Xara Designer Pro X9 Released

[DigitalJeweler]

I personally like when a software company keeps trying to improve their product. It shows forward progress, hopefully. What really irritates me however is the VERY LAME grace period of approx 30-60 DAYS...6 Months would be a much more customer friendly position. I just upgraded both Designer Pro and WD Premium in April and now get the intro offer of only $99. Really? That's horrible for continued customer loyalty. I finally bit the bullet upgrading, and with no indication that there was another release around the corner...

That's just very poor ways of doing business. I like the products and want to be excited to use them but the upgrade game is starting to get old....Take a hint from the folks over at Pixelogic, creators of ZBrush. They have had free upgrades for life and have a very healthy and thriving customer base and always pushing the boundaries with meaningful/powerful upgrades.

I posted a similar concern on the FB page, wonder if that will get deleted?

Mark

[pauland]

I personally like when a software company keeps trying to improve their product. It shows forward progress, hopefully. What really irritates me however is the VERY LAME grace period of approx 30-60 DAYS...6 Months would be a much more customer friendly position.

Not as customer friendly as free. It would be superb if they did 6 months trials. I could do six months using Xara, six months using something else, then back to Xara.

30 days is more than generous.

I just upgraded both Designer Pro and WD Premium in April and now get the intro offer of only $99. Really? That's horrible for continued customer loyalty. I finally bit the bullet upgrading, and with no indication that there was another release around the corner...

No indication apart from plenty of posts on these forums about the likely release dates.

That's just very poor ways of doing business. I like the products and want to be excited to use them but the upgrade game is starting to get old....

You don't have to upgrade. You made a decision that the software was worth $99 to you in April. It's as valuable to you now as it was then.

If the new version isn't worth the cash don't buy it.

Take a hint from the folks over at Pixelogic, creators of ZBrush. They have had free upgrades for life and have a very healthy and thriving customer base and always pushing the boundaries with meaningful/powerful upgrades.

Better buy it then.

See how they manage to stay in business a few years down the line.

I posted a similar concern on the FB page, wonder if that will get deleted?

Mark

I dunno. If Xara don't delete it, you might get some useful feedback from people who think you've nothing to complain about.

[DigitalJeweler]

Not as customer friendly as free. It would be superb if they did 6 months trials. I could do six months using Xara, six months using something else, then back to Xara.

30 days is more than generous.

...

Better buy it then.

See how they manage to stay in business a few years down the line.

***I respectfully disagree with your opinion of 30 days being more than generous.

I do have ZBrush and they've been in business for quite awhile, (http://pixologic.com/company/) it's a completely different type of program, 3D digital sculpting. While it's cost of approx $800 is certainly higher than XDP, they value their customers and have grown to become the industry standard due to an extremely loyal customer/user base that has grown to most major motion picture studios. You don't have to nickle and dime current users for every group of feature upgrades. I do realize it's an optional upgrade, the new features look to be quite useful and impressive. However, I know I'm not the only one who was not very clued into any kind of firm release time frame on this new DPX9. I'm not on this board often enough to sort through when releases are actually planned and you can't know that prior to pulling the trigger on a purchase decision what's going to come 3-6 months out.

My 3D Cad jewelry plugin program runs approx $7K so I'm not being cheap here. That gives you all minor upgrades included and 1 major upgrade, then the rest on your own dime if you choose. (http://gemvision.com/matrix/)

The main point is that industry standards for major/feature releases isn't typically every few months. I own a lot of software that I've paid dearly for and use every day, Xara being one of them. Been on since V3. It's my #1 go to program for all things graphic design related. It's got a lot of features that has allowed me to walk away from Photoshop and Illustrator CS3 that I own.

Perhaps it's more frustration that Magix/Xara updates are trickling every few months with sporadic updates/features and you can't predict when it's a good time to upgrade. If I'm not mistaken, Designer Pro X just came out not that long ago and I did take advantage of discounted upgrade from DP7. It could be since Magix acquired Xara that the waters became clouded on release schedules. Prior to that, you could typically go for at least a year with no major upgrades? Someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

I'm not interested in the usual internet flaming/complaining rant as those typically are the result of some short fused, ill informed type of person who's more happy being miserable. That's not me.


I look forward to seeing if there is any official response from TPTB.

[handrawn]

I respectfully ask how if it's your number 1 program for all things graphic design related, and you've been on it since version 3 you've not made it your business to find out what the upgrade cycles pattern is....

I'm not interested in the usual internet flaming/complaining rant as those typically are the result of some short fused, ill informed type of person who's more happy being miserable. That's not me.

nor are most of us

And Paul doesn't rant - Paul makes a lot of sense, almost all of the time - so one wonders why you felt the need to say this


EDIT - wait - you upgraded it, it's your number one graphic design program and you can't remember when..... it's been yearly for a while, since around version 3 actually as I recall; maybe 4

[gwpriester]

It's a matter of value. Is the product of value to you? If it is and you use it all the time? If so, then the upgrade price is peanuts.

If you are a hobbyist and money is tight, or you don't see that the new tools can do anything you cannot do already, then it is not a good value. At any price.

I am a professional designer. If a product is good and helps me to do my job, then it is worth it and I will recoup the cost.

If you really want to rag on value or lack of same, purchase QuarkXPress and then see what they charge for upgrades. Or how much it costs every time Apple updates their OS. Adobe's move to the Creative Cloud makes sense for design professionals but is a financial hardship to people who only use the product or products occasionally.

If the products you have been using give you long upgrade periods, and if all you care about is price, then stick with what makes you happy.

[mwenz]

...If you really want to rag on value or lack of same, purchase QuarkXPress and then see what they charge for upgrades...

QXP is about $350 every 18 to 24 months. So about 50-60% more than Xara's 12 month cycle costs.

Serif PagePlus X7 upgrade I just purchased, $59, about a 16 month cycle. Other Serif titles, about the same release cycle, but less expensive to upgrade.

PhotoLine upgrades are about $35 every 12-16 months. But they are also a special case. They release not only bug fixes but product enhancements and new features during that period.

InDesign--up until the cloud--$120 every 18 months or so.

Illustrator--up until the cloud--$150 (iirc), again, every 18 months or so.

Add to that Acrobat, ArtRage, TwistedPixel, MS Office, etc., etc. Sometimes regardless of cash-flow, it is nice to be able to plan upgrade cycles and that can be difficult without knowledge of particular company's upgrade dates (but fully understand/agree why that isn't general knowledge).

Having just upgraded several titles in the past few months, money can get tight. 30 day windows--or however long Xara has the window open for the Intro Offer can make it especially tight. Specially if you had my doctor bills.

Mike

[handrawn]

version 6 released 16 june 2010
version 5 released 04 june 2009
version 4 pre-released 06 april 2008 and final relesase a month or two later

still looks consistent to me...

EDit - I see karateed has added these too, at the point of his registration - the actual release dates though, taken from this forum announcements are pretty consistent

[gingerbeardman]

If you really want to rag on value or lack of same, purchase QuarkXPress and then see what they charge for upgrades. Or how much it costs every time Apple updates their OS.

£14 or $20. 3 month window of free upgrades for recent purchasers.

Disclaimer: I work for Apple.

[DigitalJeweler]

The upgrade cycle hasn't been consistent at all. To clear the air, I wasn't even thinking Paul was ranting, I was saying that as that I wasn't ranting. Just expressing frustration. That's allowed.

The program has gone through a lot of good changes, or I wouldn't have upgraded. It used to be however that you could go approx a year or more without a major release. As of late, it's not been that way. I usually have upgraded after the countless emails sent about upgrade by a certain date to take advantage of pricing etc.

It jumped from DP7, then to DPX, now to DPX9 within a pretty short frame of time that could not be predicted like prior releases.

I'm surprised that people think that a 30 day upgrade policy is generous when it isn't.

I own thousands of dollars of professional software and am pretty familiar with typical software cycles. This isn't the case here.

[WilliamHere]

I'm surprised that people think that a 30 day upgrade policy is generous when it isn't.

I agree. A 30 day upgrade policy is too short. XDP is a good product, but to ask someone that just purchase the product 32 days ago to pay again, is not very fair.
I can see a 90 day (or even a 60 day upgrade policy), but 30 is too short.