I guess it depends on what you mean by “end of the lifespan”. For most of our customers, they rely on stable, reliable products that aren’t changing every week. So once we hit SR6 or so, we hit the “beginning of usable lifespan” for the version. At that point, many of our customers are happy to continue using Rhino uninterrupted, and uncharged for years.
Those who want new things are encouraged and invited to download the latest WIP and try out the new stuff. We tend to break things during the WIP, which means it’s not always the best idea to use the WIP in production. That said, it’s also the best way to get new tools fast.
As for timing, there’s a lot more going on. I’ll see if I can help make it clearer.
- A year and a four months after Rhino 6 for Windows was released, Rhino is at 6.15.
- We’re actively working to release Rhino 6 for Mac “soon”, though we don’t have an official ship date.
- When Rhino 6 for Mac releases, it will be the first time that we are able to compile and release Rhino for both platforms at the same time. Rhino 6 SR1 for Mac will actually be 6.17 or 6.18 (wherever we’re at with Windows at that point).
- We’re also actively working on the Rhino WIP to bring new features for V7. Details are here.
You’re absolutely right to quote our release schedule as being every four or five years (if you ignore the work we’re doing to support both Windows and Mac). The reality is, we’ve had a major release every ~3 years for the last several releases. Rhino 6 for Windows in early 2018, Rhino 5 for Mac in mid 2015, Rhino 5 for Windows in late 2012.
I say this because I hope that, now that we’ll be shipping Windows and Mac products simultaneously, we might be able to release both more frequently. Only time will tell if that intention becomes a reality - but I will say it has been an intention for about 6 years.
And, we don’t tend to release software on a timeline - we release it when we think it’s ready. There’s a lot of cool stuff coming in Rhino 7… and we want to get it right.