If and When Apple Buys Disney, Will Parks Finally Improve?

[yellowstone7123]

Except their custom marionette animation software is written for windows. They also use Maya in a PC environment , mostly because Macs just do not offer the high end graphics cards required to push that many polygons.

That system in the article I linked to has dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics cards, you should check out the specs on those, they are about as high end as you can get. *I know nothing about the marionette software you mentioned.

 

[FutureCEO]

April Fools Day is late this year

 

[NormC]

Pixar, a company co-founded by apple founder Steve jobs, uses windows pcs.

Pixar a company that existed under another name before Steve Jobs bought it. I do not agree with the revisionist history that he founded the company. I guess it is just semantics used by people to lift Steve up higher on his pedestal. Don't get me wrong, Steve was an amazing and intelligent guy but give credit where it is due.

"George Lucas approached Edwin Catmull at NYIT in 1979 and asked him to head up a group to bring computer graphics, video editing, and digital audio into the entertainment field. Lucas had already made a deal with a computer company called Triple-I, and asked them to create a digital model of an X-Wing fighter from Star Wars, which they did. Even if Lucas decided not to use it, it showed him the potential of CGI. Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith felt Lucas was the right man to work for, and they knew that what Triple-I had done could be done better. Smith went to California for a meeting, that turned out to be a success, and the computer research team at NYIT now had the opportunity to work with computer animation in the movie industry. Catmull was the first to leave, and in 1979 he became the Vice President at the computer graphics division at Lucasfilm.
At Lucasfilm he helped develop technology used to combine multiple images in a convincing way. Later, in 1986, Jobs bought Lucasfilm's digital division and renamed it Pixar, where Catmull became the Chief Technical Officer. At Pixar, he was a key developer of the RenderMan rendering system used in films such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo."

 

[thomas998]

Other than the blogger quoting a 'consultant' who has no inside information, where's the traction?

Oh it gets better, when you do a quick search on the 'consultant' you find that he is some that created a consulting company with some other guy.... and of course if you look their website you see a very flimsy list of accomplishment before you see that he is also pitching his book on Amazon.

So he has as much credibility as a homeless man. If anything he is probably some dolt that has some Disney stock and he is trying to create a rumor to send the price higher so he can dump it and get his money back.

Sorry but I see no real synergy between Apple and Disney at all. At best Apple might be able to get exclusivity of Disney media for iTunes... but that is really about it. Owning a content provider is not what Apple would be expected to do they are a distributor of content not a creator and owning the content would make it even less appealing to every other studio to sign on with iTunes because they would lose trust once the distributor became a competitor too.

Now given Apples apparent new tech stall, I would be expecting Apple to begin their own IBM decline.

 

[NowInc]

That system in the article I linked to has dual AMD FirePro D700 graphics cards, you should check out the specs on those, they are about as high end as you can get. *I know nothing about the marionette software you mentioned.

I am well aware over how powerful those cards are, however NVidia was directly driving most 3D hardware with their Quadro line (not saying the FirePro's arent good, they are). Maya was written mostly around the NVidia systems (have been for a while) and only recently have the AMD/ATI alternatives been given full support. They are fantastic hardware, but its like a cat and mouse with the 2 main manufacturers.

The other huge factor with Mac Pros are....cost. Yes, they are nice..but we here at my studio have been able to build 2 very very capable 3D workstations for the cost of 1 mac pro (of which we have one of those also on the way for our video editing suite). We are a smaller studio, yes..so we have to really be careful when it comes to budgeting, but I do have a few friends in far larger companies who aren't eager to switch everything over any time soon mostly because of a pre-existing infrastructure in place that would cost WAY too much to replace. Can pixar afford it? Maybe. They ARE a large studio, but that also means more computers. I also know that they aren't always eager to update "what works" without exhaustive testing. MacPros are slowly getting back into the 3D industry with newer companies (which sadly there are few of those), and maybe over time when systems needs replacing, on older/larger firms as well. I guess the point I'm miserably failing to make is that one article showcasing how they like the new systems is hardly evidence that they are the preferred platform. Yes they are nice, but with studios closing CONSTANTLY (large and small), a huge cost on something "un-necessary" would only put a nail in the coffin for many.

...i'm just babbling now..lol..sorry

 

[nolatron]

I'd rather see Apple come into Epcot as a sponsor for the Imagination pavilion. For a few years their marketing slogan was "Think Different". I could see the two ideas being combined for a new ride and Apple making great use of the old Image Works area with their technology.

 

[CheshireCat12]

It would be okay if a big company like Apple wanted to sponsor a new pavilion at Future World in Epcot. That's been going on for a while (Kodak sponsored Imagination, Siemens sponsors SSE, etc) Maybe they'd pay for something really amazing! Otherwise, forget it- I don't think Apple will or should buy Disney.

 

[Pumbas Nakasak]

no

 

[yellowstone7123]

...i'm just babbling now..lol..sorry

Babble on, I love tech stuff. Are you doing animation type work?

 

[Cesar R M]

Answering to the title question:
NO!
pfff, they would get worse..
apple will use the might of Disney's PR to claim their products are flawless, magical and impossible to have any imperfections.

 

[PhotoDave219]

For years, rumors have swirled that Apple and Disney would be a match made in heaven. Disney's content needs to move to the cloud and Iger is on Apple's board.

Obviously not knowing the final details or if it's even going to happen, I raise this question. Should Apple take total control of Disney, including Parks and Resorts, what do you think would change from a guest perspective?

Apple is nearing $150b cash, but would have to bring a large part of that back to the US and pay a hefty tax bill to close the deal. With a market cap of $150b today, Disney is still quite large for Apple to absorb the entire company. They'd also probably have to up the bid closer to $200b for shareholders to approve anything gigantic.

Still, Apple is about the only company with enough size and enough cash to even make a deal like this possible. Perhaps a third company or private equity could get involved as well and parks could be spun off? Long story short, would you like to see Disney Parks and Resorts taken over by new ownership in hopes of change?

I'm not sure how much Apple would care about Parks and Resorts, but ESPN, studios, and digital media could enjoy synergies in teaming up with a tech company. I just think Disney might be too big.

So people not close to this situation don't think this is purely speculation, the news has resurfaced and can be read about here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...hy-he-thinks-a-deal-is-frighteningly-obvious/

No, its a pretty awful idea.

 

[NowInc]

Babble on, I love tech stuff. Are you doing animation type work?

I am a digital media artist/animator for a small studio based in south Florida. Sadly most of what I do now are for legal/news use and not film or TV anymore, but there is not enough money In that aspect of the field the last few years

 

[wm49rs]

I don't necessarily see it happening either, but this deal has more traction than just some guy on a blog.

Where?

 

[Magenta Panther]

No, its a pretty awful idea.

Sure as hell is.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

As a CM I find this kida funny because our computers and rides run on Windows lol

 

[Tim Lohr]

The computer systems that run WDW were originally from a company called Sperry, which is now called Unisys, but WDW runs on PCs not Mac... soooo? that might be a problem

 

[WDWVolFan]

If Apple bought Disney the magic bands would become iPhone 5Cs lol

 

[lazyboy97o]

The computer systems that run WDW were originally from a company called Sperry, which is now called Unisys, but WDW runs on PCs not Mac... soooo? that might be a problem

Again, Apple has used Windows for their own operations.

 

[disneyshane88]

First off this could probably never happen. Big companies rarely purchase companies that have the scope and depth like Disney does. Would I like to see it happen? Absolutely not. I don't ever want any company to buy Disney. Disney has the rare trait of being more than just a corporation that only cares about the almighty $ like 90mpercent of them. They actually care to a degree about the customer. That's why I and many love Disney. If apple or any other company bought Disney it would become just another corporation. It wouldn't keep the magic or the service. Yes Disney's service has downgraded over the years, but it is still better than Universal and many other theme parks or even corporations. And this is all in my opinion btw.

 

[Tim Lohr]

Again, Apple has used Windows for their own operations.

I think it would be as much of a P.R. problem for Apple as logistical one. Apple doesn't make massive hard ware systems that run huge infrastructure projects that a complex like WDW needs to stay up and running, they make cute phones and consumer level lap top/desk tops. It's like saying Apple makes snow shovels that then sell to lots of individuals for personal use, but companies like Sperry/Unisys make snow plows for the hand full of companies/governments that need do operate on a massive scale