I understand that Xara is not a $1000 program but it is BAD BAD BAD that I have to export to Microsoft Paint (free) or Irfan (free) to do some of the most important things that I frequently do.

Here are some things that free programs have that Xara does not have, and should:

1. A working function to select the transparent "color" when saving a GIF. Xara appears to have one, but either I can't figure it out or it doesn't work, and I think it doesn't work. It certainly doesn't work as well as Irfan's, which I use frequently -- including in Xara jobs.

2. A working crop function like Irfan has. I use this more than anything. Even Paint's ability to bring the borders in, thus cropping the image, would be an improvement. But what Xara needs is a button that says "I want to draw a rectangle and crop everything outside of it."

3. An eraser like Paint has. I can't believe that there isn't a really good eraser in Xara. What, nobody ever has to erase anything?

Thank you for your kind attention. I will expect these improvements, thank you.

DW