I must say it is frustrating when a "new" release of the ESRI software requires re-building and re-configuring customizations of previous releases of ArcMap or other ESRI products.
I just wrote a editing widget for ArcInfo to be released in a month, and ArcGIS 10 has completely redesigned it's interface and user workflow. I'll have to go through the entire user-input and redesign again, followed by any new changes to the code.
A few years ago, the JavaScript component of the ADF model was changed from one version to the next, making weeks of code useless.
I know we have to keep up with changes in technology, but having to rewrite code to adjust for new versions and "better" ways to do things does not make financial sense for my customers footing the bill for me writing these things.
Then, these new versions introduce new issues. By the time they popped up and we've adjusted our code to work around these things, a new version pops up - fixing those issues, and introducing more new issues.
I know that complaining about it doesn't help matters, but perhaps future releases could support older code a bit longer. Overall, I spend too much time trying to make old code work with new versions, than learning and creating new products.
