decible

I'm waiting on my Apprentice CD to come in the mail, but I'm confused on a few things. I know that Houdini has many capabilities, from modeling to, compositing, to particle systems. What I don't understand is what most houses ACTUALLY DO USE IT FOR. Now I'm not knocking Houdini, especially since I've never even used it, but it seems to me that since there are other applications that focus on character modeling/animation and that seem to be more widely used, Houdini would have to have some sort of niche market that uses it for a specific purpose. I've heard that it has very strong particle systems. Is that what most places use it for?…particles? Its just that you never hear about people modeling characters in Houdini. Also, how long has it been around? I hear people saying that its a fairly “young” program.

Someone please fill in some of the mysterious blanks for me. I hear about high-end companies using Houdini, but I'm clueless as to what, exactly, they use it for and why.

Thanks,
Dustin