I've never encountered any issues either, the "outdated" terminology came from the makers of Polytrans.  I have had no problems whatsoever using the 3ds format, especially since it's the only one that autocad exports to that reliably imports into Vue.  I tried argueing that with the polytrans people (who kept insisting that it was limited, outdated and useless in the future of 3d) and finally gave up.  I use it all the time and if I had my way; Autocad wouldn't get rid of it at all.  As far as textures, I don't need them to translate, I map them in Vue, and I really don't need more than 8 characters to define a layer (which is the limit the .3ds format has).  I really do think ultimately this is a play by Autodesk to force anybody using Autocad for 3d (architects, designers, etc...) into using 3d Studio max as their 3d renderer, not that they really have to, 90% of architectural renderings are already using it from what I can see. 

Good to know about Hexagon, you'll have to let us know if it ends up working (the 2007 saved down to 14 and imported into Hexagon path).  It would definately help to know that there's an answer out there other than switching out of Autocad completely.  And Hexagon would make a cheaper file exporter (it does export right??) than 3d Studio Max.

Oh yeah, totally night and day when it comes to Autocad vs Microstation.  The most accurate advice I ever heard was... "think of how you do it in Autocad, and then do it backwards, that's how you do it in Microstation."  I have since forgotten my Microstation training but shudder when I hear of a project that uses it coming down the pipeline.

As far as the network issue, it could very well be.