I disagree to some extent. Modo is nice and to some extent has a decent workflow and I know it can be customized to fit your exact needs, but the default layout is very akward. And I'm not willing to spend $800 and have to learn a new application.

Strata I consider a specialty application. To me it would be brilliant if adobe picked it up simply because it has virtually a photoshop interface. Though I hope they stay seperate, either way they have there niche and are there to stay. The renderer is top notch, and I have yet to see a better flash exporter with the options Strata has intergrated.

Truespace looks to be about to make a big leap. If you look at TS7 and what it entails I think its going to make a splash in the graphics community. Or a plop, hard to say without the full specs, but the realtime display looks top notch as does the virtual pipeline.

As to version 4 of Carrara. Well if you thought it was animation focused...I'd have to disagree. The only thing animation related they added was the new IK setup and constraints. I wouldn't consider motion blur animation related but I'll give you that too. Really it was kind of an all around update with new features and enhancements throughout. Personally I'm waiting until CS5 is released before I make any decisions on jumping ship. I know the application and its been reliable. And I have a good hunch that we all will be surprised.