Thank you and good bye! I'm no longer Xara's target audience.

[MerryOtter]

And which behaviour is not "civilized" anymore?

Well, I think it's one thing to move on to a different program if it's not meeting your needs anymore, it's quite another to deliberately rain on the parade of an objectively great release to a community of users with a rant about how much you hate the direction the software is taking and why you're leaving forever. That is why I felt compelled to provide a counterbalance and explain some of the reasons why I'm excited about Xara Xtreme 5.

it's not the question if someone is looking down on your design work or not.

Hm. It struck me that, "it's obvious that you don't work with CMYK very much," and "Hmm, promotional emails" was just a little bit condescending But that just reflects the core problem. Everyone thinks their universe is the only universe, that it should be obvious to everyone that something doesn't have any worth if it doesn't meet their particular needs.

I think the Xara gallery proves without doubt that "fine art" is absolutely possible with Xara Xtreme. And sometimes, promo mails can be artful, too. Or at least clever.

In a way, the subject of this thread is accurate, honest and neutral. Here's a guy who doesn't think that Xara is addressing his needs any more, so he's moving on. But there is an undercurrent of bitterness which I don't think is really necessary or effective. I'm sure the folks at Xara would love to get to many of the items on their (and our) wish list, like CMYK. But like everyone who lives in the real world, they have to pay the bills.

If they can sell enough copies to "regular Joes" who foolishly want red-eye removal, to support the development of CMYK and other demands of the elite class, then more power to them. Furthermore, as covoxer pointed out...

Our product policy is not wrong. It is exactly what xara founders, owners and investors want it to be. It would be wrong, if they were unhappy with it.

...people write software, start companies, etc., because of a vision they have. That is what gives them the energy to get up each morning and put in 12-hour days. Obviously their vision is not to be an Illustrator clone.

Honestly, apart from the fact that the specific features in V5 are very relevant to what I do day-to-day, I am grateful for the fact that they are taking this direction. It's a unique way of doing online content that is more visual and compelling than what traditional Web editors like Dreamweaver offer. (And just ask newspapers, book publishers and magazines how well print media is doing.) It's a great fusion of Web editor, bitmap editor, and vector tool. It's got some fun stuff like the 3D effects that I use more than I thought I would, and it continues to differentiate itself from the pack with its speed, usability, flexibility, and overall value. They are playing to their strengths.

If that means that a few high-brow designer types think they've graduated to the world of Adobe, that's fine by me. They have plenty of company.