Backwards compatibility has become an anchor in the sand for many developers. Often negatively holding back things to increase market share. But I'm sure someone who swears by Poser 7 would see things quite differently.

That's one advantage of the combined software platform and content marketplace that Daz3D has implemented. It removes the cost barrier of infinite version upgrades keeping most users on the most up to date version of the software platform. Which allows content creators the freedom to create for the newest version and latest capabilities, with confidence that the take up rate is high and rapid by the users to the latest version. Combining this with giving it's PA's immediate access to the latest development tools at zero cost is a game changer, well at least for me it was. :)

I remember with some Poser content I had created many years ago being instructed to open files in a text editor and change the 9 to a 6 quite mysteriously. Which at the time I did diligently just to keep as many users as possible happy. It seemed strange that the application itself would just refuse to open a file based on a single digit in the opening text lines even if there was no inherent compatibility issues. It did display a certain disconnect with Smith Micro and Poser content creators. Also I never really did understand why a material preset belonged in the Pose folder though at a guess I would say it stems from Mat Pose terminology. A straightforward content/runtime library structure is something that still seems to challenge both sides to this day.

Unfortunately the backwards compatibility concept seems to have fractured the Poser market even further forcing content creators to either create for the newest and latest or dumb down products for larger market appeal. It's is quite a hard one to solve for the Poser community, especially as the rate of dramatic change seems to becoming quicker and quicker.

Ironically I was speaking with Stonemason recently and he mentioned that something he often purchases is pose sets as he finds it's much easier to buy a pack of poses then to spend time trying to create them himself. Just goes to show that demand is quite varied for different types of product depending on the skill set of the end user.

I have to admit I have never appreciated that giving DS away for free meant everyone stayed up to date but it is clearly an advantage.   I am sure that a Poser 7 user would see it very differently and I can understand why.  Backwards compatibility can be a two edged sword it that it keeps users spending on content but it can lead to market stagnation.  My own spend in 3D content has remained much the same in the last few years but I only really buy the newest Poser content that makes good use of Poser 2014 features.  The rest of the Poser spend goes on the products that are backwards compatible but I spend less than $5-6 per item.  A very large chunk of my spend now goes on Vue content and that spend is increasing even though I always look to spend on Poser content first.  

Maybe my requirements are different but I just can't find enough 'modern' Poser items that appeal to me each month.  It bothers me that my spend on Vue content is going up while my Poser spend is going down.

 

 

I use Poser 13 on Windows 11 - For Scene set up I use a Geekcom A5 -  Ryzen 9 5900HX, with 64 gig ram and 3 TB  storage, mini PC with final rendering done on normal sized desktop using an AMD Ryzen Threadipper 1950X CPU, Corsair Hydro H100i CPU cooler, 3XS EVGA GTX 1080i SC with 11g Ram, 4 X 16gig Corsair DDR4 Ram and a Corsair RM 100 PSU .   The desktop is in a remote location with rendering done via Queue Manager which gives me a clearer desktop and quieter computer room.