Chip,

I have to disagree with you.  I feel that the upgrade cost from 7.0 to 8.0 will be the same as an upgade cost to 7.5 and then an additional cost to upgrade from 7.5 to 8.0.  By E-On saying that the upgrade costs will be the same - to me - means that you will pay the full cost of the upgrade whether you do that now (to 7.5 - incrementaly, then again to 8.0) or later (to 8.0 - full cost upgrade - both "to 7.5" and "7.5 to 8.0") .

I cannot see E-On cutting financial slack to people not on maintenance agreements or who do not wish to stay current.  In fact I feel that E-On will make it painfully expensive for anyone wishing to upgrade outside of a maintenance agreement.

I am also predicting that E-On will go the AutoDESK way - yearly full point paid for upgrades.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking E-ON, it's just what I see happening given the way things have developed so far

Cheers....