Tired of Xara running on virtual machine

[dflock]

Don't forget that Wine or Crossover Office will both run on newer (intel) Macs and Xara seems to work quite well under wine.

I'm in the process of switching to Linux and I really don't want to have to leave Xara behind. I tried Xtreme Pro 4 on the latest Ubuntu and Wine the other day and it worked perfectly. I didn't do very much testing but everything I tried worked great and at pretty much native speed too - wine isn't a virtual machine.

The only glitch I noticed was that the transparent areas on all the tool bar button graphics were being filled in black. Looks a bit odd, but it all works and I'm sure it'll get fixed in a upcoming version of wine.

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

[BONES]

GUI drawing problems could just as easily be your Linux graphics driver. I'm so over Linux these days, I have to use it on a fairly regular basis at work but its just using a preinstalled set-up so things usually work. But for home it was just too much effort for too many compromises, much as working on MacOS is, something else I have to do from time to time [thankfully a lot less than I used to in previous jobs].
For me Windoze offers the best of both worlds - a good basic set-up with more than enough tweakability to be sure I am getting the most out of my hardware. Even if Mac hardware was price/feature competitive with PC, I'd still stick with Windoze, whereas if a Linux set-up was as easy to work with as Windoze, I might be tempted to go that way, but in the past 10 years it hasn't come anywhere near to that point.

[eobet]

If you're going to avoid the heavy hitters like InkScape (granted, currently cripped by X11) and Illustrator, why not give them ALL a try:

http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx...&dir=desc&pg=1

There's about 70 different apps to choose from there.

however my dream is an new generation vector editor fundamentally different from exiting products such as illustrator, corel, xara, etc.
maybe apple do this revolution?

Well, there's currently two newly born slightly ground breaking applications on OS X. The first one is DrawIt, which you can get here:

http://www.getdrawit.com/

I think I read somewhere that it doesn't have it's own code for curves, but rather uses Leopard API features to draw everything (Core Image?), which is kinda cool if true. Also, it has some rather innovative feature application, similar to parametric 3D modelling, which I find very interesting.

http://www.atebits.com/software/scribbles/

Scribbles is the second innovative app. The results aren't actually vector based, nor is the way you draw, but internally, all brush strokes are curves, so you can zoom, rotate and scale you drawing all you want. Pretty neat, though slightly OT!

[gnurf]

Dflock - I just tried installing from the CD I just received. Minimal install worked fine, but xara refuses to start with Wine on Ubuntu 8.04... Did you use the downloaded install file, or did you install from CD?

[Bob Hahn]

No positive news on the Mac version I'm afraid. We have a half working version, but right now need to persuade the powers that be that it's worth finishing this instead of adding more improvements to the Windows version. Of course all Windows users would prefer we keep improving the Windows versions instead.

I'm on the verge of switching to a Mac and the one thing that has me chained to Windows is Xara Xtreme. If there was a Mac version, I'd be in heaven. The thought of using BootCamp or some other software program in order to have Xtreme run doesn't sit well with me. It defeats the whole reason for making the switch.

Recently, I even downloaded the trial version of Illustrator CS3 to see what it was like, and it just gave me a headache. Simple things - like their way of editing a transparancy effect is nuts. And the price is even nuttier.

Mac's are advertised as easy to use, fun, and "it just works." Xara Xtreme is like the perfect Mac program yet only available for the PC.

It's not just "a Mac version" - it's millions of possible new Xara Xtreme users. It's worth finishing. Windows version is good for now.

[eobet]

Recently, I even downloaded the trial version of Illustrator CS3 to see what it was like, and it just gave me a headache. Simple things - like their way of editing a transparancy effect is nuts. And the price is even nuttier.

The transparency in Illustrator isn't "simple", because you can create way more complex stuff using it, than what you can (simply/easily) accomplish in Xara. However, once you get familiar with the masking concept, you'll probably find it as intuitive, or even more easy to work with than Xara (I did).

The price is big, because the people who use it do big jobs, where the stakes are bigger, which demands big investments but also do big pay-offs. Xara is a hobbyist tool, so for small jobs, you use smaller tools (yes, I know I get flamed by this constantly, but someone has to be the voice of reason... err, I mean the voice of the non-fanboy around here).

Also, you can get the entire CS3 suite for peanuts if you're a student, and for just a peanut or two more, you can get a CS3 student license approved for commercial work (and again, sorry, but if the job you are doing won't cover a full CS3 license, it either won't require it so Xara will be fine, or you got a bad business deal).

[Countdown when this thread is going down the crapper... 10... 9... 8... 7...]

[handrawn]

I will NOT be going vista [aka 'windows millenium 2']

so either mac or linux - I am coming round to mac - so I would like to see this developed too.

Eobet - I agree with your comments on illustrator, however :

there is no such thing as a 'hobbyist' or a 'professional' tool - only hobbyists and professionals - both at liberty to use what they choose - a true professional could draw on a wall with a burnt stick... if that was the effect they needed...

[pauland]

a true professional could draw on a wall with a burnt stick... if that was the effect they needed...

Well, I'm not really a professional, but you have summed up my drawing ability.. ;-)

LOL

[handrawn]

a lot of different definitions of a professional - to me its someone who produces to spec taking on board changes and on time - no more no less, whether they can draw or not - heck they could even sub-contract it [and notice I did NOT mention being paid - that is not necessary in my definition ]

[sunland]

Those who are thinking of switching to Mac should not let the fact that there is not a Mac native Xara stop them. Parallels and VMware Fusion are excellent virtual machines. I have been running Xtreme on a low end Mac Mini for a year and a half with excellent results. The only penalty is adding 15 seconds or so to the time it takes to launch Xtreme, which not a lot to pay in the over all scheme of things. The cost for a VM is not high, $80 and you can find deals for around $50, so I say go for it.
adios
sunland