Next version of Xara Extreme

**Tallis** · 26 September 2006, 02:17 PM

Hi everyone, very new to vector graphics and learning about Xara here in this great forum.

I read about Xara only importing Illustrator 8, and while being very capable, has some trouble with imports of newer file formats.

Is Xara going to be updating Extreme with a new version, (3.0?) soon? Is there some sort of beta going on now? What is the future of this product in terms of new generation programming, and what might be the timeline for such a new version release?

I've been tricked into staying with CRM and other software that was never really updated., so Im somewhat interested in this topic...

Thanks!

**Big Frank** · 26 September 2006, 02:47 PM

Hi Tallis,

Welcome to the TG forums. Just take a look at the price of Xtreme and the price of Illustrator (I have the newest versions of both) and tell me who is tricking whom?

You will only understand this once you have really used Xara Xtreme, but if you're new to vector graphics (i.e. you're not an Illustrator power user) you have no yardstick at all against which to measure this. There are many workarounds for getting CS2 AI files into Xtreme until Xara come out with an effective import filter but if you're new to vector graphics I fail to see how this impacts on you.

If you want to know about software update timelines you'd better contact Xara direct - they raraely if ever reveal their intentions on here.

Keep playing with Xara Xtreme and keep watching these forums, you'll be amazed at the quality of artwork Xtreme is capable of in the right hands.

**Tallis** · 26 September 2006, 04:04 PM

"Fail to see? "

Maybe I should have spelled more out but I had to run out the door in midsenetence almost. There are .ai, eps, wmf files posted on the internet, mostly in graphics sites, forums, etc., where people share their half-done ideas, creations, so on. I like to see what others are doing, not just the finished product, but the pieces along the way, so I try to open these. Many do open and they are vector clip-art that xara recognizes. Many come up as errors or just blank, still others popup a dialog indicating xara can not open photosop eps.

Are there workarounds for these cases where newer illustrator and other programs are used to save these files, and I can't open any > than v8 files, just as one example? Are there a few "go-to" small utilities that convert between formats I need to know about? Are there open source utilities that convert between various vector ( & possibly raster ) formats?

Regarding the next version, many companies have betas that follow the release of a product. V2 of Xara has apparently gone through many point releases, and I was wondering then, that this leads one to think that there's been a v3 in the works now that 2 has undergone several point iterations, and I wasn't quite sure of what xara's typical product update cycle has been, that's all. ( i.e. is the open source v.7 for linux pulling resources away from a V3 windows, will v3 windows be also open source, etc )

Any other comments?

By the way, I've owned software where the support communities are quite literally like a funeral home. Quiet. Somber. Sparse comments. 3 months between responses to a thread, if there are indeed responded to. Hats off to all of you for maintaining such a family and momentun of interest.

**Big Frank** · 26 September 2006, 04:56 PM

You were saying?

**Charles Moir** · 27 September 2006, 03:19 PM

Yes we are working on the next version of Xara Xtreme. As I think I mentioned in a Xara newsletter a while back there are more people actively working on Xara Xtreme than for many, many years. A lot of effort over the past year has been put into Xara LX - the Linux version (which Windows users tend not to see), but we are working on new Windows versions as well.

But it's too early to say what features or when.

**The Alien** · 27 September 2006, 04:03 PM

Xtreme is still pretty fresh imo, so I wouldn't expect a new version soon.
I expected to see some patches first with that add to the program (like the svg export that Xara are working on, bugfixes etc.), and maybe a whole new version after x years?