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As others have pointed out, web browsers are developer tools. Just because other people also use them for other things doesn’t mean they’re not core to develope

As others have pointed out, web browsers are developer tools. Just because other people also use them for other things doesn’t mean they’re not core to developer's workflows. GIMP, Inkscape, and LibreOffice aren’t competitive with their commercial alternatives. Which leaves Blender, which is the exception of a high quality open source tool that’s not for developers. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, and I think they’re two reasons it exists: 1. The comparable commercial tools are very expensive, e.g., thousands of dollars per year, versus a bit over a hundred a year for something like Photoshop. 2. Developers have a particular affinity to 3D modeling, e.g., it’s the biggest gatekeeper to various types of development like games programming and AR/VR. But I agree 100% that Blender is a fascinating exception, and I’d love to hear more theories about what’s made it so successful.

extralegos 7y ago
Blender is the sole exception, but the very vast majority of the CG industry used closed source counterparts because Blender still does not compete with Maya and Houdini, especially the latter. Blender had recently made some massive improvements and that is definitely starting to change, but this is happening alongside CG artists starting to write scripts more and more, slowly becoming developers themselves. And realize Blender hails from the Netherlands, which maintains a uniquely socially favorable version of capitalism. Projects like Blender would surely have a much harder time being pursued anywhere else.
aloisdg 7y ago
Blender is also used by a lot of gamedev.
FemmeAndroid 7y ago
A notable thing for me as a very light amateur user, was that Blender (up until the recent 2.80) felt very foreign when compared to professional tools. It is an incredible accomplishment, but it had a notable learning curve, even if you had experience with other commercial 3d graphics software.
Torwald 7y ago
> 1. The comparable commercial tools are very expensive, This was specially the case when blender was new and AFAIK command line driven. In those days a SGI machine alone was more expensive then the car of the average Blender user.

extralegos 7y ago

Blender is the sole exception, but the very vast majority of the CG industry used closed source counterparts because Blender still does not compete with Maya and Houdini, especially the latter. Blender had recently made some massive improvements and that is definitely starting to change, but this is happening alongside CG artists starting to write scripts more and more, slowly becoming developers themselves. And realize Blender hails from the Netherlands, which maintains a uniquely socially favorable version of capitalism. Projects like Blender would surely have a much harder time being pursued anywhere else.

aloisdg 7y ago

Blender is also used by a lot of gamedev.

FemmeAndroid 7y ago

A notable thing for me as a very light amateur user, was that Blender (up until the recent 2.80) felt very foreign when compared to professional tools. It is an incredible accomplishment, but it had a notable learning curve, even if you had experience with other commercial 3d graphics software.

Torwald 7y ago

> 1. The comparable commercial tools are very expensive, This was specially the case when blender was new and AFAIK command line driven. In those days a SGI machine alone was more expensive then the car of the average Blender user.