble across a very neat software, something with great potential. Next thing I know... ACQUIRED BY GOOGLE! or BOUGHT BY APPLE!

I wouldn't be surprised at the amount of money these big companies throw at gullible start-ups. Heck, I'd take a nice bill'.

Autodesk has been buying up some nice 3d software and just sitting on them. Let's not even get into the patent wars.

What is really going on in the software industry? Overall? Games are not exempt, but at least for now, they are just looking at indie developers. Watching them like vultures, ready to pounce like Simba from the Lion King.

Meanwhile, I can't find any good software for free like I used to. So now I have shifted my software downloading obsession to App stores.

Didn't someone trademark the word "App?" Or is it APP? or is it aPP?

ehhh...

Autodesk has been buying up some nice 3d software and just sitting on them. Let's not even get into the patent wars.
What is really going on in the software industry?

This is business, same rules as in pro-sports, where clubs pay incredible amounts of money for players of other clubs just to send them directly to the bench. The trick: on your own bench he will rott, but atleast he will not be dangerous to your team any longer.

There is still plenty of good useful free software. You just have to use Linux.

... even on Windows

Btw, try to aquire open source, tools like blender or gimp. Both are really stinging autodesk and adobe, but it is hard to fight them.

Gimp and Blender are really awesome tools that cannot be ignored(Blender 2.69 now supports .fbx imports!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Blender also supports .bvh imports for animation and can export Collada(.dae). Also Open Sourced free game engines(JMonkey, Torque 3D, Ogre3D(rendering) etc.) are many now at days. I have no problems finding free software for Windows.

This just in... business is continuing as it has for the last several centuries. Investors have been pursuing exit strategies, larger corporations are engaging in mergers and acquisitions, little guys sometimes make good. Film at 11.

Meanwhile, I can't find any good software for free like I used to.

What sort of software for example? Be very surprised if there is anything outside of extreme niche that someone hasn't released free software for.

Speaking as someone who's been programming for much longer than there has been an internet, I think we are in a golden age of free content, and the shift towards ad-based revenue rather than retail in entertainment software means this is only going to improve.

I remember a time when you HAD to BUY a C++ compiler.

Niche

Programming almost has no limits to the type of software that can be created. Don't we program to make things easier? So think of all the things that annoy you when making a game, and think of a program that will solve it.

Audio

So, for the most part, there are bunches of software dedicated to complex graphics manipulation, but not as much attention is dedicated to audio. The most useful audio software I have used was Reason 4.0 because of this:

Sound manipulation at it's greatest. You can surely use this software to create your own sounds. We have efficient ways of describing shapes, but how do we describe sounds? We have primitive shapes that can be sculpted into any shape imaginable, but are there primitive sounds we can sculpt into the sound of a human laughing? So of course, I have downloaded plenty of text to speech software, and my favorite one right now is the "Speak it" app for the ipad.

DIY Development

Making games is too specialized. I don't think it should be so specialized, because there are plenty of people who can create amazing things, so long as the tools they use are straightforward and easy to grasp. A game engine that makes games amazingly easy, just like Google Sketchup makes modeling easy. Or just like 3-sweep makes modeling much easier. The reason I am learning programming is to perhaps be able to make my idea of the perfect game engine (high hopes). What about a software that makes making software easier? I really loved that 3DFA software. It stopped development suddenly. This way people can make their own custom software without having to hire developers (I am sure some would not like this idea though.)

Think outside the box

So, Marvelous Designer was long overdue. I tried to find alternative software, and found a free one that was good enough, but VF Pro just fell of the map. Fashion has been around so long, so such a software taking advantage of 3D modeling was just a "duh" to me. I can think of other areas where 3D would serve very well. Google sketchup already has the Engineering industry on lock, or should I say "Trimble Sketchup."

I don't want to turn this into a diary though. haha. But there are so many areas to be explored, so I don't really see a limit on what can be made.