Well I'm not at all your target audience for this question, but this is a standard software issue. The important thing to remember is that we developers care a lot more about software versions than "civilians" do; and the real reason we care is that we know that an up-to-date installation is easier to maintain.
In other words, in the paid software world I expect this is covered under maintenance contracts. The person holding the maintenance contract may or may not be the original developer I suppose - but surely those issues are covered in their agreement.
