I've seen a lot of talk about who likes what direction in Xara 6, and how Xara is ruining the product with too much bitmap feature development, or whatnot.

I wholeheartedly agree with the posts about being conservative- I've seen way too many products either become, or even be born, huge memory-hog monsters, capable, but so feature packed, that the errors and slowness counteracted any benefit from the "kitchen sink" concept.

I don't know if I'll buy 6 or not, but all my brain needs is speed, and if Xara can add features and not reduce the nimbleness of the product, then who can complain? Again, this would be the 20% of the 80/20 rule that's prevalent in the market-- the 20% being features added without slowing the product down to a molasses pace, like many many products out there, including many of Magix' own.

To illustrate the need for simultaneous vector and bitmap feature development, look at this guy's work. I don't know anything about him other than he was mentioned on a design blog. There are many more out there.

http://www.alexvaranese.com/work/pl#amv_pl_asymptote

There are many many places where vector concepts and bitmap content coexist and create an unmistakable synergy. Vector and bit map (and web!) can all live together in world harmony, as long as the bloat is kept away.

Say no to bloat, yes to progress!