i think the question of who would make the new figures is kind of moot, though.  frankly, i don't find V4 a step forward from V3.  i find the content for her a step forward.  i find there to be some useful improvements in V4, but honestly most people don't take advantage of them.  mainly, the community makes the same sort of art and same sort of products we did with V3.  so i don't really see a compelling community need for a better figure than V4. and to me it looks like DAZ has plateaued on their female figures.  i mean, cool new stuff, but just as many losses as gains.  imho, M4 is way better than M3, but i feel the same way about David.

i've been going through my runtimes recently, and the main improvements have been figure independent.  more detailed textures with less artifacts.  more texture sets with bump, specular, and displacement.  better clothing topology.  clothing with more features.  none of that needed a new figure.  a new figure needed those benefits to make people walk away from hundreds or even thousands of dollars of collected content.

i'd love a much more realistic figure than V4 or M4.  i could do tons with it.  and i certainly think the market exists for such a figure.  i will do my best to support any quality new figures.  i totally endorse efforts by any and all to fill the niche if and when DAZ leaves Poser behind (and yeah, i've thought this was coming since DS was announced, too).  but all this talk about what a new figure would need to do seems beside the point, because the majority of Poser users don't need as much as they have now. 

and i think Netherworks is right about people not changing their minds.  if the traffic here were getting lower, or the DS forum was more popular, i'd say that the Poser community couldn't survive on its own.  but as it is, better than V4 is dessert.  i mean, we all love dessert, but we don't need it to survive.  if V5 doesn't support Poser well, i suspect about as many people will switch to DS as totally boycott DAZ in a fit of pique.    and all those Poser users will use V4 until something better comes along.  breaking the figure upgrade cycle, but not the content upgrade cycle. i very much doubt that no one will make new V4 textures if there's still a big market for them.  same goes for clothes, props, etc. 

content drives the market, but the figures aren't the primary content. they're just part of the platform.