(linux) I got LMMS to load VSTi

[next to nothing]

If you can afford Maya then why not run it on a Mac which as I understand is Unix based or am I missing something?

I know maya is expensive, but running it on linux cuts the expenses. Also, you are more free to run it on whatever hardware you want (as long as it supports linux ofcourse, which most GFX hardware does).

Music always takes a back seat to visual arts. When was the last time a composer got top billing over an actor in a movie?

Wrong comparison as i see it. You should compare it to the GFX/CGI department. Also, musicians/artists gets royalties from soundtracks.

[kensuguro]

well, the true power of graphics and linux is because most production houses have in house engineers who write custom software for animation/FX, etc. And linux makes it extremely simple since everything is practically running in a developer's environment. But again, this is with a full team of phd math freaks who can sit down and implement the differential equation to drive a particle system to simulate a ocean + the water vapor created from strong winds on waves.. all in a day's work. (k, I'm exaggerating) It's not something all individual users can benefit from.

In the end, it boils down to the trade off between tweakability (programability) and functionality versus ease of use and the lack of functionality. Linux always tends to lean towards ultimate tweakability and ultimate functionality, but trading off almost all usability. A powerful team of geniuses (with lots of free time) can cover that, but not everyone can afford that.

[braincell]

CGI must truly be in it's infancy if engineers are required to write software for each new movie but still I know for a fact they also use a lot of standard software. No computer graphics artist uses just one program.