Ray Gardener wrote:

> What are POV's goals, actually? Does the
> POV-Team have a specific mission statement
> in mind, or do they incrementally review
> and adjust the code on a as-things-crop-up basis?
> Is POV a renderer (method unimportant) or
> a raytracer? Is the goal to produce graphics
> or specifically to raytrace?

I think you may be surprised to learn that the goal of the POV-Team is not
so much POV-Ray itself as much as it is the programming challenges involved
in making it, which are many and varied. The core developers of the program
are either professional programmers who work on if for fun in their spare
time or are computer science students working on it to help develop their
programming skills. That we as a public get to enjoy the fruits of their
labor is secondary to that goal. With that in mind, the development model
of POV-Ray is not clearly defined and is pretty much at the whim of the
developers and whatever tickles their fancy at the time. For a commercial
application that would be a disaster. For a hobbyists toy, and student
learning tool, it is an amazing success.

The above is based solely on my own personal observations and does not
necessarily represent the views and opinions of the POV-Team.

-- 
Ken Tyler

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