I was wondering if there is a pattern to how long Audacity is usually out of commission for while it is being updated? I am currently in the middle of an important project with a deadline and cannot edit or work on my project. is there a way to open the project files with the older version? any help or comments would be greatly appreciated. 
I am puzzled - what do you mean out of commission? 
Audacity is not a cloud-based application that requires a remote server/web-site to be up nad running. Once you have downloaded Audacity onto your computer and got it running then it should stay available on your computer (unless you, or some automated update service, changes the computer environment).
1.2 projects can be openend in 1.3 - but not the other way around - and once opened in 1.3 and edited/saved such 1.2 projects become 1.3 projects.
Projects that you have in 1.3.x should be openable in any other version of 1.3.y AFAIK
And by the way, this section of the forum is really for folks who don’t like the colours of the forum or the smilies 
- you will get more readers in future if you post in a more appropriate section of the forum. Not many folks visit this little corner - mainly the helper-elves who come by to sweep out and dust from time to time.
WC
mmmk, thanks for the forum tips, and by out of commission, perhaps i used the wrong word. what i meant was it was not working [for me on my computer, or for my friend on her computer. tow completely different projects] and i was assuming that the program was being updated by the programmers. now that i think about it, that doesnt really make complete sense… i have contaced someone from audacity and we are figuring things out. 