Posting this late means I will probably be ignored... don't care.
1. NEW firmware is for NEW product.... read people the new firmware does not say anything about R4DS support. If you want new firmware look at the R4li.com site, which brings up the next question... if they are making official updates for the original R4 what is M3 team doing?
2. For all the noobs that never got the clue, The M3 and R4 teams were closely associated. The R4 team did the software(R4 firmware always came out day or two in advance of M3)... hence when they folded so did the current(at that time) M3 support. The M3 team then developed their own updates, which could be see by the bugs in new firmware. They did manage to iron out most of the issues and when they could not they developed a whole new product from scratch that they knew everything about.
3. Yes I own an R4. I did the research and read reviews and bought one (well) before the cyclo came out, I believe I was in one of the first dark cart batches. No I have not bought another cart. Yes I was saddened to see the R4 name dragged through the mud and cloned to the state it is now. I have not bought another cart because... It still works... true there are issues with several games, just nothing I was going to play anyway. If there had been an issue I might have upgraded before now.
4. I am looking at getting a DSi, do not have one yet, seeing what the hacking scene can come up with... and I will probably get a "i" compatible cart as well. Again I will wait for reviews and sure as hell do the research to get the cart best suited to my needs. Which is again what it boils down to... the needs of the individual. Some need every feature they can get, some need simple support.
5 Final - If the M3 team is taking over true support for a cart that was almost half theirs to begin with, bully for them. Hopefully they can quell some of the cloning by reigning in the name "R4". If they want to try and support, as I see it 5 products, then let them. They will only hurt themselves if they do not maintain the support. There is a point of obsolescence that everything reaches. Some companies see this too early in a business plan and make what they believe is a preemptive move and discontinue support, again this only hurts them. Causing a schism between customer and company and souring a relationship. This however is not planned obsolescence, the difference being that the business model is set in way that there is a product EOL (end of life). That is difficult to plan for in a quickly changing scene, but I digress... Every company wants to make money... that is the measure of success in a capital driven market. So yes product come and go, greenlit and abandoned... it is just business after all.