Quote - While not necessarily easy to find, 7.4 features have been posted on their feature comparison page for some time now. 

http://www.e-onsoftware.com/products/vue/vue_7_infinite/index.php?page=14&BaseProduct=Vue%207%20Infinite
It's getting more and more clear, the Infinite line is for professionals who can afford the subscription plan. To this end, they have made  pretty decent offer:

Pay now for the maintenance plan, and get immediate access to the 7.5 beta (by all reports suprisingly stable), then when 7.5 ships you also receive it. And then when 8.0 ships, you also get it as well. All for $395. Not too bad. And if you don't want any of this, then they will be rolling many of the 7.5 features into 7.4, which is a free upgrade to 7.0.

I have the beta 7.5, and it's not a rewrite of the whole application. Furthermore, I seriously doubt they would rewrite the whole application for 8.0, especially when they are talking about it being a free upgrade for those who purchase maintenance plans.

Chip,

I agree with most comments that it is acceptable pricing for what you get with the upgrade/subscription plan. Some people complain about their pricing of the program itself being unreasonable or out of line, but as I have stated before, I really don't think it is. The reason I say this is because e-on like most other companies are having some hard times right now and it may take a good 5 years or so to turn things around. Companies such as e-on that make specialty software feel it even more so because 3D art programs like it are not as mainstream as say Photoshop that has a lot more resources. Therefore, if they want to keep their head above water then making it the price it is for the high-end versions is understandable and so is the subscription program which I find within reason too. Otherwise, we may find ourselves going without for a while until another company buys them or takes over the program fully.

In terms of the re-write you mention, I do know that for a while now there has been some brief talk from e-on that version 8 may have an overhaul. To what extent it is not yet known or revealed, if they were even to do so with the downturn. Companies like this typically have only a couple of core programmers that are full time with others hired as needed. That is why I don't think too much may be done in time for version 8 like they may have thought before the economic downturn.

Jeff

Development on: Mac Pro 2008, Duel-Boot OS - Snow Leopard 10.6.6 & Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit, 2 x 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon , 10GB 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT.