Sales Agility has already expressed its intent to keep Suite CRM free and updated. However, they ARE a commercial operation so they, like you, need to follow the money, to some degree.
Most of us understand that and can work within that framework.
The need to go with a “single” theme was explained elsewhere on this forum. The old Suite R and Suite 7 themes were discrete components and required too many resources to keep them all updated with the new features being added in 7.9.x and beyond.
However, SA has also announced its long-term support for 7.8.x and the Suite R/Suite 7 themes. You just won’t have access to these newer features (e.g. email) by staying with 7.8.x.
While the main gripe with 7.9.x appears to be the “look”, it is a relatively easy css fix and free solutions have been offered elsewhere on this forum.
I am a little surprised that you have not devoted some of your resources to “fixing” what you don’t like about the styling of Suite P.