I am not doing animations, so I can not comment on those MikeMoss's proposals. For the proposals form Blackhearted:

Quote - -the weight mapped joints

DAZ-Studio has openend that dance with their Genesis series. Guess Poser will follow now that users see the result. Add my vote for this one.

Quote - -the ability to install content in .zip containers

A long-term favourite of me. Add my vote there, or rather for a full blown install& verification utility for the ZIP's, checking the 'sanity' of the content before adding it.

Quote - -a better JCM system.

  The possibility to make non-linear relation between JCM and joint motions has been there since Poser 7, but few people may realize and even less people use it. See 'Using dependent parameters' in chapter 28 of the Poser reference manual. (well, in the Pro manual it is chapter 28). Compatibility with older Poser versions and, increasing, with DAZ-Studio is something few developers want to do without.

That may also explain why:

Quote - unfortunately, historically those at the reigns of Poser are likely to focus on more flashy new features -- ie: bullet points on the box -- than making core program improvements.

There have been core program improvements. Poser 8/Pro2010 was a major step forward in render speed and stability, container falloff space definitions were added, .xmp product description files were introduced, but improvements are picked up sloooowly by the market.