[S0und]

> Autodesk or simply get acquired/assimilated

This is not even a question, there is no room to wonder. Autodesk WILL buy and KILL whatever software that threatens its own.

Even in 2008, they just bought and killed one of their competitor in VFX, Softimage. Assuring everyone they wont kill it. This was a big deal. And ofc they killed it, basically telling their customers to go learn Max or Maya.

[Aperocky]

What happens if an open source alternative starts to exist? You can't buy open source.

[analog31]

I think it's an immense hurdle. Sweating all of the tiny details, and encoding arcane domain knowledge, requires a staggering amount of labor.

Also, the users don't care. I work with a lot of engineers. Outside of actual programmers, most people are ambivalent about open source, or still even think the whole idea is weird.

They're not paying for it themselves. If their employer, and competing employers, are willing to pay for it, they're happy. Also, it creates an entry barrier that protects their value.

Changing to a different app is a hardship -- they even hate it when a new version gets installed and breaks all of their work flows, many of which are carefully documented. The top feature request of all institutional software users is: "Please don't change anything."

[jahewson]

You can buy the core contributors.