New subscription type method for Xara - no version 12

Magix has announced a new subscription type method for its products and I already have one of them (Audio & Music Lab Premium - no date, no number). See this announcement in the Magix newsletter.

Thus, there will be no version 12 of Xara. There will only be the product name, like Xara Web Designer, no number, no date. There will likely be Xara Designer Pro X, but not X12, etc.

The subscription is good for a year. If you don't renew, you can keep using the product but get no new updates.

This should solve problems of having to set up everything each time a new version was purchased, and maybe new features will come out as they are developed.

Comments?

John

I think that's excellent.

I am not sure that I gain anything by this. As I , in essence, have been doing this for years. I always buy the new version at a "Special price". I look forward to the new product announcements each year.
It is not clear if new features would come out in dribs and drabs, or in a new release as today.

Grace, I think that's the point. With a subscription model Magix can do continual updates rather than a load of features once a year. It won't make any real difference when you buy the subscription because there is no single time when everything happens.

Currently everyone waits until the new software version is released so there's a massive spike in income around the release and probably a massive dip just before it - the software income will be somewhat seasonal.

It's a good thing, I think. It should mean getting feature updates much quicker. Even if Magix still did make releases once a year, you know that a purchase in January will make you eligible for a new release in August (or whenever), even though you bought in January. It would flatten the sales and reduce the spikes and troughs.

I should add that the post above refers to Magix. It's unsafe to assume Xara will necessary switch to that model, though they may well do.

Paul,

The message interestingly states: "From now on, new editions of MAGIX software will be published without version number or year. Program names like MAGIX Movie Edit Pro 2016 or MAGIX Web Designer 11 are a thing of the past."

As far as I know, there is no MAGIX Web Designer 11, only Xara Web Designer 11. I checked on the Magix.com site and it says Xara.... I wonder if Magix is intending on dropping the Xara name.

I wonder if Magix is intending on dropping the Xara name.

Who knows?

In any event, the posting of the announcement by Magix is somewhat irresponsible without proper clarification. It's somewhat sad that you pointed this out rather than someone from Xara. Very unprofessional.

I have not heard a peep about this from Xara, but I suspect if this is something Magix are doing, they are Xara's parent company, so...?

..so they should realise that a large number of users involved with the Xara brand will be wondering what the heck is going on ..

There seems to be some redundancy between Magix and Xara in the newsletter/magazine area. For example, there is the Xara Outsider and the Magix Magazine. The latter points directly to the Web part where there are articles about using Xara Web Designer, and there is a Photo & Graphics tab with articles about Xara. There also seems to be Magix Newsletter and even though I have signed up for it several times, I never seem to get anything. There are also Xara.com and Magix.com which seem to be just advertising, with little content, but at least with some links to other places. There are others to do with Magix like magix-audio.com. And there is Xara Xone, which at least gets a link from TG.

Point is, there seems to be no common thread. Xara and Magix announce the same things at different times but make no reference to the matching magazine/newsletter site. They even offer competing prices on the products of each side. I found some of the Magix and Xara sites by accident, usually someone mentioned them somewhere in a forum.

I would have thought that news like this would have been mentioned under TG Announcements at an early date to keep loyal users (paying clients) aware as to what is coming.

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Originally Posted by pauland

I think that's excellent.

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It's a small step from this Magix model to full-on subscription (ala Adobe). That is what I would be concerned about.

I think Magix would never dare replicate the Adobe position. Adobe only managed it because they had the professional market by the short and curlies..

The bulk of Adobe's CC subscribers are institutions (governments, organizations), not creative professionals. In fact, if one were to categorize creative professionals as independents plus small and large agencies, the non-professionals are a higher percentage of CC users than they are.

There are 12 million plus users hanging onto their perpetual licensed versions of Adobe desktop applications. CC is a relatively small percentage if you subtract the institutions--many of which we the taxpayers carry the subscription costs so to them it's "free."

I think the point is that the Adobe user-base is substantially different from that of Magix. It's mostly a professional user-base that isn't as price-sensitive as that of Magix and is locked-in to a substantial degree.

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Originally Posted by pauland

I think the point is that the Adobe user-base is substantially different from that of Magix. It's mostly a professional user-base that isn't as price-sensitive as that of Magix and is locked-in to a substantial degree.

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I think you are glossing over the point. That's ok.

There are companies smaller than Magix that have gone to, or offer, full subscription. No matter the software company (with few exceptions) that make "productivity software," they wouldn't be in business if it wasn't for the non-professional or prosumer. Few software companies large or small can make it with catering to only professional users.

They are all ripe for subscription models if the companies want to go that route. In this case, size doesn't matter.

Mike

The difference here is that if you stop paying Adobe you lose the right to use their software, with Magix that's not the case.

I don't see that I'm glossing over anything. The Magix subscription model, as described, is very different to the Adobe one.

I kinda feel we're creating some kind of argument where none is needed.

The present Magix model is different. But what I had mentioned in my opening post is their present method is but a small step to full-on subscription. They, nor Xara, are too small to do so.

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Originally Posted by mwenz

The present Magix model is different. But what I had mentioned in my opening post is their present method is but a small step to full-on subscription. They, nor Xara, are too small to do so.

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I would agree.

I can't imagine Magix or Xara are that stupid, however small that step is.

Does that mean you will not be able to buy a disk to load onto your computer? I use the program for my job. The problem is that my work computer does not have internet access when I am a work. The other problem is I have to put in a request anytime I need to load a program onto the computer. I would not be able to get any updates if I cannot not use a disk to load it onto the computer.

Welcome to TalkGraphics J Superman

At this point this is all conjecture until Xara announces the new versions. To date, there has been no announcement from Xara.

Even with X11, I don't understand how the present copy protection would work with a computer that cannot phone home due to the current copy protection. I thought it would stop functioning at some point if it couldn't verify the license.

I think there was something mentioned a while back about how to handle computers not connected to the internet. We should have this answer refreshed and posted where we will remember it. I believe that there is a separate area for corporate and education purchasers; J_Superman should check with Xara.

I expect that Xara will continue to issue the program on disk, but I don't know how that would work with the subscription method, because the disk would have to have the latest version or one would have to connect to the internet to get the latest update.

That said, with the subscription method and updates/upgrades scattered throughout the year, what happens if one doesn't subscribe upon the anniversary date but waits 6 months? Will this be possible? Will the person then receive the latest versions with all upgrades or will some be passed over and the subscriber only receives upgrades during the new one year period? Or will the person have to renew the subscription starting with the last anniversary date? This looks like it could become messy. One may miss an upgrade, say a new tool, and then a patch follows during the new subscription period covering the missed tool and more. How would this work?

What about documentation? How does Magix plan on providing updated documentation or user manuals or Help files containing new features as they come out?

Rather than purchase the upgrade right away, would it be better to wait for 6 months until most of the problems have been resolved with the new version, and maybe some new features added? That way one would benefit from 18 months, no?

Magix should clarify the details, not just for Xara, but for their entire lineup.

BTW, Magix/Xara has us by the short and curlies now. They could (but wouldn't dare) simply get to a point where they tell you to upgrade and subscribe or else the next time Xara phones home to check the validity of the serial number vs the device, the program could be deactivated.

Anyway, I don't think that we should panic but simply ask Magix/Xara for clarification. I am sure that they don't want to drive loyal customers away or discourage new ones. So far, they have always been willing to help resolve problems and answer questions.

John

John, that's a lot of worries that really shouldn't be concerns in practice.

Adobe does continuous updates and generally it hasn't proven problematic. Software and documentation are updated together, continuously. I just get a notification that updates are available for download.

With Magix you would subscribe, get the updates when available and when your subscription ends, your updates stop (Adobe cuts access altogether at that point). At some stage you start your subscription and the updates continue and would include all updates when you hadn't had a subscription.

I don't see why anyone would panic. It's a real improvement - continual updates rather than once a year. No more paying in January and again in August if you wanted the new release that happened in between.

Paul,

Overall, I see it as a real benefit. No more having to port over projects started in one version to a new one. No more having to set up everything, plug-ins, favourites, my stuff, etc. This has been a real pain in some of the programs. No more having to ask for the upgrade price (Magix seems to forget to offer me this). Less disk space used by keeping multiple versions of the programs. I usually upgrade anyways; subscription is easier.

Magix Video Pro X, the upgrade from X7 just came out and I'm downloading it.

During the installation of Magix Video Pro X, this ad came on the screen:

Attachment 112367

So there you have it, Magix is already announcing Xara Designer Pro X, no number, no date.

John

It's just amazing there's no comment here from Xara.

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Originally Posted by pauland

It's just amazing there's no comment here from Xara.

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I find the lack of information typical myself.

I'm also very happy to hear this news. Receiving a whole bunch of new features, however great, once a year, without any prior notice, has made it very difficult to plan or to recommend Xara to non-techies. So hopefully it will mean the end of my telling people in April that they really should try out this great Xara programme... but that um... they should actually not try it out yet or expect instructions from me, because it will probably be very different very soon... but that no, I haven't a clue what 'very soon' means.

It would be helpful to hear as soon as possible from Xara, whether there will be one more 'radical' upgrade before the changes take place.

From a programmers point of view this seems like a nightmare. It is hard enough to get a stable release. if several of you are working on different enhancements putting together a release with one feature without the others being finishes - ow.

Grace, with conditional compiling it is less of an issue. However, enhancements/additions/changes to an existing or new feature that has dependencies need to be handled accordingly. And the conditional compile tested, tested, tested...

I do want to add this,

Corel also does something like this in a split manner. People with a "Premium" license have new features as developed and finalized. These are pushed through the update system. These subscribers receive bug fixes and new features. (There is also a "pure" subscription model as well.)

People with the "Standard" license purchase the upgrade as it comes out with any new features that have been added through the release cycle then available to them. These license holders receive only bug fixes.

In Corel's case, the release cycle is anywhere between 18 and 20+ months. And they have a "few" more programmers available to them.

What Magix is doing at this point seems like what Corel is calling their "Premium" license structure. It works for Corel and will likely work for Magix. There are differences, of course, between both companies execution of the idea.

Mike

Well, as long as Xara keeps functioning if you decide not to renew your annual subscription then I don't see it as being a problem.

The only real difference then would basically be that you now have to choose whether to opt-out each year rather than to opt-in. The opt-in default will likely generate more revenue from fence-sitters or those who don't pay enough attention to their subscriptions and I can understand Xara wanting to keep those users. Once again, as long as they keep it a subscription for UPDATES ONLY and you can continue the program if/when it expires, I don't find it objectionable.

What I'm more interested in is what they've got in store for "X-next" then as it were. The only news about the next version seems to be about how they'd prefer we pay for it. I'd really like to know what they've got in the oven as it were. As much as XDP X9 is still my go-to vector program at the moment, the last couple of upgrades have been lackluster and am really eager to try Affinity Designer now that it's coming to Windows. Perhaps this will be a motivator for them.

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Originally Posted by JLX

Well, as long as Xara keeps functioning if you decide not to renew your annual subscription then I don't see it as being a problem.

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I suggest you read the EULA carefully.

Acorn

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Originally Posted by browj2

During the installation of Magix Video Pro X, this ad came on the screen:

Attachment 112367

So there you have it, Magix is already announcing Xara Designer Pro X, no number, no date.


John

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Xara Designer Pro X came out in 2012 (shown as Designer Pro X v8).
http://www.xara.com/us/designer-pro/download/ (Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.) I bought that version as soon as it came out. Came in handy for my Capstone project in college.

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Originally Posted by RaptorMoonX

Xara Designer Pro X came out in 2012 (shown as Designer Pro X v8).
http://www.xara.com/us/designer-pro/download/ (Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.) I bought that version as soon as it came out. Came in handy for my Capstone project in college.

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i think what browj2 was indicating was that Magix mention of just XDPX with no number is showing this is an imminent relase of the new Designer Pro version.
I think it is just advance marketing as the image browj2 found is clearly part of the splash screen for XPDX11.

As it is, the XWD365P installs as Xara Web Designer Premium, with no numbering.
The version number that appears in XWD365P is 12.0.0 and the Registry entry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE) is Xara > Xara Web Designer Premium > 12.

All hype,
Acorn

Somebody please stop this guy paricpo!

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Originally Posted by browj2

Somebody please stop this guy paricpo!

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Thanks browj2, he is in hand.

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Acorn