Cakewalk do provide tech support and customer service for old versions, just not any more patches. I dunno, the X1 cycle was about 20 months, with a whole bunch of patches over that time. I don't feel ripped off, myself.

Neither do I...

Ditto.

Best version EVER - by a long margin

Bristol_Jonesey


Ditto.

Best version EVER - by a long margin

I ditto your ditto!

And you ask how many companies do, and I can only answer that by the "professional" software that I use in my "day job," which is AutoCAD, and that is supported, I think, something like two versions back from the current version. Having said that, the support and bug fixes you get from Autodesk is well known to be dire at best.

 
Funny you should mention that...   I work for a fairly large software company that happens to be a competitor in the same industry (ever hear of MicroStation?).   And yes we have, on occasion, released a patch after a newer version was available.  However, we're talking about software that runs a few thousand $$ per license, in addition to a yearly subscription program in order to access updates.  It's a whole different ball game...    And Autodesk is even bigger.  
 

I've become quite attached to my X1D Expanded over the last year..., and don't intend on moving on to X2 just yet. I jumped on board the X1 train at version C, so if that's any indication, it will be a few major patches before I do move to X2. But I'm itching... 

how about they just fess up & call it the subscription model it is?

stevec

And you ask how many companies do, and I can only answer that by the "professional" software that I use in my "day job," which is AutoCAD, and that is supported, I think, something like two versions back from the current version. Having said that, the support and bug fixes you get from Autodesk is well known to be dire at best.

 
Funny you should mention that...   I work for a fairly large software company that happens to be a competitor in the same industry (ever hear of MicroStation?).   And yes we have, on occasion, released a patch after a newer version was available.  However, we're talking about software that runs a few thousand $$ per license, in addition to a yearly subscription program in order to access updates.  It's a whole different ball game...    And Autodesk is even bigger.  
 

As work I am an ESRI user. They support earlier versions, but you are unlikley to get bug fixes for older versions unless its something really serious that is impacting a major client. Again we are talking about a huge company selling 5 figure software with some huge corporate and government clients.
 
Cakewalk could support old versions by adding sustaining personnel, but prices would rise dramatically as a result, and sales would fall and......

Yup...   the AEC world is way different than DAW land.  While there a few more expensive DAWs like Sequoia or Nuendo, they're still not in the same league as typical higher end CAD/modeling/data management tools.  The $$ involved in that industry is on a whole different level...
 
Anyhow, it looks like X2 is where all the focus is. Right or wrong, good or bad, it is what it is.  And I personally, I like what it is.  
 

Alegria

I've become quite attached to my X1D Expanded over the last year..., and don't intend on moving on to X2 just yet. I jumped on board the X1 train at version C, so if that's any indication, it will be a few major patches before I do move to X2. But I'm itching... 

Don't wait too long... While there do seem to be a couple of wrinkles to iron out here and there, I would say that X2 is basically X1D Expanded with some wicked new features (lanes, pc fx chains), some big improvements to existing stuff (matrix, the LP plugins) and a whole slew of really nice interface refinements (autozoom and timeline zoom), plus the extra candy (console emu, breverb, th2, R-mix), and on the whole very nearly as stable out of the gate. It's really hard not to say you're missing out by holding out...