But the point is, Alan, if Autodesk changed the LDATA format between R14 and R2000, what's to stop them from doing it again between 2013 & 2014? Granted, there's been a number of years where it has remained unchanged so the likelihood of it being changed again is slim.
Besides all of that, the main reason I posted that quote was for the last line of it "In short, stay as far away from LDATA as you can possibly get.". IMHO, when Tony suggests something it's usually for a very good reason.