I agree the rendereer is largely irrelevant so to speak, being an entity alrgely unto itself--one reason they could go 3rd party without ripping up too much of the plumbing (probably-speculation as you say). As for the rest, it's a judgement call. Folks like the FAA have managed to keep creaky old code running for decades, ditto all those COBOL banking apps that keep chugging along. At somepoint though, I think you have to bite the bullet as support for old tools goes away and you realize that maintaining, much less enhancing code is so much easier when its implemented using more modern tools and techniques. Of course with Poser, you have the added joy of Mac<->Windows, the technology of which I can only imagine has improved a good deal in the last decade or so. At any rate, better them than me, I'll stick to my armchair and watch :-)

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken