http://area.autodesk.com/softimagetransition

We regret to inform you that the upcoming 2015 release will be the last one for Autodesk® Softimage®, which is expected to ship on April 14, 2014. Autodesk will continue to offer product support until Apr 30, 2016. We will also provide any necessary hot-fixes and service packs to all customers, at no cost, until Apr 30, 2016. We understand that you will now need time to re-evaluate your production capabilities.

To help you, we are offering Autodesk® Subscription customers special no cost options to migrate to either Autodesk® Maya® or Autodesk® 3ds Max® while continuing to use Softimage in production. These options will be available until Feb 1, 2016. Upgrade paths are also available for customers who are not on Subscription. Although this decision is a difficult one, we do believe that by focusing our efforts we can better serve the needs of the media and entertainment industry and provide customers with better products, faster. Autodesk wants to continue its relationship with you into the future. We regret any inconvenience that this may cause, however we believe you will find our new transition product offerings very attractive.

http://pando.com/2014/02/25/revenge-of-the-nerds-how-tech-geeks-found-a-secret-weapon-in-their-fight-against-big-hollywood/

“Congress has given the ITC broad authority to protect U.S. industries from unfair acts in importation,” said spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield, adding that if the government doesn’t recognize digital products as imports, “American businesses lose an important protection, which puts them at a significant international disadvantage.”

“In other words, emboldened by the MPAA’s filing, the (U.S.A.) visual effects workers are now in a position to use the big studios’ own arguments to compel the government to slap trade tariffs on those studios’ own productions in high-subsidy countries. Those arguments will be especially powerful because the MPAA made them to the very same governmental agencies that will process the visual-effects workers’ case.”