No need to upgrade pages!?

Pages v15.1.1 is entirely free without any Apple Creator Studio subscription requirement. Some features of the application are tied to that Studio subscription but simply unavailable to those using the free version of Pages. Pages v15.1.1 does have a File menu in-App subscription purchase for those seeking those features.

Pages, Numbers, and Keynote do not ship with new Macs sold by Apple. They are an optional installation from the Mac App Store. No new, or refurbished Mac that I have purchased directly from Apple in the last five years has arrived with these applications preinstalled.

It would be better if you had asked a question here rather than post an adamant statement without the facts.

AmnonMikeCohen wrote:

I have posted my question, after I saw a complaint by MacUser who was asking to get back to the older application he had.

The last issue of MacUser was in 2015. If you intended to say "Mac user" as an individual, you should have provided some context about that mentioned complaint for clarification.

Before I respond to upgrade/update notes, I want to know I shall not be sorry or locked out from my trouble free use of my Macs.

I have used Macs since 1984, and still use sometimes my older Macs which still are functioning very well.

Everything has a shelf life and "trouble-free" is an aspiration, not necessarily reality, depending upon the age of the hardware, software, and administrative commitment. The older the Macs, the decreasing likelyhood of any Apple service or parts availability.

I am still looking for a reason to update software that is working well, mostly because I do not trust AI and other features being added — without knowing the details of the upgrade compared to the existing capabilities of the applications which had been standard for Apple Computers.

With macOS, it is wise to keep application and operating system software as current as available. Apple does not chronicle the bug or performance fixes though that does not imply they are unimportant. Artificial Intelligence is optionally available on later operating systems for M-series Apple Silicon Macs. You have to deliberately enable it before Apple applications can use those features. Documents do not carry AI backwards to older Macs.

Thanks for the clarification, that I shall not be locked into software suite with applications I had paid for in the past and which I can not use after these had been updated and upgraded.

You are brush-stroking my prior comments. You want constants in a variable universe. Apple is not about position. It regularly introduces change and no one can predict or guarantee what impact that change will have on retroactive document compatibility.