How do you feel about the 365 Program?

[roly]

I bet that any new features will be released in July, around about the time that the subscriptions that the faithful took out will be due for renewal.

Hi Jimi, wasn't that last April 13, 2016?

Ciao

Roly

[Jimi King]

Blimey was it? Doesn't time fly.

[Peter Prewett]

I am also disappointment in the product and regret upgrading.
The catalogue system is a mess even Find has gone, they have made much more difficult and frustrating to use.
Much of what I want now in the catalogue can be found elsewhere.

[Albacore]

Is it just me that thinks this version is the best version that we've had or not. I find it stable, it never crashes now, still as easy to use and just as fast as it always has been. Could it be better? yes, sure tooting, must be the answer. Do I like the subscription model, probably not, although does it change much, no not really, I still have this version on my computer for as long as I want it.

Because it's called 365 do people want it to be updated once a week,,,,once a month,,,,once every 3 months,,,, twice a year? Look at Adobe's updates in Illustrator it happens about every 3 months and many users have to be told to update their programmes and even then some don't bother if my friends are anything to go by. They have the pleasure of shelling out £17/month not to update. Serif's Affinity makes a big thing out of being non subscription when selling their product but looking at their other products I bet you a pound to a penny they will try & sell you an upgrade every 18 months. What's the difference between Xara and Serif not much about 6 moths and about £90. Maybe it's the £90 bit that hurts the most is "365" £90 pounds better value than Affinity because it is a better product. To me nothing has changed much in the way that our programme works it just it was a sneaky way to introduce a price hike.

The way Gary introduced this topic was to invite everyone to discuss the way the subscription license was working and not really a "what would you like to see in the next version" but if you will let me here is my list:
Redesign of Galleries ---- Asset Management(local design gallery is not good enough) ---- Better Vector Brushes ---- Open Type Fonts ----- Refined typography Styles

[mwenz]

Is it just me that thinks this version is the best version that we've had or not...

Why do you believe it is the best version?

I think it is a good version. Best? I think the shape building and vector eraser where the last thing I would have considered best as regards actually drawing. I don't actually draw/sketch much, so I haven't really taking advantage of the brushes.

Because it's called 365 do people want it to be updated once a week,,,,once a month,,,,once every 3 months,,,, twice a year?

Xara made the announcement that the products would be update X times during a release cycle. While enhancements have been made in November, and some piddly content added, I don't think this was what people envisioned (but most who spoke up about the change "feared" would happen).

However, to me, the biggest issue will remain the reverting to as bought should a reinstall happen.

Serif's Affinity makes a big thing out of being non subscription when selling their product but looking at their other products I bet you a pound to a penny they will try & sell you an upgrade every 18 months. What's the difference between Xara and Serif not much about 6 moths and about £90...

Of course at each major version number Serif will charge for the upgrade. Did they say they wouldn't? All minor versions are free. So buy it at version 1.x, no more money until version 2.x. the 1st time cost is roughly $50 off of sale. So 16-18-24 months from now, another $29.

Xara products are released every 12 months or so. XDP is way over-priced at roughly $300 for an initial license purchase. A yearly upgrade is roughly $100. So do the math you really didn't do. How in the world is that even remotely equivalent to Serif's pricing?

While Affinity Designer has a ways to go yet in certain areas, at least when I tell it to use the Registration color it puts it on all plates. All of them. That was one of the first things I wrote to Xara about when I bought version 6. XDP has a Print on all plates feature--which does not work and never has.

AD supports complex OT Features--I know because there was one, that is the number one, OT Feature that wasn't working properly. It's slightly esoteric thing, but I contacted the developer in charge of the text functions, sent a test file and a font to demonstrate the problem, and two days later I received back a reply that the problem was in their code and the fix would be in the next beta. Sure enough it was.

I don't know if Xara will ever add OT Feature support. But do you think it will be as usable out of the gate? Do you think if there is such a problem that it would be rectified as quickly? Do you think Xara even cares? Who really knows because they are so damn paranoid about communication!

[digitalphaser]

I use some software which is updated not every year(mainly 3d soft). But I get the upgrade for which I want to pay, although it is often 3-5 times more expensive than Xara. The reason is not the price. I do not want to finance next „trinket“.

I am happy that 12. version has become stable and best. It is a pity that X11 remained the same crude and unstable as it was. Right now I'm trying via xara’s support to solve a problem with google font and font awesome. The support team has responded relatively quickly. Let's see what will happen next.

It is strange to compare Xara vs Illustrator. The number of AI’s features equally XDP X50. Sorry.

But XDP still remains my favorite vector editor, and I follow the Xara’s news. Although I will skip next upgrade likely too. Maybe later. Level of CD X8 will suit me.

[angelize]

I really really hope TPTB at Xara and Magix have a thorough read through of this thread and what has been said. I think that we have all been extremely disapointed at the direction that Magix has taken the company and the program into. Just one new feature or a worthwhile upgrade of an existing feature would have made a difference to many here.

This is one time I think that Xara should break their silence and talk to us.

[gwpriester]

Mike W. I prefer not to get into a discussion or debate. And Albacore, not the right place for a feature request.

Let's keep focused and hear from as many members as possible to give Xara a projectable idea of the acceptance of this marketing concept.

[browj2]

I think that I was the first to announce this new program on TG having lived through it with other Magix programs before it was announced for Xara.
At the time, and the bottom line, Xara came up with a new version with new and improved features and that if you wanted it all, you had to purchase/upgrade to get it. Xara had some new features that I definitely wanted and needed, so I upgraded. I did not upgrade because there was the possibility of getting some future, unknown features. I am wondering if anyone else purchased based on future unknown features; I doubt it.

Xara/Magix at the same time proposed the infamous 365 program which you all know about and in which Xara would or may release new features early - in advance of a new version (and there would be no new versions), thus giving you something that you would not normally get by simply upgrading. And they said that you could keep any new features that came out after you paid for the upgrade, so long as you did not have to reinstall the program. You did not pay for any features that were not available when you paid - you paid only for the features that were available at the time of payment. Getting new features afterwards, over the next year, was a bonus, that is all. This was clear to me. Secondly, if Xara/Magix only came up with some minor, not really useful features over the course of the year and a user did not want to lock them in by paying for the next year, then it was simply a matter of not paying. Wait until there is something that is useful. This is basically the same as it was before.

Therefore, the message to Xara/Magix is simply,
1. You came up with some good features and I want to lock them in so here is my money for the next year; or
2. You did not come up with anything that I want to keep, I am disappointed and thus I am not paying you any money until you have something that I want.

As for me, so far Xara has not come up with anything new that I want since I paid. If they do not come up with something enticing between now and the anniversary date, I will not be renewing. I will keep on using the "version" that I purchased.

So that you know, on the Magix products, there have been some products that have been substantially upgraded over the course of the year, and others that have received only minor upgrades. The best examples are Movie Edit Pro Plus (MEP) vs Video Pro X (VPX). The former had a very nice upgrade with interesting new features. The latter did not even get these new features, only a few features that really have no impact on me. In fact, Magix has even been way behind in fixing known bugs in VPX but has fixed most of them in MEP. So, as with Xara, I am disappointed. I expected more.

John

[hseiken]

Most of my problems with Xara P&GD are beyond their control (i.e. tethered to the very weak visual C interface, with nonsense back-end updates that break everything due to this stupid MSV140.dll junk).

That said, things that Xara itself did wrong in this release:
Catalog/smart shapes is very workflow killing. Without it in the default flyout and being tied to the internet, what's the point of that? I'm personally sick and tired of everything being 'always on' and 'always downloading/updating'. This is a waste of my resources, personally and the actual menus now, again, are cumbersome and don't flow at all with the existing paradigms they set up the rest of the program to fall under. In other words, it looks like they took a box that holds everything just nice, then duct taped a cell phone to it and called it 'modern connectivity'. Sorry, but it doesn't work for me.

The things I do like that were added were the knew quick photo editing tools, specifically x-filter. I didn't think I'd use it much, by oh my, it works really nicely with photo temperature to get all kinds of nice color edits quickly.

My wishlist:
Get rid of the color plugin selections under effects: I feel these are so generic they should be built in and not external with their own interfaces that don't match what Xara does. In fact, I feel that a lot of the 'generic' things in the plugins effects should be built in and accessible via the regular photo editing tools. How they implement it, could be disasterous based on how their catalog has morphed into something that I don't use at all despite the fact some of the smart shapes are really nice. But that interface...the strongest point of Xara *IS* the interface and workflow and it seems based on my couple of years using it, they don't have anyone with a clear vision adding these tools in, so they all feel like a room of cats that the end user has to herd up. I mean, if I wanted menu after menu of time wasting, I'd just use Illustrator tbh.

So first and foremost, I'd like to see a more unified experience that relies less on on menus and reconstitute the flyouts. The ones that are there are excellent, so there's no reason new features can't be fit into new flyouts. As long as the selections are thoughtful and careful, less *IS* more. Just filling in checkboxes to compete with software that is popular is how to lose focus and get stuck in 'feature creep'. We don't need a lot of this stuff the way it is. We need the stuff that's in there to not feel alien.

So overall, I'm just 'meh' about it all. I still think Xara is the fastest tool to get from idea to finished vectors and has(had, rather...what happened to the old raster tool where you could draw pixels?) decent photo/raster tools, but if they keep down this path, there's going to be absolutely nothing to incentivize following them with upgrades any further, imo. I think this is a huge fallacy of software in general: Knowing when to quit. Upgrades end up being more combersome and hype and 'features' can only get you so far. In the end, once something is perfect, you don't mess it up by going further. I'm sure anyone who uses photoshop would agree with this, since CS4 was the last time anything useful was added, yet every week, there's a 'new upgrade' to that too, which doesn't do anything for the end user except make them wait for the program that should immediately launch have download a gig of useless nonsense. Don't let Xara fall into this...it's painful.