The market for standalone modelling apps in today's industry is about the same as the market for standalone rendering apps.  Most people prefer to render where they model or animate (IF they model or animate), just as most people prefer to model where they unwrap, or rig (IF they unwrap or rig).  Seems like the majority would prefer an integrated solution if they are skilled at more than one thing, but if the standalone product is awesome, then there will be an interest in using it.  So if it's a lack of funding that has slowed the development of the software, then these companies only have themselves to blame.

The minute you start to ignore your user base, or slow down the progress of your product, the faster people will start diverting their ttention to the next best thing.   You can't go years without updating your software, if you really expect to stay in the game.  That ship has sailed.

I personally see this update as a bad sign for true future development.  After nearly 5 years of silence, and forum censorship, they finally release a "build", but all they add is Linux support, to bring in some more cash avenues?  It seems like the intention here was secure continued income, in the event their software stops working on future WIN/OS releases.  Does it even have 64 bit support yet?  I really hope users don't have to wait as long for the next REAL update, with some improved tools, added functionality, and definitely more stability. Silo is barely on the radar, and fading fast.

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.