If you want to become a freelancer or start a studio or you already are a studio (pixar etc) Maya has become the only choice, the same with Photoshop.
There a few things that all Softimage users, should digest. Autodesk will tear apart Softimage piece by piece and add it to Maya, therefore making Maya the ultimate 3D application. I don't believe that Autodesk will ever put node based system in Maya as with Softimage. In all honestly, it didn't grow as well as they thought it would, and it's not as though they didn't give the Animation / Visual Effects world time to accept it, they gave years and it didn't take off, look at Houdini which is all node based, although it is a great concept, but for the animator or the guy working in a basement is can be intimidating.
One thing I've read over the weeks, you can do so much with ICE, in Maya you need a R&D department, I don't agree with this. There were some ICE compounds that required a fair bit of time to create anything worth while, the same amount of time to create a script, maybe even more time.
Everyone knows about Photoshop, the same way everyone knows Max or Maya, does everyone care to really understand these programs, no, do most people care to pay monthly subscriptions to clouds or pay the hefty price tag of thousands of dollers for Maya or Max, no. Sure there is piracy, and artists can sprout out from the usage of pirate software, but how many really do, I'd say up to 5% and that is stretching the numbers. Photoshop and Maya / Max are not light programs to master in a few weeks, or by taking a course.
With the recent annoucement that Softimage is an EOL product, it is expected that some will venture a different path, whether it's Houdini, Modo or hold on tight to there beloved Softimage. Although the only other program I can see surviving with some hope is Modo, Houdini will continue down the same road it has been going.
Autodesk decision is based on internal discussions as well as the fact they are competing against one of the fastest growing open source 3D programs on the market, Blender. Blender offers everything in one package, that is why I believe Autodesk made the decision to release Compositor / Toxik for Free. I don't personally think Autodesk finds The Foundary a threat, considering the large studios who have been using Maya for years and and have molded it to their pipeline.
The good news is Autodesk is slowly waking up to solo / small studios and you can thank Softimage for this, and with this they are slowly molding Maya to cater to this clientle with the help of some of the larger studios.Lets just hope that with the high yearly subscription fee that Autodesk wants for Maya that we see Extension Packs & New Releases that make it worth the money.
For those still debating what route to take, I think the time to make your decision is now, the softare you choose is waiting for you as a new user who can showcase what you can create with their software, stop delaying and lock it in today.
![Autodesk Design & Make Report](https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/1350519iCB55845EBFC43016/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999" "Autodesk Design & Make Report")