-
Xara acquired by MAGIX
Today Xara announced that is has been acquired by MAGIX AG - a German software company. I'm posting this to try and answer the most likely questions that arise from this;
How does this affect the future of Xara products?
Mainly it means no great change. Xara Group Ltd has simply had a change of owners. The company will continue to operate as before, and will continue to develop Xara software as before. Indeed the management of the company, the day-to-day operational control, product design and development teams remain as before.
However Xara will develop product to be supplied both under the Magix brand and the Xara brand. So future versions of Xara Xtreme, for example, will be available under the Magix brand (which is aimed mostly at the consumer market) while Xara will continue to aim at the higher more professional market.
So what are the benefits of this move?
This move not only brings greater financial resources and stability to Xara, but will also greatly enlarge its user-base. Magix is the number number one retailer of consumer graphics, audio and video products in Europe, and a large player in the US as well. This means for the first time in 10 years that Xara developed products will be available from retail outlets throughout the world.
This in turn means we can invest more in R&D and accelerate the development of Xara Xtreme, both easier to use low-cost consumer versions and higher-end professional versions.
Why is this different to the Corel deal?
This is fundamentally different. That was a licensing deal we did with Corel 10 years ago. We had a product that competed against CorelDRAW, so in the end Corel always preferred to promote CorelDRAW instead of CorelXARA. Magix have no products that compete with Xara's. There is no conflict of interest.
Magix are a growing, very successful, profitable company. They go back just about as long as Xara, but have been more successful in their sales and marketing. They ship millions of units into the retail channel per year, around the world, which is an extraordinary achievement. They are looking to Xara to help improve their product lines, specifically in the photo and vector graphic areas.
Magix seems very focussed on low-cost consumer products, so what does this mean for future versions?
Well Xara has also focussed on low-cost consumer graphics software with the likes of Xara 3D, Webstyle and Xara Xtreme so there's a fit there. But Magix also develops and sells some high-end professional products (e.g. www.samplitude.com) and the model will be similar for Xara in the future.
Most members on this forum know and believe in the superior usability, performance and value of the Xara products compared to the competition. Our main problem, as mentioned many times on this forum, has been our lack of retail distribution. Well that problem is about to be solved.
I think this is a real opportunity for Xara to expand and accelerate development in the future.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Wow - my congratulations for a great deal, Charles!
I think, this is the right way to bring Xara Xtreme into Media Markt or other retail stores.
Kudos to you!
:) Remi
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Global marketing can make Xara products a house hold name :)
Will this affect the open source project?
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Straight from the horse's mouth.
Thank you for taking time out to inform us.
'Tis good that MAGIX has no competing products and that its existing products, like Xara's, are competitively priced.
I hope this works as intended and further development becomes even more efficient.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Charles, I really hope you're right, but I feel like I've just lost my best friend.
Allison
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
I hope this will not slow up the distribution of the CD. I too feel like I have lost an old friend, proud of the fact the company was British . Time will tell how good the change will be.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
A big sighhhhh.
My two favorite pieces of software Xara and SketchUp have passed ownership within the last year or so. I respect Charles' judgement/business sense so I leave it to him and pray (a term I don't often use) that Xara software will be better off a year from now than what it is today.
That said, Charles I hope this will eventually mean a new bitmap editing program that is Xara-like in easy-of-use, code-effeciently, speed, unique approach, and implimentation.
>> And same question as Bill Taylor, "Will this affect the Open Source Project?"
>> Fur unser Deutsches freunden, kennen sie Magix? Can you tell us of your experiences with their software?
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Charles,
Firstly congratulations to yourself (and Kate) on a personal level. You have invested many years of contribution to this software and deserve the rewards.
On a users perspective I must admit to a far greater trepidation. As a user of Computer Concepts software for many years, I am a "dyed in the wool" Xara fanatic. I've followed the program into Windows (from RiscOS) and the disasterous liaison and subsequent 'divorce' from Corel.
I've also been frustrated by the lack of further developmemt in recent years only to have been encouraged by the change of pace within the past twelve months.
However life is all about change and I wish the new company well in it's endevours. It is adopting a very loyal user base and I hope it appreciates this and want's to develop it further.
Could you possibly give a link to MAGIX site so we can be sure which company we're dealing with.
All the staff at Xara should also be mentioned. I hope each and everyone of you find satisfaction and contentment with your new employers.
To quote Allison:
Quote:
Charles, I really hope you're right, but I feel like I've just lost my best friend.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Quote:
Originally Posted by
amoore
Charles, I really hope you're right, but I feel like I've just lost my best friend.
Allison
I wouldn´t express myself better... That´s exactly what i feel...
This type of news always scares me. First was Adobe buying Macromedia. I´m still praying for Fireworks (fortunately seems they will keep it :) and now Xara.... sigh ...i´m still shocked!!!
Seems there´s nothing more to be bought in my fav software list by software giants.
I hope this is for the best and that Charles and all original Xara team keep working/developing Xtreme because that´s the group of people that has made Xtreme the tool it is today: the best vector graphics program around.
Congrats to all
PS: Egg, the company is Magix AG. http://www.magix.com/
They were known mostly by their music creation software, specially Magix Music Maker. In recent years they have expanded their software portfolio to imaging and video products. I still have my old Magix Music Maker laying around but I hav'nt touch it in years.
Miguel B.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Egg the link to samplitude.com is the professional audio division of Magix.
And of course http://www.magix.com takes you to their home page.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
And here is the link to the news posted at Magix AG:
http://site.magix.net/eng/investor-r...ecialist-xara/
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
:eek: I think I'll have to take some time to let this sink in.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
From the linked press release:
Quote:
Jürgen Jaron, CEO of MAGIX AG: "With Xara we are expanding our customer base in the UK and US. At the same time, we are adding strength to our photo segment with powerful photo and graphics solutions."
I'm trying really hard not to have flashbacks to the acquisition of Canvas by ACD.
Oh well, I guess only time will tell. Best of luck to all those involved.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
It's scary news to me and I would just hate to see future Xara X development shelved because of this. Then again, with this change Xara X should have a bigger chance being discovered by prospective buyers. If it sells - it will be developed I would think (it only makes sense, no?)
Can't fault Charles for this, I'm sure he did what made the most business sense. It's tough times in many areas.
As mentioned earlier, I'm also curious as how this will affect the Open Source Project?
Risto
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
What can I say?
:cool:
"Oak trees can start producing acorns when they are 20 years old, but sometimes can go all the way to 50 years for the first production."
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jclements
>> Fur unser Deutsches freunden, kennen sie Magix? Can you tell us of your experiences with their software?
I own two products from Magix: "Video deluxe plus" and "Webradio deluxe". The software is good, has a lot of features and a nice look and feel. There are also other video editing packages available here in Germany, but I prefer the products from Magix.
The products from Magix are very well known here and that's the great point with this deal: You'll find their products in large retail stores like MediaMarkt/Saturn, there are a lot of computer magazines with large advertisings from Magix and a lot of tests of their software products.
I would say, their public image is positive and they know how to do marketing. In my eyes it's a great decision from Charles to go with Magix.
Remi
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Quote:
Originally Posted by
remi
I would say, their public image is positive and they know how to do marketing. In my eyes it's a great decision from Charles to go with Magix.
Remi
Yep, totally agree, good software for a reasonable price.
Just like Xara products are. I have been using Magix Music Cleaning
Lab for many years now, to clean up my vinyl records before
burning them to CD. And my cassette tapes. And music studio,
but an older version it was still so good. I didn`t feel like needing a new one.
So I have confidence in Magix.
And congratulations with the new move.
And I know that my new magix logo`s were good, but that they were going
to buy the whole company just for that, who would have known <lol>:D ;)
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...t=24011&page=3
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jedfrechette
I'm trying really hard not to have flashbacks to the acquisition of Canvas by ACD.
Is that what happenned? I thought they had just folded or something.
Anyway, from the Magix press release it sounds like a very positive step for all of us. Xara will remain a separate division which indicates that they have little or no intention of interfering with the important stuff. This should be seen as great news by we customers, I think.
The company I work for was acquired by Autodesk [the world's 4th or 5th largest software company] 8 or 9 years ago and it has mostly been very good for our product development as it has allowed us to take more risks and spend more time brining new products to market than a small company can afford. On a personal level, it was much better when I worked for Discreet than it is working for Autodesk but fundamentally it has been a big win for our customers.
One thing though, I'm impressed with the figures they quoted for Xara. I always worry that companies of this size will simply fold so it was good to see that Xara is in fact a fairly solid business. Congratulations Charles and co.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Talking about the audio products from MAGIX: their Samplitude (www.samplitude.com) and Sequoia are among the best audio apps one can buy. The audio engine has a very high reputation in the industry. Many audio engineers e.g. prefer it over Protools and espcially Sequoia is used in the broadcasting area and for Classic Music Recordings, due to its supreme sound quality and processing/editing features.
Some of you may know the Vienna Symphonic Library (http://vsl.co.at), which was edited with Samplitude e.g.
So, the consumer oriented "MAGIX Music Maker" is actually a stripped down version of Samplitude. One can say that Music Maker's audio engine is better than the one in Protools ;-)
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Quote:
Originally Posted by
parahandy
I too feel like I have lost an old friend, proud of the fact the company was British . Time will tell how good the change will be.
To me the Britishness of the product was a big point as well. The fact that it worked better than any other for what I require was the main point of course and I hope that will carry on being the case.
An Indian company has just bought British Steel, the Chinese are building cars in Birmingham and the Goverment seems to have been bought by President Shrub. The corner shop and Xara were all I had left to hold on too, I really hope its successful.
Derek
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
This is the globalisation Masque..
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Quote:
Originally Posted by
masque
To me the Britishness of the product was a big point as well. The fact that it worked better than any other for what I require was the main point of course and I hope that will carry on being the case.
Britishness? Okay this company was still british.
But since most companies nowadays work with shares
you actually never know who really owns them.
Quote:
An Indian company has just bought British Steel,
Corus, which wasn`t even totally British anymore since
they merged with the Dutch Hoogovens, and now it is
in other hands, and who knows in what time they are in other
hands again.
Quote:
the Chinese are building cars in Birmingham and the Goverment seems to have been bought by President Shrub. The corner shop and Xara were all I had left to hold on too, I really hope its successful.
Derek
Welcome to the corperate world.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Well my concern is that I realy want Xara to stay focused being a tool for the professional users, competing mainly as an alternative to all the domintating Adobe stuff out there.
I always try to use Xara extreme Pro over Illustrator CS2, it's faster and easier, and after the great Pro upgrade the PDF even works nicely with most of my printhouses. What if the next upgrade is going toward lowend improvements??? elp!
Perhaps a (god forbid) Adobe takeover would have been a better solution...making Xara something of a advanced mix between Photoshop and Illustrator!
Anyhoo - done deal, let's hope something god comes out of this!
/ Roland
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
I never liked Magix software, it was always bloated with consumer-junk and nonintuative, honestly. But... now I like Magix software... :D
The money I understand, and the R&D drain. Now that will be different, we hope. My main concern is as long as Charles stays, I'm happy. Anybody this involved and attached...? indispensible.
I hate to be a broken record, but I've had too many software products with (excuse the caps) A DEAF EAR to the customers. And you tell them, "hey, youre losing market share because you just keep plugging away in a tower, and the customers are saying this is !@#$, and still you send a "dear sir/madam" letter, and say that you dont respond to forums, you dont respond to newgroups, you have a suggestion email that you never act upon... And still, nothing is done.
How ( I hope I can say this as an American :rolleyes: ) bloddy refreshing it is to have a leader at the helm. A leader who can lead, then follow ( ideas, imput, market trends etc, and customer sentiment ). And then lead again.
So from a Yank, God save the Queen, the good Xara empire, and Charles. In that order. But all VERY close... :D
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Sounds good to me. My first introduction to Xara was, CorelXARA and I bought that in a retail store. That's how I found it. If it wasn't in the store, maybe I would never of found it. I would of probably learned another program and just stuck with it.
So to have Xara in retail stores and competive pricing to go along with it too, it could only help Xara's exposure and user base. If Xara had a weakness, that would be it.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Roland the next upgrade will be towards lower end - which you should expect anyway because we've not updated Xtreme recently, so that's the next one in line to get an update. The enhancements we're making are of a general usability nature. The plan is there will be a point upgrade to Pro at the same time so both versions will get the same improvements.
We said at the launch of Pro that both versions would go forward, Xtreme at the lower price point and Xtreme Pro at the higher - and that's still our plan. And given that Pro is just going out the door right now, as I speak (write) in fact, you shouldn't expect any major update to that version in the short term.
Going forward we hope that the expanded development resources will accelerate both versions. But remember it's not quick to recruit and train people into Xara Xtreme development.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
In this new context what will become XARA LX.
I suppose that linux developpement project is definitively dead.
PFX.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
I am excited by the thought of better distribution and more R&D to expand.
Glad to hear the current company will remain in place. Hope they do not try to merge operations in Germany stranding your employees.
Several times now I have gotten attached to software that is bought out by or merges with other companies. After the merger the products become watered down or change so much in flavor that they no longer have the thing that made them special. (Jasc's PSP to Corel DRASTICALLY changed that product).
Xara Xtreme and Xara Xtreme Pro are a JOY to work with being faster and cleaner. Simply addictive. Never felt that from Adobe's products. Hope this move does not take that away in the long run.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Magix doesn't have the best image, to be honest. Even though their top-of-the-line audio editors are indeed among the best, their money-makers definitely are the those cheapish lowerend stuff.
Having said that, it's obvious that a company that can sell cheap consumer packages like hotcakes must have done something brilliantly right.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Congratulations Charles, Kate and team, I'm sure that this will benefit the masses greatly.
I also hope the MenuMaker and Xara 3D will recieve more attention. They are both long overdue in regards to development.
Anas
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Charles' comments about only 2 versions of Xtreme don't bode well for the open source version. Nonetheless, it would be nice to get a straight answer about its future after the deafening silence of the last couple of months.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BONES
Quote:
Originally Posted by
jedfrechette
I'm trying really hard not to have flashbacks to the acquisition of Canvas by ACD.
Is that what happenned? I thought they had just folded or something.
One version of the sad story goes: Deneba got bought out by ACD who more or less looted the Canvas codebase to improve their lowend products. A couple of minor updates were released as new verisons but as time went by less and less attention, and almost no promotion, was given to Canvas. The most recent version was released in 2005 and there have been essentially no updates or bug fixes since. Just before Christmass you could buy a copy of Canvas or 200 shares of ACD stock for $100. Even as abandonware I think Canvas was the better deal.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Congrats Charles and the rest of the Xara team! :)
It's hard to compete with large companies when your company is small. So it's a (strategically) good choice to seek an alliance with the big companies, even though it means the product loses its "Britishness" as it was so well put by others (even I was proud of that and I'm not even British).
I hope it works out alright and wish you good luck.
And as Bill Taylor and jclements said, I too am wondering if/how this affects the Open source project.
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Sorry to be so late with my congratulations. I was trying to take the day off and just checked in! :o
I know there is a lot of concern that Xara may not continue to develop. But how can such a fantastic program not continue? And how can such a fantastic program not continue to improve to the point where it will give Illustrator a real run for its money? :)
Gary
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
"general usability improvements" oooh yes for a xara xtreme owner that sounds VERY good to me!!!
i knew something fishy was happening when i got that great magix video editor deal- a great prog too!!
RonC
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
I for one welcome our new MAGIX Overlords...
Seriously though, this sounds like good news all around, even if the only thing that changes is that Xara will be in more retail distribution channels. I don't know if that will happen outside of Europe or what, but even if it doesn't, that's still tons more exposure to great software by the general public.
I also imagine that the new exposure and the backing of a larger company will indeed allow for more innovations in the already awesome Xara software packages.
Congrats to the Xara team!
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Congratulations Xara! This is a great opportunity to show off your products and show the world on what they missed out for the last couple years.
I'm curious though, does the deal include for MAGIX to have full access to all sourcecodes written by Xara?
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Hi Nostaw,
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nostaw
I'm curious though, does the deal include for MAGIX to have full access to all sourcecodes written by Xara?
Why not? Magix is the new owner of the company. But would you show all 303 employees from Magix the source code (99 of them are marketing people and not developers)? Certainly not. Only the Xara developers need access to the source code. And access to the powerful assembler code of Xara's kernel is surely access restricted to only one or two core developers within Xara.
Did you analyze the source code and the documentation under http://www.xaraxtreme.org? It's interesting to learn some intern details of Xara Xtreme.
Regards,
Remi
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
It all sounds very promising: more capital, more marketing, more distribution. It seems to be a radically different deal from the old Corel deal, so we don't need to entertain such worries. I'll be rooting for Xara in their forthcoming battles with the Krauts -- mostly. For maybe, just maybe, the logical Krauts can bash some of the more annoying British eccentricities out of our dear Xara? :-)
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Perhaps we can continue to inspire magix with our artwork and letters.
They have layed their hands on a golden egg and are already into
creative softwares so I`m sure they are keen on keeping this
creative tool buzzing, I think were only seeing the start of a great
climb for Xara.
Unlike microsoft when they grabbed expression and
aneasthetized it with 40 kilo of morphine. But thats a great company
and I don`t run one so I`ll shut up. :o
-
Re: Xara acquired by MAGIX
Congratulations to the deal, Charles. May the move be beneficial to all.
Cheers, Anders