Very true on both counts, not very helpful or pragmatic, but I can’t argue with that.
Again though, look at those that have migrated from Cubase, when reading most forums on the reasons, the dongle is USUALLY mentioned. If my business was losing customers because of this, I would address it and quickly, because if you look at where Cubase is in the cost hierarchy of DAW’s, its pretty near the top, and whilst each has their own unique take on doing things (which, as I said earlier, fits in with me as it is where I started), if others start out and want to get into this legitimately, they would look at the cost and also the dongle as being a negative factor, so what else is going to bring them as new customers in?
And don’t bother with the Artist or Elements arguement, people getting into a piece of software these days don’t want to pay for a cut down version, they generally want the full fat product, and I would guess in most cases they would get a cracked version, they learn it and if they make money, they then buy that.