BESIDES. Dr. Dropout seems very excited, and he works at SoFo.

5 years in computer/software technology?? Thats too much of anything to predict. For all we know, everyone will have hot swappable hardrives implanted in our flesh... and an HUD burned into our eyes or contacts...

After September 11 I had contacted Sony about possible donations in the aid to victims of the terrorist attacks. The official response from Sony on September 19, 2001 was, in part, that "e-mail of this nature takes time away from those SONY customers who need our product support". and was followed by an ad for a " 'Make It New Today' Celebration!". My response was to call them on this and make many announcements calling for boycott's of Sony' products. Obviously on September 19, 2001 Sony was far more concerned with helping their customers and dealing with important promo such as the "'Make It New Today' Celebration!" to deal with the thousands who had just lost their lives. In response to my press releases Sony late the following day, having a much bigger press department than I do, issued the following statement: "The Sony family of companies will be contributing
$3 million dollars to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund
and another $1 million dollars to a charity for the families of the firemen, policemen, EMTs, and other service workers who were lost." I even received personal emails from Sony employees saying they were 'proud' to work at a company who made donations such as this.

However that first official response to me cost Sony this long time customer. Since September 11, 2001 I have not used any Sony Camera, Sony Tape Stock, or other products. I have personally swayed people away form purchasing Sony products. Sony has now purchased Sonic Foundry? If this is to be true I have no choice but to switch back to Premiere. For audio - well, I guess there is always Cool Edit Pro and Neundo. I can not in good faith suport a product that is overseen by a corporation that had the attitude Sony had on September 11 - 19, 2001.

3333, the day will come that those who control the Internet (and they are working on it as we exchange posts) _will_be_ the distributors and we will have to give them a cut!

WOW....talk about negativity---there is no love posted here!! I have purchased Sony Professional equipment for nearly 25 years from D1 machines to VHS decks- great support, customer service and field engineers- I never had any problems with Sony- other than being somewhat arrogant! Local reps cannot sell their professional line of equipment- it's Sony direct! And I am not saying that is a bad thing! When I built a D1 edit suite... 5 Sony reps and managers flew out to take us to dinner and see if there was anything they could do for us...not a bad customer relation ploy! Sony will not KILL the product! I am sure it will only be enhanced by the Sony name, and SoFo eng will be funded for upgrades and marketing! Yes the price may increase... but you were seeing price increases as is! What is wrong with all you naysayers! Light up...life will be okay! And if Sony/SoFo sees the value in this forum- it will continue on. You will be no closer or no further away from those who will be program managers than you are now!
My only real concern is 3rd party plugins...Sony tends to be proprietary- but we shall see since integration already exists!
Lighten up, chill, relax and go edit!
Mike

> Everybody chill---Dr. Dropout posted in another forum...not to worry.

I have no doubt that Dr. Dropout wishes us well (I wish him well too). The problem is that that has often counted for little under the Buinevicius regime and can only count for less now.

If only Sonic Foundry had never gone public.

Just like when Apple bought Spruce. It looks like they
finally are taking advantage of that purchase with
DVDSP 2.0. I still use my Spruce Virtuoso and it runs
rings around DVDA. I don't know if Sony has any designs
on the DVD side as that software keeps dropping in price.
But you can be sure they will jack-up the price & upgrades
for VV4. And now they also have access to your info that
Sonic Foundry has gathered.

Okay, I will take bets---By this time next year Vegas Video 4.5 or 5.0 will be on the market place---It will have improved media management, support HD, SDI and every other variety of video. DVD Architect 2.0 will be at level with Reel and the Apple product---I will not give odds---straight up bet---Any takers?

Takers.... I am on your side Rex!!

Point 1: Sony bought assets, not the company. SoFo will go its different way and Sony will own the software. SoFo got cash. The stock went up. As painful as it might be, I'd vote my shares in favor of the deal.

Point 2: Sony is one of the world's greatest software companies. (Please assist me in removing my tongue from my cheek.) This is the depressing part.

Point 3: Why does this sort of thing happen? Companies are good at different things and have different world views. It looks like SoFo wants out of the retail software business and to pursue its other avenues. Better for it to get out than to die. That at least leaves hope for the software, if only a bit.

Point 4: Did I mention that Sony is one of the world's great software companies?

Typically, when Sony buys a company, they tend to leave it alone. They generally buy companies that are doing something right and they don't mess with it. There might be a shake-up in management, which wouldn't be a bad thing, but I am virtually certain that they will keep all of SoFo's software engineers right there in Madison and keep them well fed.

Now, if it were Pinnacle that bought Sonic Foundry's desktop division, we'd have something to worry about.

This is not the end of the world. Far from it.

John

No bet, Dave. Have I mentioned that Sony is one of the world's great software companies?

Everyone be clear about this. Sony bought the software and assumed some liabilities. It did not buy the company.

Willfastie - i am not sure I see your point

I agree with John and Will. Things could be worse, however, Sony did NOT buy the human resources of SoFo, only the rights to the software. Does that mean SoFo will continue to develop Vegas under "franchise" to Sony? Or will Sony take over those functions? It could make a world of difference.

I don't really see Willfastie's point either. I could see him meaning that since SONY is so good they have no need for SonicFoundry's stuff and bought it to get rid of it. I could also see him meaning that SONY knows a good thing when they see it and want to integrate this stuff into their own line. Which is it Will?

Actually i disagree with Will. True, the only SONY software i've ever seen is what comes with their digital still cameras, but ... that software is AWFUL. It's some of the most disgustingly user hostile software i've ever seen. What other software do they have? Hopefully it's better than what i've seen. Then again, it would be nearly impossible to be worse.

I'm with ya Rex! Onward and upward only faster with the money flowing from Sony.

It's called $ynergy.

Wow! This is great news for the future of Vegas, the team that built it and most of all for us - the users!

Dr. DropOut now has the muscle of Sony behind him and his team - a powerful combination.


Previously, my greatest fear had been that Sonic Foundry would expire without successfully passing the future of Vegas to a worthy partner. Now, SoFo has chosen a worthy partner in Sony.


Bravo SoFo. Welcome Sony. We look forward to a long, successful partnership between Vegas users and its new home.


Robin

I prefer to see the glass as half full, rather than half empty. Sony didn't get as big and as powerful as they are without having some pretty smart managers. My guess is they saw SoFo had a few really good applications and basically picked them up for chump change. Not meant as a putdown, just that to a corporation the size of Sony, 18 million is peanuts.

I suspect they won't do anything to harm their new purchase and will nurture it to see how it develops. If there is any loser in this I see two. Adobe and Apple. If Sony pumps some much needed cash into this new division, then I suspect the teams behind Final Cut Pro and Premier are going to have a restless weekend and some shakey months ahead wondering how serious Sony wants to support Vegas.

For starters I would look for a BIG presence at the upcoming trade shows plus a word foreign to SoFo, ADVERTISING. In fact I wouldn't be that surprised if Sony spends more advertising Vegas and the other applications in the next year or so then they paid for the division.

Sony has bought a few other media related products recently. Mezzo, a backup utility that was completely hooked into project files in Media100, for example. It could back up a very complex project to tape and then restore just that project. Seems like they DO have designs on media management.

Sony can sell you every piece of equipment you would want for DV except for some things like raid arrays. I think the SoFo package fits in pretty well.

Advertising? How about bundling? Vegas could be packaged with every PD150. Keep in mind that everyone else is announcing new camera products. Sony will be along soon and I think the SoFo products will support all of this stuff. The timing seems good for them.

Sony support and customer relations? Somehow, the (US side of the) company has a policy of arrogance and rudeness. Insult first and then help the customer after he/she escalates to a higher manager. The horror stories are amazing. The Pro division may be different but I know our repair tech had to spend several hundred dollars to get a manual for one of our beta decks. It was exorbitant.

I don't think Vegas will be pushed in the pro realm anyway. Not without raising the price tenfold or more. That implies a lot of new features.

I think Sony will surely get behind the sale of the product. If Sony handles support it'll be bad. If sony tries to make the software totally proprietary that will also be bad. If sony makes a new subdivision out of the products and puts money into advertising, things will go well.

Rob Mack

Advertising money means magazine presence. Which will lead to articles and reviews. SoFo could NEVER get magazine attention without advertising. It just doesn't happen.

This part of it is good.

Rob Mack