Honestly, how many people remember all the previous editions? Generally speaking, a new edition usually has a couple years update in the
"And so it came to pass" history, and a few rules fixes. There were some changes from 1 to 2(mostly the change to damage code, and making
priorities lettered, not numbered). A few other changes from 2nd to 3rd., then 4th completely redid everything from the ground up. Now,
all RPGs go through multiple editions. Look at Call of Cthulhu, where, really, to my knowledge, there are not any major differences between
the editions. For Shadowrun, I was still using Shadowtech and Fields of Fire all the way into 3rd edition. A 5th Edition of SR is inevitable. The best thing they could do is start planning it YEARS in advance..I mean, I would love to see a game with 2 years or more of play testing and then open beta test...
(I would also like to see a return of Grounding and more random initiative passes)