RE: LW - the people who claim LW is dead discount LW releases for similar reasons to why the 2013 C8.5 release was discounted above. I claim no expertise on the matter, just reporting what others say.

You can read griping about LW similar to the above griping about Carrara in various posts in this Blender thread. https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?415295-What-Killed-Lightwave