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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
@kate
having [just to make sure] rechecked my ver 12 license, the behaviour I am experiencing is what I would expect for updates...
but I was under the impression that this had been tweaked to take account of bug fixes... so i guess the question is:
has it? and if so, how?
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Related or not? I had reason to open Xara Xtreme the other day. It's been on my machine for a long time with no issue. However on this occasion I was asked me to supply the activation code on my CD. The CD wasn't at hand, far from it, but buried deep within an unknown location within my house.
Okay go to Magix site and view my purchase history. Xtreme's there but no activation code as it was presumably pre such things. So I had to wade through my long untouched CD's and eventual found it and typed in the code. Opened fine.
So what's going on? Xtreme has opened faultlessly for years. Only thing I've done is install XDPX 15 update. Whose the control freak suddenly demanding the activation code from a long-ago purchased CD jewel case?
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
is this the first time you've opened it since magix took over the accounts? if so then likely yes, related I guess - hey-ho :rolleyes:
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
I don't believe so HD, just the first time since d/ling XDPX 15.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Did your machine go through the update from Windows 7 or 8 to 10? If so, then like all of my Magix programs (and many others), Xara included if I recall correctly, either had to be reinstalled or had to be reactivated, or something like that. Most likely not Magix or Xara coming and playing with your computer; they didn't have the same system way back then to deactivate a program.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
so I guess you've opened xtreme since updating windows too, which is not to say John hasn't got a point, but if your memory is like mine these days.... :confused:
one thing I am sure of, Xara [if not Magix] will rue the day they started the subscription model for the desktop unless they sort out restoring on the same computer; and BTW, changing an HDD/SSD, for example, does not count as a new computer to anyone in the real world.. and neither does restoring the OS if it gets spiked
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
It seems to get more and more desperate and silly as the days go by. The offer for update has been extended again. They are pushing the same stuff on the Web Designer side as well. And while I know that is a m,ore "consumer/non-pro" application than Designer Pro, I find it odd that they are including "Fastcut 2" and "PC Check & Tuning 2017". Whatever.
The Designer Pro UPGRADE is $129 on this special sale, yet the non-subscription and constantly updated with Professional features Affinity Designer is $49. I literally get my team of 3 Affinity for almost the same price as just upgrading one of our licenses to Designer Pro. SMH.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
slavelle
The Designer Pro UPGRADE is $129 on this special sale
The Sale date is all that is changing: 31 May, 07 June, 14 June.
What this is saying is Xara is trying to pressure you into upgrading as the sale price might go up. It is already over 40% of list price so this is a game of Chicken.
Why will anyone seeing these tactics even bother to upgrade if they can get by with not having on-line access? Xara needs to deliver something worth the price and remove the negativity of marketing and control it is espousing.
What annoys the most is on-line delivery is cheap. The Website M offer (value £23) is good for hobbyists but designers wouldn't use that for a client other than for demonstration of very simple sites. I suspect its uptake is low so little cost to Xara. Business website templates are one-offs so could be sold on-demand. What is not right or fair is to consider the Components and Widgets that allow DESIGN should be wrapped up in the same delivery model. It genuinely cripples a deft product for no logical or business reason. Why would you remove the ability to search for content?
Acorn
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
This is a Magix`s tactics ). Ugly, stupid, but apparently working tactics. Not for everyone, but working with Magix for many years. Called the "Perpetual sale")).
Only this is lowered Xara to a third-rate product:(
After all that happened ... Dig yourself deeper and deeper. I don't even know what to do Xara to look beautiful in my eyes. Because what is happening is disgusting. XDP currently periactine of two to three times at least. There is no increment of product features. I don`t see reason to do the upgrade. Well, at least not for this price! Not for templates(Yes, they can be completely thrown out!) and online widget catalog!
300$ for good soft? Ok, this is normal!
100$ for Whistles and bells? NO, this is not normal!
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
"Sharp practice is a pejorative phrase to describe sneaky or cunning behavior that is technically within the rules of the law but borders on being unethical." - Wikipedia.
What else is there to be said?
Bob.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Well my renewal date has now started to pop up. I have Ver 15, and it operates just fine. If I refrain from paying the up date, do I still have access to the program and only lose access to the online library? The program seems to work just fine when I am not connected to the internet so I think I only lose the online library. Do I understand this correctly?
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
As I understand it, Dan you will lose whatever enhancements (such as they are since you last paid for V.15) will be lost, which I imagine will amount to an extremely small hill of beans.
But, what do I know? I'm as confused as every other bugger around here.
Bob.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
iamtheblues
As I understand it, Dan you will lose whatever enhancements (such as they are since you last paid for V.15) will be lost, which I imagine will amount to an extremely small hill of beans.
But, what do I know? I'm as confused as every other bugger around here.
Bob.
The bug fixes and enhancements since the purchase date will only be lost upon re-installation. If one never needs to re-install, then they remain. (Which, concerning the bug fixes anyway, is dumber than a rock. I would also argue that seeing how I am paying in advance, any enhancements should also remain. The application should be restored to application + everything that has been fixed/added during my subscription period.)
The content catalog (or whatever) can be downloaded. Once downloaded, find where it is on your system and make a backup to one or more thumb-drives or other media/hard drive or whatever. This is because if you ever do need to re-install, the downloaded content will be wiped out. But you can copy it all back from your backup copy.
Mike
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mwenz
The bug fixes and enhancements since the purchase date will only be lost upon re-installation. If one never needs to re-install, then they remain. (Which, concerning the bug fixes anyway, is dumber than a rock. I would also argue that seeing how I am paying in advance, any enhancements should also remain. The application should be restored to application + everything that has been fixed/added during my subscription period.)
I agree If you don't re-subscribe, then everything you had during your subscription should be available ... especially since the actual amount you got for the upgrade was peanuts. Looking back on the last few versions I've had, the difference between version 9 and the current version is negligible.
If someone offered me a new program that ONLY did what one of the updates contain, and said would you pay $X.XX for this, then invariably the answer would ALWAYS be a resounding NO. I am ONLY updating, because I like Xara and feel that having the latest version is good. Have I got value for money ... in my opinion, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I updated to version 15 earlier this year and the ONLY "enhancement" has been to fix an issue that shouldn't have been changed in the first place (Stretching/squashing). The addition of TABLES (again, in my opinion) was a joke ... The tables themselves are almost useless, and for all their functionality could have been done with lines and text in earlier versions. I was expecting a range of usable cells that you could paste excel data into. That doesn't seem to be what we got.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
mwenz
The content catalog (or whatever) can be downloaded. Once downloaded, find where it is on your system and make a backup to one or more thumb-drives or other media/hard drive or whatever. This is because if you ever do need to re-install, the downloaded content will be wiped out. But you can copy it all back from your backup copy.
Is it actually possible to download the CONTENT CATALOG, or are we just talking about the useless "clipart free" LOCAL DESIGNS GALLERY, where we don't even get the clipart that was in earlier versions.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DanFelix
Well my renewal date has now started to pop up. I have Ver 15, and it operates just fine. If I refrain from paying the up date, do I still have access to the program and only lose access to the online library? The program seems to work just fine when I am not connected to the internet so I think I only lose the online library. Do I understand this correctly?
This popup as appeared on my DPX15.1 as well. I am still debating whether the cost of the upgrade is actually worth it at this stage.
Look on your "documents" folder for a folder called "\MAGIX downloads\Installationsmanager" you may find the installers for whatever Xara products and updates you have installed. On my machine, the installer for the original DPX15 as well as the DPX15.1 is located there.
As far as your content is concerned, what you want to do is open up Designer Pro 15 and head to "local Deisgns Gallery". Then on right click each category and select download all. This is take a while. When this is complete, the catalogue files should appear in the following folder:
On my machine, this folder occupies 1.78 gig and is included in my daily backup.
%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Xara\XtremePro\15\Cach e\designs\eng
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
I got my Xara renewal notice today... $129.00. I made a decision instead to pay $49.99 for Affinity Designer... OH MY! Have you guys seriously looked at this program? It is amazing! I have supported Xara products for years, but today I jumped ship. I am no longer going to spend over a hundred dollars a year to keep using this product.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Thanks. I emailed Magix in the US and learned that my update will cost the $129 and that price will not expire, even after my renewal date of July 4th. I think my last renewal cost was $99. An annual payment with minimal to no product changes functionally converts the purchase to a lease. I have 20+ years of files in .xar. The decision becomes less about new features and more about a payment (Danegeld?) to continue to have workable access to past files, including commercial websites. The websites are the bigger hurdle to any decision to change programs. This is beginning to feel like WordStar.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DanFelix
Thanks. I emailed Magix in the US and learned that my update will cost the $129 and that price will not expire, even after my renewal date of July 4th. I think my last renewal cost was $99. An annual payment with minimal to no product changes functionally converts the purchase to a lease. I have 20+ years of files in .xar. The decision becomes less about new features and more about a payment (Danegeld?) to continue to have workable access to past files, including commercial websites. The websites are the bigger hurdle to any decision to change programs. This is beginning to feel like WordStar.
DanFelix, if you built the site in earlier versions of a Xara Desktop application then they are still supportable.
If you used part of Xara's early previews then the new features won't be editable or even work but these are usually few on a site so a rework would be possible.
Bitch at Xara and send it a design file and demand it unpicks the bits that won't work as it sold you something that, in good faith, you believed was a professional application with integrity.
Ask for a version that has all the bugs fixed in the year since your purchase. If Xara declines, request a full refund.
Xara wants us to continue upgrading but at present this clawback is destroying any brand loyalty. Xara should offer the latest version at the end of the year's leasehold at say $35 and drop the upgrade to $95. That way, Xara gets some money if lots of us drop out. Xara gets a far greater incentive to deliver better in its next cycle.
Acorn
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
I didn't read this whole document but one thing I've noticed that is sort of endemic to all commercial productivity software (and non productivity software) is that there's no 'end game'. In other words, it's now expected that software will somehow always need an update at some point in time. There's no push to do it right the first time. Do you buy a car with option to upgrade later to get the gas pedal installed and simply have a frame with seats and no wheels and no gas pedal, but a really serious engine? No, you buy a complete car that drives you from here to there. You know up front what it's performance is, how it handles, how many it seats, etc.
Unfortunately due to the nature of programs being amorphous then the expectation is that it SHOULD change shape over time but this has been turned into an excuse for many companies to simply not finish a product in order to sell the rest of the program at a later date. It is true, that there's a fear of 'if you do your job as a software design company too well, you're going to basically design yourself out of business' but now that fear has fostered this other line of thinking of 'never give it all away ever'. There's a happy medium, I believe, and it has less to do with software and more to do with support and maintaining the software to deal with bugs (which obviously, no one's perfect and bugs do pop up even in good, well polished software, lots of times due to OS upgrades which are also unnecessary most days).
That said, I would love to see any program at all today Xara or even just a simple time wasting game being sold without expectation of 'upgrades'. I think this mentality is destroying the software as a whole and a lot of it has come about by this cloud updating possibility and always-on internet...when a 'patch' to fix bugs actually used to cost LOTS of money to ship out discs, companies would do everything in their power to make sure they wouldn't have to resort to any patches. These days because it costs very little to just upload a new patch and trigger within the already existing software a redirection to download and install a new patch vs. produce thousands of new discs to fix the problem, it's created complacency that 'just good enough to have something to use' is okay.
I think most people might agree that while Xara's features themselves have needed some fine tuning, in the past before this new paradigm, they shipped working a lot better than previous updates and versions. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but this is definitely true of Adobe products and certainly most other products I used. There was a big joke a few years back about Forza shipping with absolutely nothing on the disc other than a redirect to the publisher's server to download the finished game because the shipping date created a 2 day padding to fix some kind of bug. Rather than push back the ship date, they shipped essentially blank discs with day-1 patch fixes expected to be 'okay'. Yet, this is now the standard operating procedure for nearly all 'professionally produced' software. But it gives me the impression that nothing is professional at all, it's a bunch of people struggling to please investors or struggle to keep finding money where there is none.
To me, where the long term financial sustainability is lies in actual SUPPORT. When Adobe was charging 500$ for a boxed copy of Photoshop that came with a full color printed manual it also came with actual support; you could call someone or send an email and get direct help. This is virtually no longer the case. With Xara, it seems the support is the least of the worries; when it comes to operation they are redirecting people here to let other users help each other (which costs them nothing other than a server fee) and I imagine there's very little in the way of people actually dealing with technical questions about crashes/bugs and the like...
I know I'm a little long winded (I apologize...My school taught me how to type when I was 7 and I've only gotten faster through the years), but in essence, I know Xara is probably staffed these days by people 'following trends' and are being expected to 'turn around a flagging company' and other corporate nonsense that has little to nothing to do with me, or anyone else here using the product and that's precisely the problem. The product is not the concern anymore. When every company is literally putting out half finished garbage, then what's the incentive for Xara to do the same? To me, it's all the incentive in the world, but unfortunately the mass population seems to have been conditioned to expect 'upgrades' where they are simply unnecessary and companies use the term 'upgrades' in place of what's really going on which is 'finishing up a half finished product'.
It's troubling and affects everyone so I hope people at some point wake up to this as I see it as a large consumer issue that is hurting a lot of us. Upgrading is not a necessity for anyone except a company with no long term plans, imo. Again, if car companies practiced 1/5th of what software companies do, it would be deadly.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
hseiken
Do you buy a car with option to upgrade later to get the gas pedal installed and simply have a frame with seats and no wheels and no gas pedal, but a really serious engine? No, you buy a complete car that drives you from here to there. You know up front what it's performance is, how it handles, how many it seats, etc.
I understand what you're saying but unfortunately there is no possibility to describe in detail the error in your reasoning. These things cannot be compared. If I could speak fluently in English, I have proved you that you are wrong trying to compare these things. Maybe someone else will explain to you ...
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
maksimon
I understand what you're saying but unfortunately there is no possibility to describe in detail the error in your reasoning. These things cannot be compared. If I could speak fluently in English, I have proved you that you are wrong trying to compare these things. Maybe someone else will explain to you ...
I don't understand what you don't understand about this comparison. I go into detail about why I make the comparison and why expecting 'upgrades' enables terrible business practices in which we as consumers are left with buggy software, always being promised a fix that brings with it new problems and in turn new fixes, rinse and repeat. If your car has a problem in it's design, it either gets repaired (patched) or replaced (recall). The end. These things don't introduce new problems to where you're constantly taking your car back in every other week for a 'bug fix'. Wouldn't you be afraid to drive it if this were the case?
Weak analogy aside, my statements beyond this still stand. You can leave the analogy out and tackle/defend my arguments against always updating things that have no business being shipped needing updates at all.
I do mention that people are conditioned to expect constantly updating software for features that aren't useful or asked for or constantly fixing bugs that the last bug fix update fixed. Again, I point to classic software that came with paper manuals you can put on a shelf, no way to connect online to 'update itself' and usually didn't need to because it was programmed right the first time and there was a clear goal and feature list that was adhered to. You might have heard of this thing called a 'design document'. Now we have what is called a 'rolling schedule'...it's a profit plan not a method of creating a finished product.
Cloud-anything is nothing more than a business, in my opinion, saying 'F-- you, we're not going to try anymore to finish anything or have a clear plan. We're just going to update for the sake of updating and interrupt you in unexpected ways along the way, maybe every month, maybe every other month, but we'll do it and you'll pay us for it.' Nope, I'm not paying for it, and I urge people to reconsider this marketing tactic as that is all it is. The user does not benefit in this scheme. The software should be made with 400 bug fixes when it is introduced, not WHILE we are using it, we shouldn't even be aware there were any bugs to begin with.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Weak analogy aside, my statements beyond this still stand. You can leave the analogy out and tackle/defend my arguments against always updating things that have no business being shipped needing updates at all.....
...... The software should be made with 400 bug fixes when it is introduced, not WHILE we are using it, we shouldn't even be aware there were any bugs to begin with.
the thing about bugs is, by definition, you don't know they are there until they crop up.. how long are you going to wait checking for things that might not be there? you will never ever know if you have caught them all, too many variables
this is a basic flaw in your analogy - the variables involved in car usage are relatively low - the variables involved in computer usage are by comaprision enormous... a car is designed to do a specific job/job_set - even just one computer program may be designed to cope with a multitude of tasks; the computer itself is a vast array of software platforming with all the conflicts, proritisations, security issues, etc that entails... and it all has to hang together... you would be better comparing such to a complete transportation system than to a single car.. still not a good analogy, but better...
and because the variables are enormous it is a given that not everything will work as it should under all possible circumstances - frankly it is pretty amazing that it works as well as it does given the complexity
this is no excuse for rogue companies pushing out half-baked product enhancement, or tying in users with an unfair update regime ... but modern systems are evolving all the time.. you have to understand this and it's implications re getting everything to work properly with everything else...
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
I do not think we should quibble too much about the analogy, it may or may not be weak, but it is a side-issue. The basic thrust of the argument is sound; the cloud is intrusive, but can be a useful tool to deliver fixes not caught in the initial release, let us accept that programmers are just as human as the rest of us...unforseen errors do crop up and it is a useful method of delivering corrections to the customer. However, (you knew there would be an "however"!) as a means of avoiding costs at the expense of delivering a CD or DVD (or five), the customer loses out when a company introduces a scheme (scam) to keep people in the loop by adopting a subscription format that is legally dubious and probably impossible for those not trained in law to understand. This has caused the hackles to rise against MagiXara and Adobe. It is morally indefensible to treat customers this way and should be outlawed (ie; made illegal by Government).
If one looks at the alternative, which Corel and Serif have adopted then things look rather better for the customer. If one accepts that Corel charge rather more than is acceptable for most folk, at least one can look elsewhere in the free market system and choose Serif's Affinity Designer and/or Photo. No pressure involved. The pricing is fair, the product is of a marvellous quality. They also have a reliable roadmap informing the customer what they can additionally expect during the lifetime of the version number they have purchased. All set out with no fuss, bother or anguish for the customer - no strings attached no threats to update, upgrade or whatever terminology they use to dupe unwitting customers to buy a pig in a poke *
MaxiXara have opened a Pandora's Box of unintended consequences. At least, one assumes that the current débâcle is one that was initially unforseen, but rather than lose face and reverting to the previous method, they are ploughing on regardless, merrily shedding loyal users as they go without a care in the world.
Bob.
*I have no affiliation with Serif, I'm just a satisfied customer, pleased that there is still a company in the graphics world that has integrity.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Bob - If the basic thrust of hseiken's argument is 'updates are unnecesary' that is total pie in the sky - there will always be program updates in a dynamic system - one reason why I was hoping Kate would confirm that bug fixes issued during a licence period are avaiable on reinstall - but my last posts in this thread, on that topic at beginning of this month, have gone unanswered
As I have said elsewhere, if MagixXara which to go in a particular direction, that is up to them and they will no doubt take the consequences; at most I would call the current update model unfair; and unlikely to give competitive advantage over time.
I like Affinity; it will not do all Xara does, but it does things xara does not, like mesh warp that I need and which Xara was asked for a decade ago or more... I can use xdpx12 for what it does for the forseeable future and lose no sleep over it...
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLwsKtZDwFs
I think this opinion expressed in this video about games is relevant to the discussion.
As for updates are unnecessary, it's not to say new versions cannot come out, it's that updates aren't updates, they're publicly beta testing stuff on the public and then if you happen to buy that version on a disc, and lose access to the bug fix 'updates' which is what I'm arguing should be unnecessary, then you're screwed. You bought buggy software. Xara/Magix goes out of business, you have worthless software.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
bug fixes or no bug fixes, beta-testing or no beta-testing, if magix/xara go out of business and you cannot re-activate your software online on restore, you are screwed anyway... unless you can resort to sandboxing a trial version, which would only be a desperate last resort
must confess I haven't watched the video... all I would say is that right back, way before the 365 update model, new versions came out with bugs in them... that is not just limited to 'updates'.. that is not just limited to xara
I do not like the update model; I do not like not getting bug fixes; but it was always that way if you did not buy the latest version
I can use version 12 for all I need; I can use verion 11, it only lacks a couple of conveniencies from my point of view, I would like the bug fixes, but the lack of them is more a point of principle to me than practicality, maybe I am lucky
and as I said before - you cannot expect to iron out all bugs for sure before release - which is not to say some companies are not more efficient than others ;)
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
I'm a noob compared to you all and new here too, but honestly, I went to Xara because I just need tools that work the way I do.
Xara works for me, so does Affinity Designer. I have Illustrator CS6 and it's fine -- but as far as I'm concerned, it's the end of life of Adobe unless I want to be on the hook for eternity and rent forever. That just doesn't jive with me.
I thought Xara was upfront about its pricing and I bought it on sale at $200 last year. It has definitely given me more than $200 worth of use. I don't feel bad about upgrading via Steam for $99 for another year. That said, if I don't see improvements to the toolset, I'm not going to upgrade again until I see them.
What I don't need is that tool to magically lose its capabilities at the end of a year's time. I think that's what really bothers a lot of people (including me) with losing the updates we paid for over the course of the year. Steam should counteract that because it packages applications differently. And Steam retains the licensure if Xara is dropped by the wayside.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
I agree it was a bad move to go to cloud based programs. I don't want to use someone else's computer 1,000s of miles away when mine works just fine.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
JJJayhawk
... What I don't need is that tool to magically lose its capabilities at the end of a year's time ...
Just to make it clear, as far as I'm aware, you won't lose anything (except access to the ONLINE CATALOGUE, and you can download that prior to the expiry) at the end of the year, Xara will remain as it was, the day your subscription expires UNLESS you have to reinstall. If you need to reinstall, what you'll get is the program as it was when you bought it ... without updates.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ss-kalm
Just to make it clear, as far as I'm aware, you won't lose anything (except access to the ONLINE CATALOGUE, and you can download that prior to the expiry) at the end of the year, Xara will remain as it was, the day your subscription expires UNLESS you have to reinstall. If you need to reinstall, what you'll get is the program as it was when you bought it ... without updates.
You do lose the capability to Search for any of the items in the Local Designs gallery. You do lose a secure means of retaining bug fixes in the year's cover. You do lose the ability to secure the Desktop application version you used to build your websites and other design material. By secure, I mean if you have to re-install for any reason, you revert to your purchase version [caveat: you might be lucky to actually be one update ahead as Xara has realised zapping bug fixes is probably not pukka]. You do lose the edit and create capability for the Xara Slideshow Widget. You do lose access to Xara Cloud (Xara Vapour, 'ware!)
It is also possible that as Xara plods on, you might start seeing the bleed off of your downloaded content. I am looking at ways of securing this possibly by preventing the Xara Desktop application calling home or just locking the Cache.
Acorn
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
You do lose the capability to Search for any of the items in the Local Designs gallery ...
I use XP&GD15 ... You can't search the Local Designs Gallery anyway. In earlier version there was a search, but as time went on that was more unreliable ... now it just doesn't exist.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ss-kalm
I use XP&GD15 ... You can't search the Local Designs Gallery anyway. In earlier version there was a search, but as time went on that was more unreliable ... now it just doesn't exist.
It was never unreliable, Xara simply failing to add the correct metadata labels and descriptions. In losing the online content access, you lose the only available search for content that used to be part of the Designs gallery, More > Find.
Acorn
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ss-kalm
Just to make it clear, as far as I'm aware, you won't lose anything (except access to the ONLINE CATALOGUE, and you can download that prior to the expiry) at the end of the year, Xara will remain as it was, the day your subscription expires UNLESS you have to reinstall. If you need to reinstall, what you'll get is the program as it was when you bought it ... without updates.
Spot on ss-kalm. Just to clarify (following Acorn's post) an expired Update Service has no impact on search in the Local Designs Gallery (which doesn't work, before or after), Xara slideshow or Xara Cloud.
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
webmaster
Spot on ss-kalm. Just to clarify (following Acorn's post) an expired Update Service has no impact on search in the Local Designs Gallery (which doesn't work, before or after), Xara slideshow or Xara Cloud.
If the Online Content catalogue is not available to out-of-cover users then the Xara Slideshow Widget is not available. If you have an existing design that uses the Xara Slideshow widget, it is not available for editing either. The Xara Slideshow Widget is part of the on-line part of your EULA that is stopped when Update Support stops. The Xara Slideshow Widget is not available to those in cover with version 12.
I was pointing out that after version 11, Xara chose to remove the search function from the Desktop application, leaving it to be on-line search only. This requires Internet connectivity and now, the Update Service.
I stand corrected over Xara Cloud access.
Acorn
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Yes, the Online Content Catalog is unavailable after expiry of the Update Service. But no, this doesn't stop you editing an existing slideshow, if you already have one in your document.
Kate Moir
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
webmaster
Yes, the Online Content Catalog is unavailable after expiry of the Update Service. But no, this doesn't stop you editing an existing slideshow, if you already have one in your document.
Kate Moir
Kate, thank you as this is new to me and leaves me baffled as I have tried several times before without any success. Has there been a widget revision?
I am also now able to access the complete functionality of the widget so I can create a brand new slideshow, all from version 12 despite being out of update support and no access to the Online Content Catalogue.
Good news.
Acorn
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
Kate, thank you as this is new to me and leaves me baffled as I have tried several times before without any success. Has there been a widget revision?
I am also now able to access the complete functionality of the widget so I can create a brand new slideshow, all from version 12 despite being out of update support and no access to the Online Content Catalogue.
Good news.
Acorn
OK, glad it's sorted. No, we haven't changed anything in the widget.
Kate
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
webmaster
OK, glad it's sorted. No, we haven't changed anything in the widget. Kate
That is actually very good to know.
Thank you,
Acorn
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Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?
Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo software are now on a 33% discount including bonus UI kits for free (user manuals are also on a 33% discount). After not subscribing to Xara this year that's enough to persuade me, after all I still have the Xara desktop version to use if I find something to difficult to do in Affinity.
What with my age and virtually no design tool updates on Xara this is the start of a long goodbye to the company and I've used Xara for a long, long time.:(