I bought EQ5 for $30 and it works on my windows 7 computer. I figured if i use it a lot then it would justify spending more for the latest version. So far i am not ready for the upgrade because i don't use it as often as i thought i would. Not yet anyway. I am still new and find myself using more of the common free patterns until i get better.
If you have an older computer and want newer software, you can look into running the software in compatibility mode. Once upon a time i was a tech geek but i haven't kept up in a few years. You can run older programs on newer operating systems by changing settings for every time you run specific programs.
I have a very simple printing program that i bought many years ago for a windows 95 computer and i run it on a computer with windows 7. Sometimes i don't want a million bells and whistles interfering with a super fast simple task.