no. because the 001 is one of the older hardware units from Digi anyway. Every company ends up phasing out their equipment at one time or another. A company can't develop new hardware and also be expected to maintain their older hardware for forever. Technology changes and you can't expect your older hardware to be compatible with the latest processors and software that is out there for forever. Pretty soon even PCI cards won't be supported anymore in computers.
The 001 had a good run. It was THE LE unit for many years, then Digi made the 002 and said "okay, we're going to go this route now people. We'll support the 001 for awhile, but soon we'll have to concentrate on our newer systems."
I shouldn't have mentioned the Mbox in my above post. So far it's still compatible with the latest version of Pro Tools...even though you can't buy it in store anymore. But don't expect that to last forever either.
You pay for the major upgrades. The rest have been CS updates and minor fixes. Awhile ago I paid something like 30 bucks to go from 5.1 to 6.4. Upgrades on my other system to 6.9 were free. Then they released a crap load of more options for 7.0 and you did have to pay for that. Then 7.3 was the next major update you had to pay for. However, no one said you HAD to have this upgrades. Just if you wanted more options and features you did. It's just the way Digi does business. If you don't like it, don't buy PT. But I don't expect a company to give me new features for free.
I know about the certification courses

But again, you don't HAVE to go through the certification courses. I know many engineers who have never done them and still know Pro Tools very well. However, I myself have done the certification courses and am glad I did. I learned in a very short time A LOT about Pro Tools and although it didn't guarantee me the job I have now, it sure helped me prove myself in the studio. I was asked at the interview if I knew how to use Pro Tools, I said I had taken the certification courses and the boss took that as a yes. I could have well just lied about it, but I probably wouldn't have been able to handle my own in session if I hadn't. And at least I can call items in Pro Tools by their correct name. So I'm not calling it the "A-Z" button around other engineers

There are lots of smaller studios around town with Pro Tools setups and engineers working them who just learn as they go. I've gotten several calls from these studios with questions on setting them up or how to fix something.
I'm certified in both post and music...and have taken all the way through the 210P/M. And I've considered the expert courses, however they're not as easy to find where I live. I passed all my classes and passed all the certification exams. Only having to do the 210P exam twice because I was 2 questions away from passing it the first time. You'd be surprised at the minute details they expect you to remember. But it didn't cost any extra, I just had to retake it. I don't know if those costs are quite accurate...but maybe so. It was all just lumped into the rest of my recording classes.
Funny you went on a rant about the certification courses. They're only optional if you want to learn more about PT. You can just grab a DVD, the manual and an LE setup and probably learn the same. But you wouldn't get hands on time with an HD setup and all the Digi accessories. Everyone learns a different way though.