FWIW, I buy a LOT of software on eBay that is several versions older than the existing release. Most software upgrades these days -- and unfortunately this includes Vegas -- don't give you that many useful new features. So, you can often get a program for 10% of the current release. If you do need the new features, the upgrade price is often quite a deal. So, this can be a great way to save a few dollars.
And, I agree wholeheartedly that Vegas 4 was and is the ultimate Vegas release, a thing of great technical beauty and wonderful utility, with an amazing array of new features. Nothing before or since was quite like it.
> Most software upgrades these days -- and unfortunately this includes Vegas -- don't give you that many useful new features.
LOL, if the truth be told... I don't think I use a single function in MS Excel that I didn't have in Visicalc! (I use to teach Visicalc on the Apple ][+) and I swear I don't use any functions in MS Word that weren't in my original copy of WordStar (but I am happy to not use those Ctrl+ command anymore) ;-)
I don't use any functions in MS Word that weren't in my original copy of WordStar (but I am happy to not use those Ctrl+ command anymore) ;-)I actually wrote macros to make Word behave like Wordstar so I could use those Ctrl commands. In fact, I even set up Vegas so I can use some of those same shortcuts (i.e., Ctrl-A in my Vegas setup moves one event to the left, and Ctrl-F moves one event to the right, just like the Wordstar word-left/word-right reactions to those same keystrokes).
As for Visicalc or 1-2-3 vs. Excel, I mostly agree, although I have used the multivariate regression, linear programming, macros, GUI interface, and many other features that Excel has that those others didn't. However, there isn't one single feature that I use which Word or Excel have added since the mid-1990s, and there is no way I will ever purchase the latest versions which completely destroyed the user interface, seemingly on a random whim.
Once again, thank goodness for eBay and the ability to get older versions of these programs.