I just read through G.W. Priester's - as usual - very well written and freshly (with Xara DesignerX365's options) designed First Look.

It confirmes my expactation that Xara (aka Magix) is on a route towards a "painting by numbers" application.

I quote from Garry's First Look:
Users who cannot draw a straight line even with the Straight Line Tool will appreciate the wealth of art, symbol library, configurable SmartShapes and SmartCharts, free high quality stock photos, design and website templates and professionally designed entire websites that you can customize and modify to your heart’s content.

There is hardly any development with vector tools at all. I do appreciate the development with text and the spiral SmartShape. But this is not enough.

On top of that I am not convinced of Xara's 365 concept. To me it seems to be just another subscription model. Eeven more complicated.

I moved from Corel to Xara in 2005. Now I shall move on to Serif's Affinity Designer, which is in Beta right now. (And I certainly will use Xara Designer Pro 11, too).

I certainly appreciate all the work Xara has put into the program. But for me it has taken a direction away from my interests.

All the best,

v.