It's really infuriating because it effectively means that new DAWs or other other apps can't host VST2 plugins unless the developer happens to have a license an

It's really infuriating because it effectively means that new DAWs or other other apps can't host VST2 plugins unless the developer happens to have a license and a copy of the SDK (Steinberg doesn't issue any VST2 licenses anymore!). Considering how many VST2 plugins there are which will never see an upgrade, this is really an unfair disadvantage. Of course, Cubase will be the last one to drop VST2 support... Some people have rewritten/reverse-engineered the VST2 headers. Steinberg claims this is illegal, but I'm not sure this would hold up in court. Finally, the whole VST2 debacle is a great example of why people shouldn't put all their trust in a single company and why industry standards need to be open!