I'm not sure if this is positive or not. I've used Linux apps that incorporate Cairo and found them to be slow, but that may be that Linux GUI is slow compared to Windows or OS X.

The Xara LX with CDraw runs slow on my Linux machine. But it is still lightening speed compared to other drawing applications on Linux.

I noticed that one reply to the article thought that releasing the CDraw code would be beneficial to Xara Group (or should I say Magix). How can giving away all your assets help a company make money if your competitors can now enhance their programs using the best that Xara can offer.

I'm not a business person and most company decisions do not make sense to me anyway. However, most of the companies I have known that made decisions that I thought would lead to ruin...did go bankrupt.