I tend to think POV-Ray will die without a mainstream open source model. I've
been somewhat worried about the project myself. I love POV-Ray. I don't enjoy
the Blender + Python thing. Nothing wrong with Python, but this pairing just
doesn't compare. It isn't POV-Ray, or really even close.

The trouble is that people don't know about POV-Ray like they know about open
source tools. The people who started using POV-Ray are now on OS X or Linux.

Creative geeks with a penchant for coding? Are they perhaps under-represented in
the forums these days? People don't poke around forums for software they don't
use.

POV-Ray is stuck in the old free-as-in-cost model. THAT USED TO BE A GREAT
MODEL. I got my first copy of POV-Ray on one of those BBS archive CDs. The
computer world isn't like that anymore. People who like free software are on
Linux. Artists are using OS X. They didn't used to be. Linux isn't the alpha
geek platform it used to be, and OS X isn't the (don't kill me old-school Mac
lovers. I am one too) toy that MacOS was. There are a lot of young linux users
who don't use POV-Ray because it's not in their package managers like Blender
is. Mac users are largely familiar with open source.

POV-Ray has the potential to be very popular again. YES, blow open the source.

YES YES YES!

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