It may be premature! Crazy as it sounds, but the lighting software of today reminds me of the first
level of object oriented programming that we saw in the early 90s. It may seem strange, but what is holding it back is simple lack of demand. Look at modern graphic programs like Photoshop. The depth of features blows away anything we have in this business. The difference is that the program is marketed to millions of users, so millions of dollars can be spent on development. A high end lighting program would only be marketed to "hundreds" of customers. It is much the same with a lot of the business software out there. There is one other
holdback: We all know PCs crash. The thought of that type of lockup in the middle of a show is enough to
send ice water down your spine! We can live with the fact that all controllers have some dedicated
operating system doing it's thing in there, but the sight of the Windows
logo on boot-up is like seeing the headlight of an oncoming train when we are stuck on the tracks! (
MAC is not off the hook either!)
The whole thing reminds me of my years in the electronic service industry. Every other business had adopted computers, but not the electronic service industry! Shops were still pushing around 6 part NARDA forms even when I retired in 2002! When I developed ESM (Electronic Service Management), I had a hard time convincing servicers to adopt an electronic format for claims processing! "We don't want no computers around here, we know how they work", was a
line I heard many times. (yes, I would
point out the double negative.)
Back on topic, yes,
Ethernet is the new standard or will be soon. It will be interesting to see the adoption rate, but I suspect I will still be seeing
DMX 15 years from now!
(Another quote comes to mind: "In 10 years, you won't even be able to find a VHS tape!" - Sony rep, 1982)