Xara/MAGIX vs AFFINITY

I'm not posting here to compare Xara Designer Pro against Affinity Designer, when it comes to drawing.
I think there are many who are much more qualified, than I am.
And to be honest, I've not used AD that much. Why? Well, I find Xara easy to use.
No doubt, if I spend the same number of years on AD, I may also get proficient on AD.


What I do want to say is that Xara/MAGIX seem hell bent on pissing me off, whilst Affinity continue to provide good service.


This is the message I have to get past EVERY time I start XDP17.

Attachment 128022

And Xara/MAGIX Support has said: "The notification about your update service expired is unfortunately something that is not possible to get rid of, there is no way how to stop it from popping up."


Whilst Affinity continue to provide updates, even though I bought AD many, many years ago.

Attachment 128023

And this was the second update from Affinity in about 5 months.
For a product that's a fraction of the price of XDP.

I just don't understand what Xara/MAGIX hope to gain by this permanent message?!
If it's more business, then it's unlikely to be from me.

Good points Rik.

I paid 52,000 JP [from memory about 56 GBP at the time] for Paint Tool SAI in 2011 - since then the program has progressed from 32 to 64 bit and has had many new features and capabilities added; technically it is beta, but I do not find many bugs and I have never been asked to pay a single penny more


usually updates 2/3 times a year

now people like this get respect

[just making the point - PT-SAI is a 'manga style' app, not vector]

Serif is competing for the Adobe market. Xara is not focusing on that, they are alone wolf.

I have Affinity Designer. I like it. But Xara is the “all in one” tool. Certainly Affinity has some great newsletter capabilities, and offers some very handy presets especially for Facebook and Instagram. Affinity is a great mock up tool. Works well on Mac too.
Xara’s power lies in adjusting on the fly. For web very handy for photo enhancement again on the fly. It all depends upon your workflow and tools.
If one has another web product, Adobe, coffee cup etc, Affinity is a tool to add to the toolbox.
Affinity at the moment is not interested in producing a web program. Certainly Affinity Photo is an excellent replace for Photoshop.

Affinity 50% sale

This is an old thread, but at the end of the day, is it is not the software that makes the art but the artist using the software.

I 2nd that. Some people have made great graphics with microsoft paint back in the days :D

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Originally Posted by bwood

I have Affinity Designer. I like it. But Xara is the “all in one” tool. Certainly Affinity has some great newsletter capabilities, and offers some very handy presets especially for Facebook and Instagram. Affinity is a great mock up tool. Works well on Mac too.
Xara’s power lies in adjusting on the fly. For web very handy for photo enhancement again on the fly. It all depends upon your workflow and tools.
If one has another web product, Adobe, coffee cup etc, Affinity is a tool to add to the toolbox.
Affinity at the moment is not interested in producing a web program. Certainly Affinity Photo is an excellent replace for Photoshop.

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I recently joined the Affinity Facebook group.

Wow is it busy. It very much has an enthusiastic vibe that is like talkgraphics used to be - about drawing stuff not websites. In an afternoon I've seen more artwork than in a year on Talkgraphics. Talkgraphics is something of a misnomer these days.

..and this afternoon someone was complaining that Affinity couldn't do what DrawPlus does.. ..so familiar when people move software.

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Originally Posted by pauland

I recently joined the Affinity Facebook group.
Wow is it busy. It very much has an enthusiastic vibe that is like talkgraphics used to be - about drawing stuff not websites. In an afternoon I've seen more artwork than in a year on Talkgraphics. Talkgraphics is something of a misnomer these days.
..and this afternoon someone was complaining that Affinity couldn't do what DrawPlus does.. ..so familiar when people move software.

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People develop their art skills all the time and stop contributing as they are drawing and painting. Artists need to present their work and the web is next to free, which is where the skew comes in (I do think there are more monotheist church sites than artists' ones!). Compare the cost against canvas, brush, paint and print materials. That said the XDA is a vector program so some may not switch easily to this 'media', preferring to paint pixels instead.

I believe building a website is an art, as is creating a cursive document and both are as "graphic" as a drawing.
Xara offers photo manipulation with OLE out to a third-party editor (Affinity Photo, Photoshop, etc).
It certainly needs better ImpEx using SVG to Affinity Designer and other vector programs.
Tellingly, Affinity Publisher knock spots off the XDA in lots of areas for PDF manipulation.

The attraction of the XDA is, however, its simpler user interface (present changes notwithstanding) and seamless integration.

Where Xara lets itself down is its naff subscription model: Affinity states "You do not need to remain online or signed in to use this content." Wouldn't that be nice? Affinity keeps throwing free content at me and I get to keep it too.

Acorn

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Originally Posted by pauland

I recently joined the Affinity Facebook group.

Wow is it busy. It very much has an enthusiastic vibe that is like talkgraphics used to be - about drawing stuff not websites. In an afternoon I've seen more artwork than in a year on Talkgraphics. Talkgraphics is something of a misnomer these days.

..and this afternoon someone was complaining that Affinity couldn't do what DrawPlus does.. ..so familiar when people move software.

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this does not surprise me... talk graphics has the feel of can you help me - oh thanks [if you are lucky] - 'bye - never mind arcane definitions of 'graphic', or 'art', TG is hardly anything more than a help desk these days most of the time

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Originally Posted by handrawn

TG is hardly anything more than a help desk these days most of the time

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Which lies squarely with Xara the company as it no longer engages having farmed out its responsibility to Magix.

Acorn

yes.. but so where are we with pro+ then which has nothing to do with magix..... do they, xara, engage elsewhere ?

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Originally Posted by handrawn

yes.. but so where are we with pro+ then which has nothing to do with magix..... do they, xara, engage elsewhere ?

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Xara has support pages (https://help-cloud-plus.xara.com), now populated a bit more. For example, a question on "help manual" offers http://support-dl.xara.com/pdf/Versi...nerProPlus.pdf. This is somewhat stale with its last update as at 16 April 2020.

Now on the same page, there is the Intercomm Chat so you could ask "Will there be a PDF Help Manual soon?" and you individually may get a response in two working hours.
This is great compared with Magix but why must we have 3,174 such enquiries when TalkGraphics exists? Xara does not understand communication channel mechanisms.

Long-winded but if all we get it is a question-response paradigm then debate around the worth of new features or asks will never appear, especially as Xara rarely engages in TG.

Acorn

sorry, the point I was really interested in was - is xara, on TG, interested in showcasing.. or are they just milking the free technical support

and I stress on TG ;)

when I said do they, xara, engage elsewhere ? I was being ironic

"The notification about your update service expired is unfortunately something that is not possible to get rid of, there is no way how to stop it from popping up."

Goodness me! (he said, politely) this just has to be pure eyewash...somebody, surely, must have the knowledge, power, willingness and ability to alter what can and cannot appear in its own program. Do they believe that their customers all came down in the last shower of rain?

Each time I fire up Xara Designer I am pleased to be working in a pleasant and familiar environment, but like Rik, the pop-ups do tend to get on my nerves.

Maybe we should we be grateful the programs keep working and don't revert to a demo mode like Pro+ where copy, save and export etc are disabled if you don’t handover your money!

What's that you say? - that'll be the next thing!;)

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Verb: nag

1. Bother persistently with trivial complaints
2. Worry persistently
3. Remind or urge constantly
4. An annoying marketing practice used by Xara/Magix

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Attachment 128852

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jonopen

Maybe we should we be grateful the programs keep working and don't revert to a demo mode like Pro+ where copy, save and export etc are disabled if you don’t handover your money!

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At least a punter subscribing to Pro+ realised it will stop when the subs does. Within the Magix universe (as it is beyond my reach), 90% of the on-line content disappears and a re-install reverts back to a buggy purchase version, all with the T&Cs well-hidden.

Verb: nag

1. Bother persistently with trivial complaints
2. Worry persistently
3. Remind or urge constantly
4. An annoying marketing practice used by Xara/Magix
5. What Acorn persists with to Xara

Acorn

hmmmm, getting upset now

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Originally Posted by behzad

hmmmm, getting upset now

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I think as it is a new web page every month (e.g., http://content.magix.net/newsfeeds/x...S/en/index.htm, http://content.magix.net/newsfeeds/x...S/en/index.htm [for XWDP]) then the associated Cookie is altered each and every time. A Firewall Rule blocking content.magix.net/newsfeeds might be a solution.

Note:
Magix use an XDA to design their newsfeed nag screen.
Xara uses https://shared.xara.com/IA6smiXLgD/i...tm_files/1.jpg, an image for theirs with SSH as well.
It was Cloud+ generated: https://shared.xara.com/IA6smiXLgD/index.htm, probably from v20.6 but I no longer track these things. Check out https://shared.xara.com/IA6smiXLgD/i...files/1@2x.jpg & https://shared.xara.com/IA6smiXLgD/i...files/2@2x.jpg - Xara doesn't yet seem to understand how to use PNGs.

With these we could set up a monthly TG Challenge to create Spoof Offers as a competition.
Clearly Magix will win every time.

Acorn

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With these we could set up a monthly TG Challenge to create Spoof Offers as a competition.

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Your starter for 6:

LINK

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Your starter for 6:
LINK

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Egg, your page convinced me I must renew! I must renew! I must renew!

Not.

Acorn

Totally agree with everyone.

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Your starter for 6:

LINK

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That's a really nice animation, Egg! =D>

Thanks peeps.

Nice, which program did you use for the animation?

Hi Marco, I created a static svg in Xara and animated it within svgator

SVG is the new GIF!

Thanks Egg.

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Originally Posted by handrawn

Attachment 128852

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Hehe, that's a nice nag! :D

And great animation Egg.

I hate to Nag! but going back to my post earlier, would I still be seeing the Nag screen if I do not update and continue with what I have?

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Originally Posted by behzad

I hate to Nag! but going back to my post earlier, would I still be seeing the Nag screen if I do not update and continue with what I have?

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Forever.

Acorn

:-O

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Originally Posted by Rik

I'm not posting here to compare Xara Designer Pro against Affinity Designer, when it comes to drawing.
I think there are many who are much more qualified, than I am.
And to be honest, I've not used AD that much. Why? Well, I find Xara easy to use.
No doubt, if I spend the same number of years on AD, I may also get proficient on AD.


What I do want to say is that Xara/MAGIX seem hell bent on pissing me off, whilst Affinity continue to provide good service.


This is the message I have to get past EVERY time I start XDP17.

Attachment 128022

And Xara/MAGIX Support has said: "The notification about your update service expired is unfortunately something that is not possible to get rid of, there is no way how to stop it from popping up."


Whilst Affinity continue to provide updates, even though I bought AD many, many years ago.

Attachment 128023

And this was the second update from Affinity in about 5 months.
For a product that's a fraction of the price of XDP.

I just don't understand what Xara/MAGIX hope to gain by this permanent message?!
If it's more business, then it's unlikely to be from me.

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Rik ... this is a older thread but I see we didn’t answer your question. Xara/Magix want you to continually update, hence a countdown clock and daily reminders. I’d hope they’d start reminding a month prior.
Xara Pro+ does not remind until around a month prior.
I have all Affinity products and do enjoy them.
Solution: go Xara Pro!
-Bill

it's the solution I chose, and you chose.... but rik's point, I am sure, is that he does not need to upgrade from version 17 - and so to pay every year, as you have to with pro + would be a waste of money...

I can stand the nagging.
Besides as a bonus we get @egg and @acorn who are magicians!

-Bill

The nagging today states that I can get the latest at Magix for $120 Canadian upgrade which is a good deal, but I am on the fence still with + offer. This is the first time that a software is sold by two different companies. I also like to keep my software and not subscribe to it every year.