Digital BW, The Print

Greetings,

I'm a long time lurker of the list.  Recently I have been searching 
the archives and parsed a wealth of information about IJC/OPM (for 
which I am grateful) and I want to make sure that a few of my 
assumptions are correct in addition to asking a couple questions 
that I haven't seen (or been able to find) answered.

Please note that I never print straight grayscale.  I always print 
(via photoshops facilities) duo/tri or quad toned images, or images 
that have a split tone effect via a color balancing layer.  My most 
often used effect is Duotone Warm Gray and bl 4.  I am getting good 
results with the Epson drivers especially with the newer "more 
nuetral gray" Epson profiles but I really want to know that I am 
getting the absolute best results that I can get, and offer to 
others in prints - and then I desperately want to put the technica 
to bed and focus on my art, not my printer.

If you would, so I don't miss a thing, please reply in an inline 
fashion by writing below the original numbered item.  Thank you very 
much for your time.

1.  If I buy IJC/OPM today for my Epson 2200 will I be able to use 
the same software with an Epson 4000 that I may buy two years from 
now?

2.  I would be using pre-made profiles for IJC/OPM.  If I do not 
have a spectophotometer, and do not plan to buy one, is there a 
particular advantage to using IJC/OPM over the Epson drivers 
(especially with the newer "nuetral gray" Epson profiles)?

3.  I read alot about IJC/OPM's rich toning feature set, but why 
tone with IJC/OPM at all?  Isn't it 100% better to tone in 
photoshop, preview the results via soft proofing and print from 
photoshop? (I'm not trying to be inflamatory but am really curious 
about other's workflows and possible improvements to my art)

4.  It sounds like there is no soft proofing for IJC/OPM, do you 
have to create 10 to 20 prints before you get it right (for each 
photograph), or is the print with the canned IJC/OPM profiles 
reasonably close to the RGB or Grayscale on a calibrated screen (in 
photoshop or other editing software)?

5.  Given my situation as described above, what would be the 
greatest advantage of using IJC/OPM over the latest Epson Driver and 
newest Epson profiles?

6.  Fundamentally speaking, without regard to the individual tank 
control, is IJC/OPM all that different than Epson's gray balancer 
that I struggled with years ago?

Again, I thank you for your time.  If I knew, when I started, how 
maddening this process would become I might not have begun.  It's 
too late as now I'm too close to my goal, and I really appreciate 
your help.