Actually, some of the old models, in my opinion are better and more economical on system resources than the newer ones.  The old Poser people lacked decent, hi-res mapping, but if you're not doing a portrait series what's wrong with them?  I've seen them used as background models quite well--and as I've said with a good map they would even do for portraits if properly lit and post worked.  I use M2 a lot, why?  Because of the simplicity of the model and ease of use.

I've heard the Poser render engine maligned many times.  Can you be specific about what is wrong with it?  What are you trying to achieve that it can't produce?  Can the same effect be achieved through post work?  Below is a picture of the Freak with IBLs I did, would it look better if rendered in Vue for instance and how much better would it look.

Mike J, I don't have an objection to Poser having more advanced features--my point was mainly as other's have echoed what would be the target market and would they use it because it is a "Poser" product?  I guess many of us fear that a high end Poser would stop development of a version that we all could afford.  I really don't object at all, I just want to be able to afford the next upgrade when it comes.  I doubt, as I said previously, buy Poser Pro because I have no use for the additional compatibility modules--unless it has the Quidam module that was earlier promised (I can't afford Quidam, though I'd love it if they had a $100 version I could play with with an affordable Carrara exporter).