'I know that feeling. I paid $2500 for Lightwave 6.0 witch never worked right crashing unusably. Then patch 6.0a, a replacement disk, patch 6.0b, four changes in computers, and, an upgrade to 6.5 and failed to work. (Correct OS and SP included.) They never would do more than a walk through the installation. Jerks. Finally 6.5b and OMG it finally works two years later and now Lightwave 7.5 is out at $1800. $1800 now for 7.5! Life sucks. :(' Well its less than that now, and places like sharbor currently sell it for 1250 and ALSO include a great learnng set which on its own sold for around $500. 3D Companies are doing this due to the fact the market is squeezing and things are changing (unless you name is Discreet and you dont give a damn about your users that is). Most of the older products that are given away free on the mags, can be picked up 'legitily' on ebay for 1/4 going price, stuff like truespace 3 was available direct from Caligari for $99 (think still is), granted there sales idea is all geared to you buying a older vesion, liking it and upgrading to the newest which there is nothing wrong with.