That announcement was sent to the Sage Pro resellers this week and my first reaction is it's a great way to make sure users who fell off plan don't sign up again. One reseller also said it seemed to signal that maybe Pro was not being discontinued as quickly as previously indicated by Sage. Sage said the change puts the policy for Pro on a similar basis to plans for other products. But while I think requiring the past years' maintenance might make sense for products that have a clear future, it's not likely to be as appealing on an older product with a questionable life span. I also believe that this practice becomes unsustainable as the online subscription model takes hold. The Sage announcement said "this policy change will protect customers from potential mixed-version compatibility issues that may occur if a customer is not on the latest released version, prior to their purchase of additional Sage Pro products."