I came from early Bryce, then early Poser, then Carrara 2. I have kept all updated but Carrara  (5Pro) is by far the main app. Silo1.4 and Hexagon are my two favourite modelling apps--now that I have a better computer, my choice for modelling is strongly to Hexagon.

I have tried most apps, and own Lightwave (latest version).  Carrara realy is user friendly.

Carrara needs very little updating and, when the Hexagon crashing problems are cured ( amazed at how much other modellers also crash though!) the Carrara/Hex combination will be hard to beat.

In fact in balance of cost/versatility/good cheap plugins/simple work flow ---etc I have not found an app close in worthyness to Carrara . And little, if any, modelling I need can, really, just as well have been done in Carrara.

bwtr