XARA-GOES-CLOUD-AND-SECURES-GLOBAL-DISTRIBUTION-OF-ITS-DESKTOP-PRODUCTS-WITH-PARTNER

Well Barbara I'm totally underwhelmed at the latest TG announcement thread re XARA-GOES-CLOUD-AND-SECURES-GLOBAL-DISTRIBUTION-OF-ITS-DESKTOP-PRODUCTS-WITH-PARTNER

What a load of techno speak / spin that says nothing. Would you like to explain in simple layman's language what the hell this article is talking about?

THREAD

I'm not Barbara but here is my take.

Magix will take over marketing development and support for the Xara graphics products.

Xara will continue to develop and expand the capabilities of the On-line product.

To be honest I am not sure how I feel about this. It will depend on how Magix handles the Xara product line.

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To be honest I am not sure how I feel about this.

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Nor do I Gary, it's all as clear as mud. Is Magix now becoming the sole distributor of previous Xara software? Is Xara abandoning it's desktop software to Magix? Is Xara, having released their desktop software distribution to Magix, going all out for a cloud version of Xara On-line?

Fart and give us a clue please ;)

I am going to open up my tool box and add a few other tools to it in the event that xara no longer is the xara that I once knew. Serif is a good one now for graphics and wordpress I already know, so possibly divi or beaverbuilder would be fine working with wordpress. I can always design with xara and have someone convert the graphics to wordpress. So the possibilities are endless. Do not worry, expand your horizon passed that of xara or magix.

Well, the writing was on the wall.

What I would like to know is who is going to be doing the coding for XDP? Not very explicit on that point...nor any other points for that matter.

Exactly Mike.

I like that while the announcement makes it sound like a near-future event...it happened yesterday.

I also note that for now TG remains in-place. It will royally suck once the only forum will be that thing of a site MagixTricks uses.

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WILL YOU STILL BE DEVELOPING YOUR DESKTOP PRODUCTS?Absolutely, we will continue to release exciting new features and performance improvements on the Xara Designer titles. In fact, desktop version 15 will be released in the next two months with customer requested features of today.

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Desktop version 15? How do I move from v12.8? I'm so excited.
Next two months? Did our upgrade fees pay for this transition or development work?
Customer requested features of today? However can we validate this statement?

I wish Xara and Magix all the best.

Acorn

Hi All

Hopefully the FAQs at the bottom of the announcement (http://www.xara.com/press/2017-10-23/) provide some extra clarity! This effects sales, marketing and support of the English language versions, there are no changes at all in our development teams. They will continue to work on desktop and Online Designer as before. Magix has handled the non-english versions since 2007 so those of you using the German version, for example, will see no change at all. But for all English speaking customers - the majority of you here - this means new sales, upgrades and renewals will happen via Magix, and in due course support as well. They have much bigger sales and support teams than Xara, and a huge amount of international experience to call on, so I am sure this is going to bring some improvements.

v15. Yes, I realize how odd that seems, I can only say there was some internal logic in making that the next version number!

We are not going to disappear from TalkGraphics by the way, you will still see Xara people here, but you will also see a couple of our Magix colleagues as well.

Attachment 119104

Until I see most complicatet things goin on in Magix, I can't believe Xara will grow to be one of the leader to beat. I don't thing a company like Magix make Xara great again.
I'll watch about this and when time is comming, I'll leave Xara finally. Because there is for me no future! Maybe can anybody from Magix give a clarifying answer where the future of XDP is.
If not: by by Xara, we got a good time but You've leave me. It's sad, but other mothers have good looking daughters too.

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I saw it coming...no surprise...

It should be benificial - xara marketing has always been too low key and the support, whilst good, way under-resourced - it never made a lot of sense for magix and xara to be dupicating effort in the way they did

I do have concerns about the longlevity of the XARA marque; it may just end up as a label to stick on a product, but that is sentiment on my part not business..

I wish everyone the best and hope it all works out

I know this is a hot topic.

I can be nothing but so.

But please don't shoot the messenger, okay?

Even if the Admin was not my spouse, I'd ask for the same civility as you pay other volunteer tg staff.

Thanks,

Gary

Just to reiterate what Kate said as there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding here. Magix are looking after support and sales and marketing, but we Xara are still developing the program and providing escalated support for Magix also. This is an expansion of resources if anything.

So for example, Ernie - 'Maybe can anybody from Magix give a clarifying answer where the future of XDP is' - they can't because the future of the program is still with us :)

And as Kate also said, we all from Xara will still be here to help and if anything will hopefully have more time to devote to responding to TG. Even members from Magix will be here to help so it should bolster support and communication between everyone. This should be beneficial for all :)

Thanks
Rob

Thanks, Rob.

Attachment 119106

aye - it's good to hear that TG will remain a support portal even [presumably] when support tickets go to magix...:

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Originally Posted by katemoir

...this means new sales, upgrades and renewals will happen via Magix, and in due course support as well...

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.Attachment 119108

Whew, finally!

For those who have Magix products other than the Xara line, having accounts in more than one place has been confusing. For most of my Magix products, like Music Maker and Video Pro X and Movie Edit Pro, etc., my account was under Magix.com. For Xara products, it was under Xara.com. Now, everything (almost) shows up under one place, ok, both places for now. I looked at my account under Xara.com and I see my purchased products for both the Magix products and the Xara products. I look at my account under Magix.com and I get the same list. So, my understanding is that everything is now in one place. Great! Almost. There are other Magix products that I have, Samplitude versions, that show up only in my Magix-audio.com account for Pro-Audio Service Centre. So, for Samplitude, I have to go there; for everything else, I have to go to Magix.com, but at least I no longer also have think about which account my Xara purchases are located. Hopefully, Magix will also move Samplitude and Sequoia to Magix-com so that everything is in one place. To illustrate more confusion, Magix has offered Samplitude bundled with other Magix products. The other Magix products got registered in the Magix.com account, but Samplitude in the Pro-Audio account. Users would look for Samplitude in their Magix.com account and not find it, and vice versa.

So, that is all this is really about as far as I can tell. Purchased products all show up under one Magix account.

As far as marketing, Magix has been marketing and selling Xara products on Magix.com for years. There is much more traffic on Magix.com than on Xara.com. Users of Movie Edit Pro and Video Pro X will find it useful to purchase Xara P&GD or DPX as it works closely with the video editors. So there is a whole market there for Xara and much more exposure than just on the Xara.com site. This makes sense to me.

There is another product line, the ex-Sony Creative Software, particularly Vegas, that Magix purchased last year. Although marketed on the Magix.com site, there is Vegascreativesoftware.com and I believe that Vegas gets registered to a separate database, just like Xara products were, but as I don't have any, I'm not sure. If so, then other Magix products bundled with Vegas would be registered to Magix.com, etc., thus more confusion.

Lastly, for Ernie, who, for some reason does not like Magix, I find Magix very good. Their products are good and support is reasonable. Looking elsewhere, like Corel, their support is for one month. Magix gives you 12 months. Big difference there. Also, I believe that someone mentioned that Magix products are not for professionals (but Xara is). Not true. Video Pro X, Samplitude and Sequoia are used by professionals, with the latter two top of the line. Even Movie Edit Pro Plus/Premium is used by professionals. And now with Vegas in the line-up, even more professionals use Magix products.

My experience with Magix over the last few years has been very good. They are proactive and trying to lead, which is not always easy. So far, I have seen no interference with Xara from Magix. My only beef was that there was a problem for a couple of versions of Xara of using it with the video editors. The animation part did not work. I complained. They got it working finally. There were some bugs (in Xara). I complained. The bugs were fixed. I'm happy. As Xara works with the video editors, as does 3DMaker, I can see no reason for Magix to want anything other than to be able to promote Xara as an excellent, must-have tool.

On the Magix forum, the Magix person assigned to the forum posted a message soliciting a wish-list for Video Pro X in a couple of languages. Great initiative from Magix! Here, we have Dear Xara, and we know that Xara monitors it and other posts.

That's my 2 cents.

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Originally Posted by Rob-Xar

So for example, Ernie - 'Maybe can anybody from Magix give a clarifying answer where the future of XDP is' - they can't because the future of the program is still with us :)
Thanks
Rob

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O.K.! And where is the answere from XARA? Why don't give us Xara a direction plan for, maybe the next two years? What is so ominous or where is the secret we are not allowed to know?
We USERS are the pay poeple who will stay with XARA as a, dont say leader, but a good tool to get a answer to all the „A“-driven competitions.
So where is the problem to comunicate with the users?
All You answers where, I say it in German, wischi waschi. So if anybody of Magix is here it will be able to understand it. I think I'm angry and that is not a good way to comunicate.

For now I leave and wish us „The XARA-Users“ and „Developers“ all the best.

@ Gare

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But please don't shoot the messenger, okay?

Even if the Admin was not my spouse, I'd ask for the same civility as you pay other volunteer tg staff.

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Who's shooting the messenger? I've seen no derogatory remarks towards anyone.

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

@ Gare
Who's shooting the messenger? I've seen no derogatory remarks towards anyone.

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Egg, two nations... one language. "Hell" and Fart" may have different connotations across the Pond. I did take what was said to be about the message.

What Magix/Xara is doing now is how I felt when Joss Wheldon's Firefly was axed, 14 years ago. But hey, life goes on; without Wash.

I am saddened by the loss of the Xara Affiliate Program. A switch to Magix's offer is not one I wish to follow right now but to have to dig into sites to find any mention of the Xara (dead) affiliate link is not a task I had planned for.

Magix/Xara has made an astounding statement about "version 15" so I am waiting for Christmas to come early.

Acorn

There was one post that appeared earlier that has now been edited, perhaps Gare might have been referring to that?

I have created a thread here https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...r&goto=newpost
where we can all list features that might make the Online designer more useful to us

Xara Goes Cloud... Please enlighten me what this means?

When I'm reading it I can only think of 1 thing regardless what I read about version 15 coming out soon.

Thanks

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Originally Posted by dutchim

Xara Goes Cloud... Please enlighten me what this means?

When I'm reading it I can only think of 1 thing regardless what I read about version 15 coming out soon.

Thanks

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As best I can figure in look at the link to Barbara's message, it means the cloud-based web design.

"The Xara sales and marketing team will focus on introducing the new cloud based creative service to the world.

“Drawing upon our strong expertise in graphics, photo, and text editing software, we have pushed the boundaries to develop a new cloud-based solution for businesses, not seen before. We look forward to telling you about our exciting new SaaS solution soon.” said Charles Moir, Xara’s Founder and Chief Software Architect."

I added the highlight to the quotation.

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Originally Posted by angelize

There was one post that appeared earlier that has now been edited, perhaps Gare might have been referring to that?

I have created a thread here https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...r&goto=newpost
where we can all list features that might make the Online designer more useful to us

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Thanks you Frances, I therefore slighted Egg for which I apologise. Sorry Egg.
I'm still young, you know, but I never want to tread on egg shells either.

Acorn

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Originally Posted by Rob-Xar

Just to reiterate what Kate said as there seems to be a lot of misunderstanding here. Magix are looking after support and sales and marketing, but we Xara are still developing the program and providing escalated support for Magix also. This is an expansion of resources if anything.

So for example, Ernie - 'Maybe can anybody from Magix give a clarifying answer where the future of XDP is' - they can't because the future of the program is still with us :)

And as Kate also said, we all from Xara will still be here to help and if anything will hopefully have more time to devote to responding to TG. Even members from Magix will be here to help so it should bolster support and communication between everyone. This should be beneficial for all :)

Thanks
Rob

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Great to hear that!

If an expanded support structure means that we will have access to telephone support that will be a big positive.

However if this means that we will be speaking to a member of the Magix team who only has generic IT skills and has to escalate to an Xara colleague it may not really add any value.

I am all for progress but only if it genuinely provides a better product or service for the end user.

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Originally Posted by angelize

There was one post that appeared earlier that has now been edited, perhaps Gare might have been referring to that?

I have created a thread here https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...r&goto=newpost
where we can all list features that might make the Online designer more useful to us

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Not a biggie, egg, Frances, acorn.

I probably was wrong in feeling members were venting at someone who is not part of the situation. She's only reporting from Magix, in a digestible fashion. IOW, she gets 100 words, she pares it down to 20, she posts.

Thanks, tho'

-g

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Originally Posted by Acorn

Egg, two nations... one language. "Hell" and Fart" may have different connotations across the Pond. I did take what was said to be about the message.

What Magix/Xara is doing now is how I felt when Joss Wheldon's Firefly was axed, 14 years ago. But hey, life goes on; without Wash.

I am saddened by the loss of the Xara Affiliate Program. A switch to Magix's offer is not one I wish to follow right now but to have to dig into sites to find any mention of the Xara (dead) affiliate link is not a task I had planned for.

Magix/Xara has made an astounding statement about "version 15" so I am waiting for Christmas to come early.

Acorn

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Ditto concerning Firefly! Whedon's done well with The Avengers, so there is some consolation there. And we have Mr. Robot, The Orville, the new Star Trek, The Magicians, so we keep driving, but switch lanes, if that metaphor holds up.

This stuff already happened over a year ago, as I look back at minor changes. It's just that it's official now. Can I presume that when Brexit was impending, Xara moved operations to a solid EU country?

Just none of my business :)

Gary

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Originally Posted by Gare

I probably was wrong in feeling members were venting at someone who is not part of the situation. She's only reporting from Magix, in a digestible fashion. IOW, she gets 100 words, she pares it down to 20, she posts.

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It's no big deal but it was a bit confusing that this message was posted by 'someone who is not part of the situation'. It's a company announcement and they are usually made by a Xara officer.

these company announcements are made by a Xara officer, in the xara press release section of the xara website here: http://www.xara.com/uk/press/ which anyone with an interest in the actual company will/should be aware of

Barbara linked; TG is not run by the company [just funded] so I would imagine that it is not really for the company to use it as a forum for actual company policy

At TG these company announcements are mostly made on the "TalkGraphics Announcements" forum, the last few years mostly by Kate Moir: https://www.talkgraphics.com/forumdi...-Announcements. There was no other name on it than Barbara's (except the press contact) and initially I did not understand that she was 'linking;' hence my confusion.

I'm confident Barbara will step in here shortly; I don't really care about corporate policy—I'm an artist/end user. I'm not going to change the fate of Xara Designer, be that end game real or imagined.

I regret that things seems less clear rather then clearer, folks. I'm only typing this because Barbara was up until 3 in the morning putting out a server siege. So tg could keep working.

So people are free to post what they like, within guidelines.

Get the sub-text?

-g

I take an interest in all the companies whose products I use on a 'renewal' basis for mission critical work; it's a form of 'due diligence'

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I take an interest in all the companies whose products I use on a 'renewal' basis for mission critical work; it's a form of 'due diligence'

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I cannot say I have ever seen any of your work, mission critical or otherwise. Do you have a website Steve?

Hi All,

Sorry for any confusion regarding the announcement and its origin and that I did not address this sooner in this thread.

It is true that I am not an Xara or Magix officer and I should have made it clearer that I was repeating and linking to an official Xara/Magix announcement and for that I apologize.

Everything in the announcement is part of of the official press release made by Xara and Magix. There is no doubt about the accuracy or the source of the information.

I have also spoken privately to Kate Moir and she told me just as she said previously in this thread and in the PR FAQ, that development on the traditional desktop products continues unabated. Rob-Xar said the same in this thread.

She also told me that no Xara personnel have been replaced or lost. And that this change means there is now an INCREASE in personnel and resources available to market and support Xara products. Programming resources and personnel remain the same.

This move also frees up sales and support personnel at Xara to devote their time to developing and supporting the market for Xara Online which is seen as meeting the Xara customer base's increasing needs for an online collaborative option AND bringing in a new customer base to the Xara fold who have never used Xara products. The success of Xara Online is important to the Xara product line and Xara customers and Xara and Magix are taking the necessary steps and devoting the necessary resources to make that happen.

Xara has been a Magix subsidiary since 2007 so Magix input into the Xara product line and the way it is marketed and supported is not new. The connection is now just more visible with the actual sales and support moving to Magix's website.

As to the confusion over version numbers - version 15 is the next version, no matter how illogical and unnecessary that seems to consumers. Xara is not the first company to confuse users and skip version numbers for no apparent reason - has anyone ever run Windows version 9?

Please be assured that the operation of TalkGraphics (server, bandwidth, software, etc.), which always has been funded by the Xara products marketing budget, continues to be funded by the Xara products marketing budget. For TalkGraphics it is business as usual.

Thank you Barbara for the update.

Ciao

Roly

Thanks for the clarification Barbara.

That is assuring. Thanks.