Bryce is truly a unique 3D app. It is not just for landscapes and sceneries but, as you can see in Renderosity's Bryce gallery, very fit for artistic and abstract work as well.

Bryce is also very alive, judging by the activities in the Bryce gallery, which are almost 4 times more than in the Carrara gallery.

I don't believe there will be any further developments on either Bryce or Carrara. But if Daz3D decided to spend some serious development money on just ONE of the two, my recommendation would be to spend it on Bryce and trash Carrara for good, because Carrara is hopelessly outdated while Bryce isn't.

At this point, and imho, a Bryce 8 would make a lot more sense than a Carrara 9. I will go into this, point by point, in further posts.