Backward compatability

[LeeElston]

Is there a reason it's so difficult for the latest versions of VW to be able to use drawings/files in a previous version to be used as xrefs without having to open them and save in the latest format?.... 

[Art V]

My guess is that it may have to do with the internal (data?) structure of files. In the DWG world Autodesk used to update the file format for DWG files every 3 years, supposedly for technical reasons though it was probably as much about frustrating the DWG based competitors to be competitive.

 

In VW's case there is perhaps also the issue that they are updating core components from version to version to eventually end up with a complete rewrite and modernization of VW without disrupting the use of VW too much. My DWG based CAD program (BricsCAD) did the same several years ago and it took them approx. 5 years to get it done. So hopefully by 2022 or 2023 VW will be running on fast, stable modern code and its tools being essentially bug free and working as they should. (One can still dream, right? Without hope there is no future 😁)