We are planning on keeping a 9.3 version on a separate machine so we can use GeoRAS as needed.
I believe we will continue to use HEC-RAS. It runs independently from GeoRAS. Since HEC-RAS is at the core of the Corps' Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) work, they will likely continue to developed it.
Also, there is a new RAS Mapper feature in the latest version of HEC-RAS that might aid in presenting results using a "flt" DEM. I have not used it myself, but a tech in our office has looked at RAS Mapper and it seems to work; though I don't know how well or how the results can be transferred back into ArcMap for display purposes. (Is HEC moving to make its own GeoRAS type tools independent of ESRI?)
I have no insider information. However, I suspect the costs associated with ERSI's continual changing of ArcMap, (not just upgrading, in my humble opinion), and the economy, etc., the Corps can't afford to keep throwing money at ESRI to upgrade GeoRAS and GeoHMS. ArcHydro is ERSI's baby and so ESRI will likely keep that updated.
If I may vent... If I were in the private practice, I think the licensing costs for ESRI products and the cost of training and retraining users would be killing me! Though I like some of the new features in v10, having to re-learn the editing tools, how features work, etc. (the frustrations of losing Map Book for something that lacks some of Map Books features for example) are tough on my budgets and schedules. In other words, forget finding a replacement for HEC-RAS and GeoRAS (free software by the way), is there a competitive alternative to ESRI products? --- There. I'm done.
