Will Adobe be the sole survivor?

[carygee]

I read somewhere recently that Microsoft solf out its interest in Corel for $13 million; lousy when you consider they invested $135 million in the company a couple of years ago. Corel apparently is on the block.

...and with the cobwebs beginning to show in XaraX perhaps all we'll be lfet with is Illustrator (oh yes, there's also Freehand).

Talk about a "maturing" industry...

[carygee]

I read somewhere recently that Microsoft solf out its interest in Corel for $13 million; lousy when you consider they invested $135 million in the company a couple of years ago. Corel apparently is on the block.

...and with the cobwebs beginning to show in XaraX perhaps all we'll be lfet with is Illustrator (oh yes, there's also Freehand).

Talk about a "maturing" industry...

[gwpriester]

I have not seen much effort being put forth by MacroMedia in the direction of FreeHand.

Basically, the market for vector graphics applications has really softened. Most large purchasers, corporations, in-house design studios, etc. don't see the reason to constantly upgrade unless the new release has some great new features that the designer cannot live without.

I have also heard that Corel is about to start the beta cycle on CorelDRAW 12, so while they may be on the auction block, they do seem to be trying to stuggle forth. For my money, if they would just concentrate on trying to make DRAW work right and not worry about new features, that would be a breakthrough. From version 7 on, they have tried to get the anti-aliasing to work, with not much to show for it. The PDF output leaves much to be desired. Their shadow tool, compared to Xara's, is clunky and inneffective (the anti-aliasing thing again), and I could go on.

Illustrator continues to improve. The last few releases have been much better and the integration with Photoshop, and InDesign make it very desirable for persons working with other Adobe products. (Someday I must figure out their four different pick tools :-(

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person


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www.gwpriester.com </a>


<a href="http://www.xaraxone.com">
The Xara Xone </a>

[TekArt]

Looks like I came into this discussion a little late...but I couldn't resist posting a reply.

Where I work, we really heavily on Corel (that's V8 mind you)to create technical illustrations for installation and operation manuals. It's fast, cheap, and we can import drawing directly into Framemaker as OLE's. So, what will we do if Corel goes bust? Well remember, we are still using version 8. There really is no reason to upgrade because at the present time, 8 is giving us just what we need. I guess we can continue to use version 8 until it is no longer practical to do so.

But, when and if there comes a time to upgrade (say they come up with some features that we just can't live without), who do we pick from? Illustrator? NOT! Too expensive. Freehand? Nope. Not enough features for me. Designer 10? Maybe. Canvas? Maybe.

I also heard that there are some changes in the works with Corel's software. That they would be combining the features of Corel 11 with Designer 10. That would be great but I just wish they would work on getting the bugs out of the what they have first. I've had 11 on my machine and took it off three weeks later.

Also, why is it that someone out there just can't take the best features of all the programs and create something new?

And as a side note, what happen to all the Technical Illustrators out there. We're hiring and can't find anybody!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/mad.gif

[gwpriester]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> And as a side note, what happen to all the Technical Illustrators out there. We're hiring and can't find anybody!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe you should post this in a few of the conferences.

Are you looking for freelance illustrators or people to work on premises?

And other details.

With all the people out of work, I should think you would have hundreds of applicants.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person


<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


<a href="http://www.xaraxone.com">
The Xara Xone </a>

[alan e.]

After buying the 24,6% of corel (from Microsoft), Vector Capital will take over the Corel company (accepted by corel), buisiness vorth 97,6 mill. USD

[wfcentral]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gwpriester:

Don't count on Freehand

I have not seen much effort being put forth by MacroMedia in the direction of FreeHand.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Actually, I was going to mention this last week but thought it would be extremely off-topic... Macromedia is/has just released Freehand MX with a lot of really cool features... I downloaded the 30 day trial... I get the impression it is extremely powerful but confusing... it was not as easy to pick up as Xara. I think if you were used to using photoshop and illustrator you would probably pick it up a lot quicker...

http://www.macromedia.com/software/f...o/newfeatures/

[Albacore]

I quite agree with "wfcentral" Freehand MX is really agreat product with a really strong perspective tool which beats Illustrator hands down. I agree with the statement that its user interface is not a patch on Xara's. I had to spend along time getting used to Macromedia's scripting for the web but once learned it is much more reliable than Xara's. Have a 30 day trial it is worth it but do not spend any money just now because Adobe is comming out with version 11 in the very near future.

[RAMWolff44]

I too downloaded the 30 day trial and it was, to say the least, clunky and the effects are not even close to what XaraX can do (or DrawPlus for that matter)

Just my 2¢

Richard http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

---Wolff On The Prowl---

http://www.ramwolffsworld.com/