Originally posted by Mark
True, however, one also has to bear in mind that the development team is an entirely new bunch of developers
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Most of the industry doesn't care about Newtek's problems. They aren't going to hinder their own pipeline waiting on Newtek when the products they need are available elsewhere. While Newtek is taking baby steps to improve Lightwave, the competition is running at full stride and even if Newtek started doing everything right, there may not be time to catch up. There has been a quiet exodus of users leaving over the past few years and the pace seems to have picked up after LW8 started shipping.
More of a danger to Lightwave is Newtek themselves. They seem to be following the same path that Commodore (Vic-20, C64, Amiga) took in the PC market. Like CBM, in the early days of the industry they had a product that couldn't be touched by the competition. Their marketing was terrible but the quality of the product overcame that. The market has matured and become more sophisticated but Newtek, like CBM, has not innovated and kept up. The product can no longer overcome the poor marketing and lack of corporate vision. New users don't consider Lightwave and old users more and more are looking elsewhere. This trend could be reversed but given the statements I have heard from people at Newtek they still believe the problem is with everyone else. So, maybe they will pull out of this course but I wouldn't stake my business on it. As with anything, hope for the best, prepare for the worst.