How do you feel about the 365 Program?

[benoit1980]

Hi everyone,

I have not yet purchased any Xara products and was interested by the web designer version at 99 dollars.
I have read a lot of your threads but I am very confused about the way the software and all the financial things work.

Could you please help me with this, I would like to purchase the web designer premium but I am worried with this:

1)From some of the threads I read, it looks like there is some content in the software that expires after 1 year.
Could anyone explain this please? I find this really strange, especially if your purchase the software for 99 dollar, it should come with it's own content otherwise it is in fact a subscription model which is not well explained upon purchase.


2)It is my understanding from another thread that the designs produced with the web designer premium product are not responsive, instead you have a lot of different web sizes, is this true? But would this not make the PHP integration more difficult?(one integration per web size)


3)I am not understand the thing about the version you are left with when you have to reinstall the full software later on, let's say today I buy the version(example) v10 and in 8 months there is an update to v10.2, but on month 13, my computer breakdowns and I have to reinstall the whole software, will I be able to reinstall the version v10.2?? or will I be back to v10? If I am back to v10 then this does not make any sense at all.


4)If there is some kind of subscription with only content, is there a way to download locally all of that content and not bother about the subscription the year after? Can you important your own design assets?


I will wait for your replies before buying because I am really worried to be stuck in a subscription software(this is the reason I have left photoshop).


Thank you all!

[iamtheblues]

From what I understand, the program that you buy is the program you get to keep. During the course of the following 12 months you will have the opportunity to download new features as, when and if they appear. If you choose to not renew after your year is up and do nothing, you keep what you have until you try to re-install the program, at which time your program will revert to what you had on the day of purchase - it won't suddenly become completely unavailable.
If you bought it last year when this method started and decided not to renew your subscription, you would keep what you paid for on day one, but lose everything added during the course of the year (which would not be very much, to be honest). But it would still all be yours (such as it is until you were forced into reinstalling). Unlike Adobe which simply cuts you dead if you don't renew. You pay your money, you take the risk. It's not great, in fact it's heavily weighted in favour of the manufacturer and not the consumer in my opinion.
Someone who knows better than me is welcome to chip in here.

[benoit1980]

Thank you for the reply.
I decided not to buy the software because of the horrible inline css that is coded on export.
I have just found out that you cannot modify the html/css code after the export because it is all inline, therefore selling the work you produce will be impossible as people will need the exact same software to reopen the file....very strange!

[handrawn]

not strange at all - just not what you need - c'est la vie

[benoit1980]

c'est la vie

ahahah :-)

[gracehjs]

Well, looking at what has been added this year, unless there is more to come, I am somewhat disappointed.

[Mark321]

This is just my two cents (for what it's worth).

While I do see room for improvements (Lord knows I could name a few...namely, there should be a vignette tool in the photo tools bar.) And...
XDP has fewer features than Photoshop but Photoshop can't touch XDP when it comes to an intuitive interface (which is the only reason I use XDP almost exclusively. I never use photoshop, way to complicated to figure out. Not so with Xara. With XDP I jumped right in and understood it with little help.).

Mark

[houseofman]

Hi there,

I'm a bit late to the party but my Xara X365 only now expired.

As I reflect back, I have been working in this world of 0's and 1's for close to 40 years. Back when I started DOS was the norm, AutoCAD was v1.25, WordPerfect was #1 and MS Word and Corel Xara were unheard of. Back then we looked for upgrades with great anticipation and new features were exciting. I don't know but I wonder that programmers back then were more excited about what they COULD DO than what they could earn. (Funny to think that we looked for AutoCAD to upgrade like every 3 years). Back then the big bucks seemed to be in the hardware rather than the software.

As major improvements in hardware seemed to get less exciting, changes in software ramped up and pricing in the two reflected the same.

Then you could see the same diminishing return happening in the software industry. People were becoming content with the software they had and the software industry had to find a way to maintain their revenue. Hence the birth of yearly renewals. Once it began it didn't take a rocket scientist that this would become the norm.

I am only a small business owner but I can fully understand and appreciate Xara's position. However, they must understand there is such a thing as becoming "software poor".

My present repertoire of software includes, AutoCAD, BricsCAD, MS Office 365, Active @ Data Studio, Adobe Acrobat, Corel Paintshop Pro, e-Sword, ipswitch WS_FTP, Kaspersky, Logos software, Magix Movie Edit Pro, Malwarebytes, QuickBooks, Quicken, TeamViewer, ThumbsPlus, UltraEdit, UltraCompare, VSO software, & Xara. Then there is wide variety of Apps for phones, subscriptions for "Online Everything".

There comes a time when we the people (or companies) must make hard decisions on what software to retain and what to jettison. Two years ago I stopped subscribing to AutoCAD.

I have to be honest that last year I somewhat begrudgingly paid another $99 US when I upgraded to Xara 365. This year that price has gone up to $179 US.

Another factor (although software companies say is "not our problem") BUT it is - is the dollar exchange. Here in Canada that $179 US converts to $230 CAN.

Magix throws in a lot of "extras" into the software which doesn't necessarily equate to value to the end user.

Bottom line... will I renew my Xara X365? Not at the present time. I'll just see what the future brings.

If you've read down this far than God bless you. Thank you for listening.
--
Phillip

[mwenz]

Hi Phillip,

Read through the whole thing ;^)

All I wanna add is, hey, another UE user! I've been using it from version 1 when Ian was selling it as shareware. I could not imagine coding or manipulating tagged text or XML without it.

I am long in the tooth. I'm getting tired of all this movement towards SaaS software and or content. As for early days in software, there simply was so much to add to those immature applications that it did take longer, but did cost far more as well. I spent over two grand for Ventura Publisher and associated applications in 1989, for instance.

Software eventually gets feature saturated. This isn't the case with the glacially moving Xara products. Xara could more rapidly improve and add new features. It would make a difference in the tone of these threads and how the company is perceived.

But, it is an oh we'll. They will do what their cloistered kind set thinks is best.

Which is a pity. It is good software. I do prefer drawing in it to make the assets I need for publications. Increasingly, though, I have to work in say Affinity Designer in whole or in part.

Heck, one thing I do is make fonts. I draw the glyphs in XDP. Only I cannot test the OpenType Features in it. Sucks.

[Stewart]

It is approaching a year since the initial release of Designer Pro X 365.

I think now might be a good time to post comments for Xara/Magix about how well or not well this program has worked.

From my First Look Review last year, I wrote:



So, what do you think?

Well my tuppence......having been around this forum, mainly lurking, for near seventeen years, I must say that I have never seen such disdain for Xara, and that has to say something in itself.

As to the 365 issue......I have upgraded because it asked me to and because I'm in the habit of doing so, every year, rain or shine, skint or flush. I don't use the software daily to earn a living but regularly, at a high level, for my business and doing some light design work for clients and acquaintances. I'm not a Designer Pro user that relies on it. That being said, I, like many here, have invested CONSIDERABLE time and effort in the software, as well as money, and I have seen virtually NOTHING in the past year that makes me want to rush out and upgrade; what I have seen is a stream of fixes and light enhancements that I would consider should come as a matter of course. Main new features? The content catalogue? Who cares, really? I have multiple ssd drives I use for backup and my own mirror cloud and I can make and save myriad items there, and the items offered by Xara are, IMO, at best surplus and there is only so many fonts and themes that are truly useful, so who really cares?

As to the online editor, that they claim is so sought after....by whom? I have an office and loads of tablets and laptops, but I don't need to update webs and the like at a critical place outside my office. If Xara/Magix want to invest in new and innovative products, invest your own funds or find true investors, don't screw the loyal customers as a cash cow and investment vehicle, which is exactly what i think they are doing.

I see no real benefit to 365 or the model of subscriptions based software, not for the customer. Fix bugs and make slight enhancements available.....and after a year produce a new and improved product, but don't treat us like morons and try and convince us you will make the software better over the coming year...maybe...depending on what you use it for...and depending on what you need...and depending on what you want etc, etc.

I've upgraded this time to keep a level of continuity, but by this time next year I will have ported to another web creation programme and another photo enhancement programme, and probably just keep the vector designer pro offering.

Shame really...but ultimately I won't be the one losing out.