FACT: Xara has a crippled, out-of-date type-engine.

[MyCoalescen]

Consider this:

CorelDraw x6 which was released in march 2012 and is almost 2 years old and has open type features and advanced text tools as Mwenz mentioned which are professional. Also consider that x6 is corels first edition with text heavy tools. Did i forget to mention that Draw also started as a vector drawing program? Has all the major functions of Indesign cs4. I am highly impressed by corels first text heavy attempt and if they keep on this track their next edition x7 which will be in the next few months will probably be like cs 6 and only a step behind indesign nipping at it heels. Yes CorelDraw suite is 500 but they always run sales for 10-20% off and right now during their black friday sale its 400 + free shipping + a free 100$ programs thrown in + web creator and photo-paint. So really draw by itself is more like 100$ (but you cant buy it alone).

Xara Page and Layout designer x9 was released in summer 2013. This is xaras first edition with text heavy tools. It is missing many vital text heavy tools. It is a good start but dont say it has "advanced" text tools. It came out 7 years after indesign cs2 and 1 year after corel draw x6 yet is worse than both and is the newest of the 3. Im a graphic designer and just finished a 24 page booklet. There is no way I could have completed it with the lack of advanced tools. Some things would not have been possible and others would have taken me 2x as long to do it manually.

Microsoft Publisher 2013 released in january 2013. I have not used it but I do own publisher 2007 and tested it. It has a surprising number of advanced features for being 5 years old. It is not as powerful as cs2 indesign but considering it a consumer product meant for people who know very little of layout its pretty good. Publisher 2013 does have open type and ligatures and other advanced type options and looks good for a prosumer. How sad that MS a consumber company can beat xara who is seriously trying to compete with professional programs and adobe. Did I forget to mention it is around 100 the same as xara?

Serif Page Plus was released in 2013. I downloaded the FREE starter edition which is basically a free version of 2 editions back that you can keep forever! It is comparable to indesign cs 2 with a face lift. The full version is probably more like cs 3-4. Consider how a free product can be better than xaras new product? If you decide to pay for the full version it will be better than xaras. Did I forget to mention it is around 100 the same as xara?

Adobe Indesign cs2 was released may 2005, almost 8 years old. Look indesign has character/paragraph styles, tracking, kerning, leading, and many other now standard text tools in things like ms word and corel word perfect. These are STANDARD not advanced in this day and age. After cs 2 adobe has very much slowed its progress of valued upgrades. It also has advanced features as open type options for ligatures, lining numerals, hyphens, justification tolerances, glyphs and a myriad of other ADVANCED type options. If xara cant beat an 8 year old product which in the software/technology world is as old as a fossilized dinosaur they are in serious trouble! Consider that adobe does not even care about cs2 and is almost giving it away for free and xara cant beat an unregulated near free download?

As you said xara is lacking in DTP and serif is lacking in vector drawing. Good thing corel has a toe-to-toe competitor to Illustrator with CorelDraw and is only a step behind Indesign with coreldraw. Again my best pick for alternate to adobe software is corel. They are also always running sales. They have their black friday sale for the next week. It is stupidly good sales. Some products 85% off for 9.99$ + free 100$ program thrown in, for 9.99 i get Painter Lite that can be upgraded to full painter with a discount and 160$ worth of product. Almost everything is on sale has free shipping and includes the same 100$ program for free. Their flag ship products as CorelDraw is 20% off, Painter is 40% off, Paint shop ult is 50% off and word perfect office is 60% off. Stupidly good sales. I just ordered Painter Lite for 9.99 and Paint shop ultimate for 49.99 for a whopping 59.98$ with free shipping and 2 copies of the free text motion design software valued at 100$. Sorry all but with the sales corel is doing and their quality product there is no way serif and xara stand a chance. Im waiting for corel draw x7, paint-shop x7 and word perfect office x7 in the next few months before I buy them. Adobe is could be in a world of hurt if corels next few products are as good as their reputations shows they will be. True corel does not 100% match indesign but as you said give them till their next edition for that comparison. Honestly dont think many will jump to Quarkxpress because its actually 30% more expensive than indesign cs 6...

That is no excuse for a bad product or false advertising. If the product was not ready they should have waited until it was ready. If that is xaras answer to Indesign it sounds like a failure. They are not going to win over any indesign users if it cant do the core things indesign could do in cs 2! Here is a screen shot I just took from indesign cs2. The game company Blizzard is great about releases. They will propose a date for a product and push it back as many times and for as long as it needs to be great quality. They often push their products back 2 years because they want it to be great instead of just throwing a half baked product out and expecting you to deal with bugs, updates, upgrades and expansion. Dont put it out if its not ready!