I am afraid this is a wasted effort, because we’re gonna have fanboys regardless. Human development stages guarantee that. Like, we are all fanboys of stuff at a certain age, because we all go through adolescence.
Maya and 3Dsmax don’t get so much (immature) fanboys, because not all adolescents can whip out the necessary cash.

From my experience Blender has gotten the persisting bad opinion for one reason, and this article is just a generalization of it. The reason is as follows:
“Blender is a piece of software with an impossibly difficult interface, medieval features, and it’s labelled by its users as the best thing ever.”

There. Instant stigma for life, just add zealots. And this attitude has been passed for generations amongst the users of other software packages (mechanism is called ‘peer pressure’)

But changing this is not only in advertising and promotion – it’s in professionalism and development. Look at the dev fund, Blender Foundation manages to keep up with just a fraction of the budget the commercial software has! How cool and awesome is that?

I think that the best way to serve the community is NOT to BE (this or that), but to DO. So many people voicing out opinions, and the Blender Dev Fund is stuck at €1935 monthly. So much cool development going on, and I rarely see the devs get any financial support from the community.

Why not highlight that? Why not get a ‘best features in development’ vids once in a while? Personally, I was really looking forward to the voxel engine for Blender that was under development by Farsthary. Before he was snatched by the Pilgway team to work on 3D Coat, that is.

Direct your efforts strategically. Use all your resources in the most efficient way. Ranting is not doing it right >:)

Well said Jonathan, but I must play a little “devils advocate” , After over 20 years in the graphics industry, I’ve tried a few software’s in my time and seen fanboy fanatics amongst the software communities of my choice and of competitors products…3DS Max and Lightwave spring to mind. C4D was a pleasant community, as was Modo, but the Modo developers do get involved with the community, although something did upset me with the release of Modo 301.
I really liked Modo (and it’s community), but at that early stage it was buggy…with 301 they introduced “pay for” demo download with no free demo option. I just thought that was ridiculous as a registered and supportive user since version 1, for a number of reasons. I left Modo, to find something else to use…and I did, but not Blender. I digress…

Jonathan, I WAS like many – for many years, I installed Blender, then a couple of weeks later delete it, because I was baffled by it’s workflow and interface. Blender created it’s own bad rep (the interface) for many years, that put far more people off using it, than any fanboy, or group of fanboys could.

So lets fast forward – I decided to install 2.6 after hearing good things…again! WOW! What a change – impressed at the advancements would be an understatement! I could see that compared to a few years back the community had also evolved nicely as well. It’s sites like this one, that help repair bad reputations, that I feel, have been caused by the software itself in the past (not that I want to blame Blender pre 2.5 for it’s ills, it was a powerful software, but with a GUI that looked like it had been cobbled together during a coders lunch break).

Fanboys are everywhere (as mentioned in posts above), but are certainly not a threat to Blender…in fact, I’m sure Blender will go strength to strength, at a pace never seen before. The changes post 2.5, with the resources available, such as this site, not to mention the pace of development, put it at a high level…certainly on a par with many established, commercial tools!

Did I really make a point…I’m not sure? I know I babbled a lot, just to say – fanboys or not, I’m glad to be part of the Blender community, and am sure Blender has nothing to worry about.

In the end we are all artists ever inspired by things around us. It doesn’t matter what type tool we use but what we make the best of with what we have.

I think in the past, free software’s user interface hasn’t been real user friendly. And sometimes,even confusing. Blender was that way up until 2.5.

I tried it out before 2.5 when I was learning a bit of 3ds max & AutoCAD and was turned off by the interface. I too, was convinced it was sub-par. But, when I no longer had access to AutoCAD and 3DS Max, I decided to look into free alternatives and Blender again. Man, was I blown away by 2.5. Between Blender 2.5 and Blender Cookie I was back to learning something I love to do. It wouldn’t be possible otherwise. And not to mention all the advancements that have come to blender since 2.5 was introduced.

I think that’s how many who favor Blender over other packages feel. Fanboys, just let their enthusiasm get out of hand. They see a tool that let the little guy get his foot in the door when the expense of the other packages shut them out. Blender shows that it’s possible to think outside the box. That innovation can come from sources other than powerful companies. And that with some vision, drive and the right people, big things are possible.

Be a fan, but never a fanboy,

Regarding a specific brand of ‘fanboy’:
“The scenes I witnessed at the opening of the new Apple store in London’s Covent Garden were more like an evangelical prayer meeting than a chance to buy a phone or a laptop.”
— Alex Riley, writing for the BBC

Fan != Fanboy… got it?