Adobe never announces the release date in advance. But CF evangelist Mark Takata has hinted that it would be in the first half of this year. And of course a driver could be that pending loss of core support (updates) for cf2018 in July.
As for your other question, I'll leave that to Adobe or others to answer the specifics.
But in general, the new version is offered at an upgrade discount off 50% of the full price, though only to those who are on the previous version (cf2021 in the case of cf2023. People on cf2018 or earlier would pay the full price for cf2023.) So paying instead 25% each year (for the typical 2 yrs between each release) is simply splitting that cost.
And they typically offer more specific true "support" benefits for those who buy that, so it seems a good deal for those who are committed to going to each new cf release, which is indeed a high percent of shops (despite the constant assertions of cf's demise for the past 20 years).
/Charlie (troubleshooter, carehart. org)
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