I heard of Xara through Rich's -Molucca- posts at indepthArts forums (doesn't exist anymore). Although it took me a while to do it, I am glad I did invest time in trying out Xtreme.

I still use E3 for some specialized tasks but Xara is my main vector program and it easily surpasses all others I've tried. I have great respect for all the work *that does not shows* under the hood because it is so well integrated.

The reasons of my preferences are pretty similar than what others have described:

-Speed
-Speed
-Speed
-Simple to use
-Live manipulation of elements (Gradients, fills, etc...)
-Countless little interface gems that make it so darn pleasant to use.

Regard,

coco