Moho Forum

The Moho user community is disoriented.
What is SM's official position about Moho's future?
What is being done in relation to the next version?
What is being done regarding the updates of the current version?
Two years ago I tested almost a dozen animation software and without doubt the AS/Moho is a program that falls in love. It was my choice.
I am currently developing a Moho training program in Portuguese, and for me it is important to know the future of this application.
My wish is to make Moho so popular in Brazil, as it is today the outdated Flash.
I think the other users have the same interest in knowing the position of SM about Moho's evolution.

I would like to know the same things.

Dale

I think the former developers of MOHO are no longer being informed about the future of the program. That means that no one with any inside knowledge at Smith Micro are going to be found on this forum.

You could try emailing your questions directly to Smith MIcro's public relations.
Smith Micro EMAIL: pr@smithmicro.com

I think the only confidence we can have now will come in the form of a point update
As long as there is a buy button next to it on the SmithMicro page, they will probably be "dedicated to Moho's future development blah blah blah" or something along those lines

If Smith Micro is not going to enrich and cultivate the Moho software, they should give up the rights to it and allow it to prosper elsewhere. The software is way too good just to let it exist without any further investment. I hope they give an official word of what their intentions are (since they severely reduced the Moho development team) so we can have peace of mind and know if Moho will still have future updated versions with full support.

Unfortunately, I don't think any of these things are going to happen. Like most people on this forum, I've used a wide range of software over many years, and not once has any software company been forthcoming over future plans (probably with good reason). Neither have they offered any reassurances over the future. They just don't do any of these things - I don't think they can. My somewhat pessimistic conclusion is, as users, we will be the last to know. Good or bad.

Mike Clifton posted on Facebook:

Christophe Kloussing, VP at Smith Micro has made himself available to answer queries regarding Moho. Please feel free to reach out to him directly at ckloussing@smithmicro.com

I sent the following mail last week but received no answer so far:

To: ckloussing@smithmicro.com
Subject: Future of Moho

Dear Mr. Kloussing,

Thank you for your kind offer to inform Moho users about the future of the software. May I suggest that you answer the most frequent questions in the Lost Marble forum? I can't imagine you have the time to answer each one of us personally.

Will Moho be developed further by Smith Micro? Is a development team in place and working? Is the shake-up at SM a sign that the software will be sold or discontinued? If a version 13 is planned, what sort of pricing should we expect?

It's hard to imagine a new version being introduced by someone other than Victor Paredes, I was especially sad to learn he is no longer part of the Moho team.

These are the main concerns of the Moho community as I understand them. We appreciate your time and effort in answering these questions and wish you the best.

Sincerely,

Just seen some adverts (few weeks old) from SM for Software Engineers (and others) in Braga, PT (Portugal)
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/289594342/

"We are currently looking for a Lead Software Engineer to work on our Graphics division! Are you passionate about graphics and 2D/3D modeling and animation software? Are you a C++ guru that loves solving complex problems? Would you like to work on world class products?
We are opening a new graphics division at our Braga office and we are now actively recruiting for our flagship products Poser and Moho. We work in a relaxed and fun environment, and we offer great benefits and perks. Come and meet us at the Braga office!"

Main Responsibilities
- Design, develop and test cross platform graphics applications.
- Analyze customer reported issues, support and maintain existing graphics products.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to help define, design, and ship new features.
- Analyze complex requirements and propose suitable architectures and technologies.
- Develop and maintain associated services and technologies required to run some of the graphics division products.
- Provide technical leadership to less experienced developers (technology, architecture and patterns).
- Participate in code and design reviews and drive overall quality of the engineering team
...
Skills And Experience Requirements
- 5+ years experience in C/C++.
- Extended experience in graphics software development.
- University degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering
- Deep understanding of the graphics/animation industry
- Good English speaking and writing skills.
- Experience developing for Windows and OS X
- Experience with Objective C, Python or Lua, HTML 5
- Experience in Maya, Lightwave, Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max
- Character rigging
- Image processing
...

Thanks for the detective work, Sam. Great benefits and perks (what are perks?), that's why they fired their functioning team. Let's hope for the best.

Perks are "perquisites", kind of an old-fashioned word meaning a benefit on top of pay (like a company car or such). I guess Smith Micro have their reasons for advertising in Portugal...

Following on from SimplSam's research, I have uncovered the following:

http://www.smithmicro.com/company/news- ... obilemagic

So it looks like Smith Micro bought a company called iMobileMagic last year, and are handing over all development responsibilities to them. So on one hand it's a classic case of sacking the American programmers and outsourcing to a cheaper country, but on the other hand, we have a fresh new team that's hungry and eager to prove themselves. And also has expertise in the mobile market, so maybe we will finally see Moho on our phones.

The fact that Smith Micro is using an existing team rather than letting Moho wither on the vine is really good news, and they are advertising for a new programmer to run things so that shows they have faith in the future of the product.

I feel bad for Mike, having his "baby" adopted by a new family in a different country, that must feel awful, but hopefully he'll be able to cash in by selling his expertise back to them (they'd be stupid not to ask him).

From what I hear, it is easier to get technology grants in Europe than the US, so maybe Moho will actually get more money pumped into development than previously.

I am optimistic, but there may be a bit of a delay before Moho 13 is released while they get everything sorted out.

JaMike wrote: From what I hear, it is easier to get technology grants in Europe than the US, so maybe Moho will actually get more money pumped into development than previously.

I am optimistic, but there may be a bit of a delay before Moho 13 is released while they get everything sorted out.

Maybe someone on the forum is more knowledgeable than the rest of us - from what I can find Europe is weak on venture capital once a company is out of the start-up and into the growth phase. So it's guesswork about Smith Micro's strategy or whether they have one.

Last thing animators need is Moho mobile, that would be the end of it for pros.
Mobile apps are fast buck strategy.
Moho would be little more than a flash in the pan ( no pun intended) game and will become as distant a memory as Amiga before too long.

Of course this is all silly hypothesis, my opinion reacting to supposition... don't take the above comment too seriously.

chucky wrote:Last thing animators need is Moho mobile, that would be the end of it for pros.
Mobile apps are fast buck strategy.
Moho would be little more than a flash in the pan ( no pun intended) game and will become as distant a memory as Amiga before too long.

Of course this is all silly hypothesis, my opinion reacting to supposition... don't take the above comment too seriously.

Ok having said that, we know that windows is going cross platform and a 'surface' pocket sized computer and phone is on the way ( probably a bifold screen).
That means it will run windows 10 natively, so an adaptive UI for moho with a superfast workspace to display , might be what Moho receives first off the rank.
If that was the case then it might be that all users will benefit greatly from such improvements. Mogile did I say mogile, I like that... developers are generally REALLY good at maximising graphic output while using less resources. If the main guts of the program also keeps moving forward and doesn't get paired back then it could be a great thing.

My sceptical muscles are clenching ,while my optimistic muscles say 'don't panic'.
Unfortunately my optimistic muscles are rarely correct, but in a big wipout, never clench.... relax.

chucky wrote:... but in a big wipout, never clench.... relax.

Failing that, keep a several pints handy.