Just 5 min ago I was in the situation that I downloaded an example VI from an NI support forum. I double clicked it and I got the message that the LabView-Version that was used for storing the VI is newer that my LabView version 😞
Most likely the VI could run without problems on my old Version (LV2009).
What I suggest to get around this kind of problems are two things:
1) create a web-based service (maybe only for registered users) where users can upload single VIs or ZIP-Files with a complete program structure. The VIs should be converted to the selected LabView version and send back to the user together with a conversion report.
2) integrate this service into LabView: If the user tries to open a VI that was stored in a newer LV version, LV should connect (after user confirmation) to the NI-Server for automated VI conversion.
