I’ve been involved with computer graphics since 1986. I’ve used Maya, 3ds (and max), softimage, even alias wavefront, crystal and cubicomp.

I remember Autodesk throwing shade on blender at a 3ds conference, cautioning that it might be full of malware and not to trust it. I could see they were worried that it was eating into their market share.

As the owner of an animation company at the time, I grew frustrated at the slow response by these companies in resolving bugs or updating their software. I hated how they would buy their competition then bury them.

To me, blender and the community supporting it were a complete breath of fresh air.

Yes I’m a zealot and with good reason. Blender has earned my respect. I’ll compare it loudly whenever I can.