TBH, my head is swimming with all this. To get clear, are we saying that:
1. Customers can only buy a standalone copy of Xara from the [German] company Magix?
2. And that if a customer buys from xara.com (which presumably is the [UK] company that wrote the original versions of Xara) then the customer is compelled to buy something that comes with Cloud. In fact you can't truly "buy" anything all you can do is rent it via a subscription?
3. That there is a Covid-induced sale running that gives customers 50% off.
4. What about those of us who participated in the HiDPI Beta Testing...?
Let me declare my hand a little.
A) I am a very long-term fan of Xara (since Xara Studio in 1994!)
B) I even helped test Pro+
C) But as an entrepreneur/sole trader I am only a sporadic user of Xara Designer. I tend to use it very intensively for short periods and then sometimes not at all for many months.
D) For this reason I personally HATE the subscription model with a passion. I do NOT want to suddenly find that I can't edit my own files if I'm running low on money. I am more than happy to not upgrade my software if business conditions don't justify paying of the upgrade.
Look, subscriptions may work well for large stable companies and yes they may also make finance directors in software houses feel pleased with themselves, but they are the absolute death of small, nimble, entrepreneurial companies and sole traders.
So partly as a point of principle, I refuse point-blank to pay for my software by subscription.
Why is all this so darned complicated? I really don't have time for this.
OK for now I shall just sit this out.
J
UPDATE: Right on queue, Xara Team <info@mail.xara.com> just sent me an email saying "We are preparing for something BIG".
So I shall wait for Something Big.
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