As an iPF5000 owner, I can't speak for others, but I can speak for myself.
My worry is that Canon will adopt the same policy that they have with their cameras. Namely, that once a model is replaced NO further firmware updates are ever issued for the orphaned models unless a gross bug is found. To my knowledge, it's never happened.
I also worry that this abandonment will extend to the "PC Side" software as well.
If the documentation, firmware, and software for the 5000 was mostly bug-free at this point, this would not be much of an issue. But there are still some serious bugs in the firmware and software of the 5000.
When the 5000 was the flagship 17" model from Canon, there was some (slight, I'll admit) hope that the firmware and software for the unit would continue to be updated and that some of the bugs would be fixed. Now that the iPF5000 is effectively out of production, hope for serious consideration of existing issues is dimmed considerably.
I expect new models to replace old models. And I don't expect that the new features of the new models will be retrofitted to or backwards compatible with the old models. But it is a bit discouraging to feel that existing and ongoing problems will now be ignored even more than they were when the model was in production and presumably they cared about what prospective buyers might think.
What real incentive does Canon now have to address these unresolved problems with the iPF5000?
Maybe it's just me, but I believe I hear the distant sound of a door slamming shut...
Jim H.