I first saw the new interface on Web Designer 6, so have been using it for a few months. I didn't like it much at first, largely because I'm well past 40 and, quite frankly, as eyes age dark text on a light background is much easier to read over long periods than light text on a dark background. However, if you press Ctrl Alt Shift S you can get the old format. In the end I decided to stick with the new one and, after calibrating my screen properly for colour, contrast, and brightness, I quite like it.

I have been using Xara for 10 years and have never missed an upgrade, largely because the price and extras on offer are too good to miss. I've never regretted it. This is the case also with Designer Pro 6. I haven't had it long enough to use it much, but so far I think it is easier to use than Xara Xtreme. There is little point in me going through the new features in detail, but you can see from the promotion that these are considerable. Also, Xara have made most of the material on CD available as a 380 MByte download. So you don't need to wait for the CD before getting down to serious work.

In short, my advice is upgrade now.