Making Sense of Xara Plus
The official launch is detailed here: https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...creative-tools
I will try and decode what has just passed.
- Xara is breaking off from Magix products and support for:
- (Magix) Designer Pro X (XDPX) ==> Xara Designer Pro+
- (Magix) Web Designer Premium ==> Xara Web Designer+
- (Magix) Photo & Graphic Designer ==> Xara Photo & Graphic Designer+
- All will now be accessed on a Subscription. Monthly cost but paid Annually. Currencies - USD/EUR/GBP with the same numeric value:
- 16.99/m - Xara Cloud+ - bundles in Xara Designer Pro+ with Xara Cloud Pro
- 14.99/m - Xara Designer Pro+
- 12.99/m - Xara Cloud Pro - Purely on-line. Expensive route for non-Windows users.
- 9.99/m - Xara Web Designer+
- 6.99/m - Xara Photo & Graphic Designer+
- 0.00/m - Xara Cloud - free sign up. Why? You can manipulate PDF content.
- Xara is offering an early starter discount of 40% with EARLYBIRD07
- This might be perpetual.
- I would first try the 50% LIFETIME discount; this is perpetual.
- All Magix products may no longer be updated.
- At best, Xara has deemed them "Legacy Products" with "Yearly Upgrade - Simple improvements & fixes".
- (Magix) Page & Layout Designer 11 is 32-bit and moribund.
- Xara 3D Maker is also 32-bit and unchanged for years.
- (Magix) Web Designer (not Premium) seems not to be on sale any more.
- I thnk https://www.magix.com/us/sale/ will be Magix's penultimate version. I may be wrong.
- Comparative Costs
- Xara will have costed the discount against the Magix Update Service redone annually so costs will be comparable (Xara doesn't have to pay Magix for Support or their sales cut).
- If you can afford it, buy into the Magix Update Service before switching into Xara+.
- You then have the latest Magix offering that is around 6 months behind but it is a perpetual licence.
- If you drop Xara+ for any reason, you lose product access as you are on subscription. The Magix product would be your fall-back.
I have been an early, early starter with Xara Cloud+. It has been a joy to not be Magix-nagged and the updates are there, without roll-back, until you stop subscribing.
Xara has realised not everyone needs its Cloud Suite (Xara Cloud Pro+ with Xara Designer Pro+) as the introduction of the cheaper Creative Tools is most useful, especially if you throw in the free Xara Cloud.
Xara Cloud (plain, Pro or +) does not (yet) have the capabilities of the desktop applications. This may never come, despite it being cited early on.
I on the lookout for the hyped:
- User-inspired roadmap & product delivery. TG has been trying in "inspire" for almost two decades. I suggest Xara could integrate Xara 3D Maker 7 or bundle for free.
- Xara ecosystem. At further cost?
- Access learning resources, webinars (tick), and documentation. The promised off-line PDF Help manual would be nice.
Acorn
Note: I have no association with Xara GmbH.
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Great summary
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
webinars (tick)
God, have you been on any of the weekly Wednesday webinars? I have followed the last three. I think that's enough!
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Daniel
Great summary
God, have you been on any of the weekly Wednesday webinars? I have followed the last three. I think that's enough!
Daniel, thank you. I have endure one or two.
@Egg Bramhill knocks spots off them but I detest Webinars anyhow; my Institution runs hundreds and I speed them up x3 as they are so dire.
I can cope with the BBC Christmas Lectures, for children, when the topic is interesting.
A TED Talks approach might draw me in.
I endured the Open University BBC2 lectures at 2 a.m. out of necessity.
Video presentations rarely inspire me. If you are not hands-on, you are not learning. I do know there are many modes of learning.
Acorn
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Thank you for the update Acorn.
Quote:
Xara is breaking off from Magix products and support for:
(Magix) Designer Pro X (XDPX) ==> Xara Designer Pro+
(Magix) Web Designer Premium ==> Xara Web Designer+
(Magix) Photo & Graphic Designer ==> Xara Photo & Graphic Designer+
All will now be accessed on a Subscription. Monthly cost but paid Annually. Currencies - USD/EUR/GBP with the same numeric value:
16.99/m - Xara Cloud+ - bundles in Xara Designer Pro+ with Xara Cloud Pro
14.99/m - Xara Designer Pro+
12.99/m - Xara Cloud Pro - Purely on-line. Expensive route for non-Windows users.
9.99/m - Xara Web Designer+
6.99/m - Xara Photo & Graphic Designer+
0.00/m - Xara Cloud - free sign up. Why? You can manipulate PDF content.
Xara is offering an early starter discount of 40% with EARLYBIRD07
​This might be perpetual.
I would first try the 50% LIFETIME discount; this is perpetual.
When the Pro+ Cloud combo was first announced there were quite a few TG threads that suggested a stand-alone Pro+ would be welcome; good to see this option materialise along with XWDP & XPGD.
I have not yet seen anything to suggest though that Magix will cease to market Pro X or Web Designer Premium; those on these releases should know by now that the product lags behind Xara releases by 6 months or more. That said, Pro X has had two releases this year so far (March & May).
The recent upgrade offer from Magix for Pro X was GBP 72.99 and included 'Xara X Presets' (from the third party Xara templates); the latter's full price is USD 59 - interesting!
A simple comparison from the above for Pro+ is an upfront fee of GBP 14.99 x 12 = GBP 179.88 less EARLYBIRD07 = GBP 107.93. You could of course request a LIFETIME discount and shave a bit more of the licence fee.
Time of course will tell what happens to Magix and Xara (but they still have a common investor in Bellevue).
From a support perspective, I'm sure Xara is streets ahead of Magix, but the best support resource is TG anyway :D
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Excellent summary and wise conclusion!
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
I'll join in a bit, I'm just an ordinary user who needs a stable program - to work all the time without restrictions. That's why I bought the XDP19. I don't go to the subscription. If the XARA unlimited version gets old, you can switch to AFFINITY easily and cheaper. Otherwise, thanks to all of you, I have already learned a lot here.
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Initiostar
Thank you for the update Acorn.
When the Pro+ Cloud combo was first announced there were quite a few TG threads that suggested a stand-alone Pro+ would be welcome; good to see this option materialise along with XWDP & XPGD.
I have not yet seen anything to suggest though that Magix will cease to market Pro X or Web Designer Premium; those on these releases should know by now that the product lags behind Xara releases by 6 months or more. That said, Pro X has had two releases this year so far (March & May).
The recent upgrade offer from Magix for Pro X was GBP 72.99 and included 'Xara X Presets' (from the third party Xara templates); the latter's full price is USD 59 - interesting!
A simple comparison from the above for Pro+ is an upfront fee of GBP 14.99 x 12 = GBP 179.88 less EARLYBIRD07 = GBP 107.93. You could of course request a LIFETIME discount and shave a bit more of the licence fee.
Time of course will tell what happens to Magix and Xara (but they still have a common investor in Bellevue).
From a support perspective, I'm sure Xara is streets ahead of Magix, but the best support resource is TG anyway :D
Thank you too Gary. It is nice to have a different perspective.
The XaraTemplates.com Xara X Presets can be gained directly for around £30. I rarely see a Magix bundle offer as an incentive.
In crude terms, Xara Plus will be around a third more expensive and is a Subscription; the Magix Update Service is a pseudo-Subscription but you do retain a perpetual licence.
The trade-in is no Magix involvement (apart from its hosting servers), no roll-back and always current. Magix will deliver just enough to keep people hooked.
From a web development perspective, you could pay big money for a personal website built and maintained by someone else. In Xara Plus, its annual cost is around a quarter of a commercial single page design.
For professional web development, few products have a return of investment of less than half a day.
Acorn
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
So for a dumb person like me, am I correct to assume that xara designer pro will no longer be available by Magix?
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
behzad
So for a dumb person like me, am I correct to assume that xara designer pro will no longer be available by Magix?
behzad, nowhere have I said that.
The point I am making is Xara is breaking away from Magix so at sometime in the future, the Magix suite may not continue.
Someone decided not to uplift P&LD11, X3D7 and XWD (Magix no long offers XWD).
You have to determine how or why that is.
Acorn
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Interesting, takes a bit to digest all of that, thanks Acorn.
I just downloaded a v22 update which seems to have the new UI. It's darker than the previous versions. Initial thoughts are it's a bit too dark and higher contrast, I wonder if the UI color can be changed back or customized. If not I'll just have to get used to it.
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Spamiky
Spamiky, I said "(Magix) Web Designer (not Premium) seems not to be on sale any more." & "XWD (Magix no long offers XWD)".
Both statement do not say Magix has stopped selling Premium.
XWD is Xara Web Designer, which was a cut-down of Xara Web Designer Premium.
The naming of Xara products has always been confusing and I am sure many have ended up buying the wrong one because of this.
Acorn
Re: Making Sense of Xara Plus
First of all, I’ve never liked Magix. That’s also because of what they did with the then distributed Amiga software.
I switched to Pro+ quite early and still don’t regret it. Xara is one of many tools I use for my daily work.
Xara is used by me every day for various tasks and/or replaces functions that other programs do not have.
I like the new, darker UI, but wanted more settings to adapt the UI to my needs. Affinity will show it.
Now I only hope that the functions we have been demanding for a long time will soon find their way to Xara.
