Xara Xtreme 6

**Xcellent** · 06 April 2010, 11:28 PM

A product is not alive just because it exists online as a source code. Continuous development maintained by a core team, support, newsletters, resources, documentation bla bla bla makes it a "product". I bought lots of software, paid lots of money (most was 400 british pounds) and the company went broke after 12 months. Small software companies have a hard life. So for Xara I'm glad someone 'big' like Magix saw the potential in Xara. To see updates every year makes Xara alive and kicking.

However, the direction Xara took in terms of web development over Vector tools is clearly Magix input. At first, I thought it's **** but the marriage of vector/design/WYSIWYG and web the way Xara handles it is amazing. It is a niche market. Saying that, I wish it had developed on both ends simultaniously, both vector tools and web. We can't have it all and never will

**steve.ledger** · 07 April 2010, 01:21 AM

Originally Posted by Xcellent

However, the direction Xara took in terms of web development over Vector tools is clearly Magix input.

I should like to see your evidence of that?
Perhaps the clues lay in Xara's history - their earlier WebStyle (now replaced by Web Designer) and Menu Maker software plus their file format.
Even Corel marketed CorelXARA as a web-oriented companion to CorelDRAW.

**Xcellent** · 07 April 2010, 02:26 AM

Originally Posted by sledger

I should like to see your evidence of that?
Perhaps the clues lay in Xara's history - their earlier WebStyle (now replaced by Web Designer) and Menu Maker software plus their file format.
Even Corel marketed CorelXARA as a web-oriented companion to CorelDRAW.

Sure, this is all pure speculation on my side. From what I see, XaraXtreme changed since Magix got involved, to more of an web app:

Xara was in my understanding a direct successor of Artworks: a pure Vector drawing tool. From the first appearance of Xara it got more tools regarding 'design' over the years (e.g. Contour Tool/Bevel Tool). Even PDF/X was embedded, which is aimed at print designers.

Webstyle and Menu Maker were always seperate products.

Then the next Xara release after Magix bought Xara, it got more web tools. The last release also was more focussed on web, no new vector tools as previous releases. PDF/X was improved, hands down. It all looks it goes further towards Web development, especially after Magix.

**amoore** · 07 April 2010, 03:06 PM

Originally Posted by sledger

Even Corel marketed CorelXARA as a web-oriented companion to CorelDRAW.

Corel licensed Xara because it was known as a "Draw killer". They had to market it as "web-oriented" to distinguish it from Draw, which was their flagship product. They also wanted some of the technology in Xara. In 2001, at the CorelWorld conference, Derek Burney, then president of Corel, admitted that a number of the improvements in Draw 6 had been taken from Xara even though Corel wasn't supposed to have done that. I was there. I heard him say it.

Corel did me a favor when it brought out CorelXara. I'd been trying to get my hands on Xara for a while because I was tired of lumbering through Draw. I needed something I could actually do work with.

Charles Moir is a very creative and forward-thinking guy. He may have started developing the web components to keep the company busy while Corel was "marketing" Xara, or he may simply have been pursuing ideas he would have pursued anyway.