This learning curve thing is a red herring. If you don't use any of the extra features then P5 doesn't have a learning curve any different from Poser 4. As for the "well known" instability? Umm... no. The vast majority of those who had problems have later discussed that they were solved with SR3 and many of us NEVER had the problems. In fact, it seems that only a fairly small number of people had significant problems. Slow? Poser5 isn't any slower than Poser4 for me. Obviously if I use the ray tracing engien it is slower because, well, its using a more sophisticated renderer. Baseline use? No slower... there is no extra "weight" really - if your not using the features they don;t seem to have any effect ons peed. So .... Speed - the same for the same tasks Stability - the same or better Asset management - significantly better in P5 Rendering abilities - significantly better in P5 (want a real reflection? Better looking shadows? Better lighting abilities? Better looking skin? Then p5 or an external renderer will be needed) In fact, I don't know of a single advantage P4 has on anything but the most underpowered computers.