Seriously! The Pro division is going down the drain. My guess is that a few years down the road, there won't be much left of MAC Pro. In recent years, MAC has become much more commercial, thus providing easy access to Pro items just means added income.
The same goes for the Pro membership... but that's probably a topic that should be discussed in a different thread.
On the other hand, MAC still maintains a very high profile on the runways. It could be in their interest to eventually do a "relaunch" of Pro, with revitalized products and shades, as a way of maintaining visibility, but it would have to involve some serious rethinking of the price point as well as the products. Also, MAC is going to have to prioritize getting some extra stability in their LE business, what with all the rampant Ebay reselling and customer returns.
I could see it happening, but it would take a definite mandate from the top and some big changes on the non-pro end. MAC corporate's been a little slow, to put it charitably, but it still seems like there's a method to the madness that will shake out in the end. 'Gonna need a little better economic climate to run a professional "artistry only" segment of the business, as the bottom line, but if we get there, it's very good publicity, at the least.
This is straight marketing logic, not kindness towards makeup professionals, though.