xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

[webmaster]

The new trials are now live on the Xara website - Designer Pro, Photo & Graphic Designer and Web Designer - so if you need to re-download you can now do so.

Just to re-iterate, the main additions are text inside shapes and table support but you can find more details on what's new in the Release Notes (for Designer Pro they are at http://releasenotes.xara.hosting/designer-pro/) and, as ever, make your own individual decisions about whether the new features are valuable to you or not.

@ Haakoo & Handrawn. Some companies publish their roadmap, but many don't. I know, I know, I know that you want us to, but I feel it's best to be unambiguous about this - we haven't done so since 1981 and we have no current plan to do so.

@ Egg, I really don't want to get into another discussion on the Update Service since nothing has changed in this release. But we have certainly taken onboard that you and others don't like the Update Service and I have passed on this feedback and will continue to do so. I have seen some tweaking of the model, but I don't think a major change is very likely. But bear in mind that a return to the model where there is only one update a year would likely be even less popular, so I guess the next most likely alternative is a subscription, and that would mean no program at the end of the term, in the Adobe way!

Kate Moir

[mwenz]

Kate,

If returning to once a year update meant that the bug fixes were available if/when one reinstalled, i.e., that the application could have all its revisions through the year, I think that is a better model than not having bug fixes in that event.

It seems that if Xara cannot figure out a means of separating out bug fixes from updates that include content/features, one actually looses if one doesn't reup for at least fixes to the version they purchased a license for.

None of this is new. I and others harped on this point when the so-called Update Service was first announced. Xara really needs to separate these things out.

Mike

[rpc9943]

I am on the boat for using the xara desktop, as I use it every day full time for my job!

[Egg Bramhill]

Kate, once again thank you for your reply. Unfortunately you have handed over marketing to Magix and therefore have no control within this area. As Mike mentions above:

..separating out bug fixes from updates

is a huge issue.

Even more so is access to the CC. Also computer crashes/new computer purchases, and all is lost.

The annual update was a long anticipated wait but updating to the latest version meant it was mine ad infinitum. No longer the case unfortunately. Why do you suggest the Adobe way is the only alternative?

I reiterate, TG members are presumably the core of Xara's customers, even though many only lurk. However the recent tone of the forum must inform you (and many visitors to TG) of the disliked path Xara/Magix is undertaking.

[jaydear]

... computer crashes/new computer purchases, and all is lost...

This, for me, is probably the biggest issue. How a company can justify removing access to updates (i.e. bug fixes) that occurred during a user's paid subscription period is too hard for me to swallow. Only being able to access updates online through a current subscription and not being able to save them for future calamities is unacceptable. It is unfriendly and alienating.

On top of that there are annoying bugs e.g. the white outline that appears on edited bitmaps which also increases the dimensions, that have not been fixed despite other users asking. I should not have to work around such bugs after paying hundreds of dollars for three versions (10,11,12).

I bought XDPro to have all the modules I need in one integrated package, but I still find myself having to jump in and out of an external editor. Over three years later and after spending hundreds of dollars, I'm no better off for the stuff I do and in any case, my access has expired. The ultimate dislike

[handrawn]

Thanks Kate

Can you at least tweak the subscription model so that you don't lose bug fixes or content that apply up to the end of your susbscription, if you have to reinstall on a new computer after the subscription expired - it was never like that before and whilst I acknowlede that the EULA makes it clear, it is tantamount to sharp practice - it is the big glaring non-no of the model from the users point of view...

[haakoo]

@Steve, don't hold your breath over this.

Xara should implement end of cycle subsription model;
One should get the updates and patches during the subsription time and when it ends that version is leading for re-intalling to either new pc or after a crash
Seems very doable to have only the latest update/patch number available within myMagix/myXara before it expires.
They can send me a notification about the expiration date, so why can't xara link these two together.

[handrawn]

You would think so Hans... but I would bet the fact that it is administered by Magix complicates things