Web Designer 365 Premium - Now a subscription product?

[Stevey]

First of all I'm not openly hostile to the concept of a yearly subscription model, but Xara's launch information doesn't clarify the situation. If I don't renew one year, what part of the product is still accessible to me? I believe we should be charged full price for the initial product and then the yearly subscription should be at a greatly reduced price, but at the moment it looks like we will all be charged the full upgrade rate every year.

Also many people are interested in the future development of the online designer aspect of the product. If I design a site and then want to give someone else access, what is the cost of an additional person accessing that facility and also the ongoing renewal cost?

Does this also have negative long term implications for the web design side of the Designer Pro product, with more and more functionality stripped away to make Web Designer 365 ultimately a separate product (available features wise) to Designer Pro therefore giving consumers more reason to buy both products.

None of this is a critique of the new product and I will probably buy it, but I am a little annoyed at the shift into the direction of a subscription model being slightly cloaked. Why not call a spade a spade, after all it's up to Xara how they choose to market their product and our choice whether to buy or not.

[zaphodeist]

Think of the updates as previews ...

It’s important to note this is not a subscription service. Unlike other products such as Office 365, or Adobe Creative Cloud, the program you purchased is yours to keep, and will keep functioning with no further purchases, but after 365 days you’ll stop getting access to updates, new content, and the online services if you choose not to upgrade.
Note: these updates continue to work after 365 days but if you reinstall the software after the 365 Guarantee expires (and you don’t renew) then it will be the same version as feature set as you originally purchased.

http://releasenotes.xara.hosting/wd365/#xl_Heading-365

[Acorn]

Think of the updates as previews ... http://releasenotes.xara.hosting/wd365/#xl_Heading-365

Not quite, the updates that appears during your "subscription" period could be lost and you are rolled back to what you bought. Also, there is the difficulty of what is termed an "update": application or content. In the worst case, you could be left with version 12.0.0 with no access to any content.

First of all I'm not openly hostile to the concept of a yearly subscription model, but Xara's launch information doesn't clarify the situation. If I don't renew one year, what part of the product is still accessible to me? I believe we should be charged full price for the initial product and then the yearly subscription should be at a greatly reduced price, but at the moment it looks like we will all be charged the full upgrade rate every year.
Also many people are interested in the future development of the online designer aspect of the product. If I design a site and then want to give someone else access, what is the cost of an additional person accessing that facility and also the ongoing renewal cost?
Does this also have negative long term implications for the web design side of the Designer Pro product, with more and more functionality stripped away to make Web Designer 365 ultimately a separate product (available features wise) to Designer Pro therefore giving consumers more reason to buy both products.
None of this is a critique of the new product and I will probably buy it, but I am a little annoyed at the shift into the direction of a subscription model being slightly cloaked. Why not call a spade a spade, after all it's up to Xara how they choose to market their product and our choice whether to buy or not.

There are many unstated aspects from Xara.

The yearly "subscription" rate, as advised by Kate Moir, has not been set, nor what you would have to pay to rejoin.

Xara Online Designer is still beta and there will probably be a nominal cost to add access for your Customers.

I still don't know why Xara market Web Design non-Premium, it is so crippled. The inclusion of all the extras far outstrips the cost of Premium so the purchase is still fantastic value.

I have both Web Designer and Designer Pro and I use the former for 90% of my work. I can see Xara forcing people from Web Designer to Designer Pro as the cost differential is way too steep.
XWD is £35, XWDP is £70 and XDPX is £220. Xara would do better to drop XWD altogether, up XWDP to £75 and drop XDPX to £150.
Rowing boat to corvette to Flagship, we don't need the rowing boat - or offer it free on magazine CDs.

Acorn

[Stevey]

I am pleased that Acorn actually agrees with me that Xara has left many unstated aspects open to interpretation. It proves that this is a very democratic forum (Sorry, comment not relevant, not implying you work for Xara!) .
Actually I'm a big fan of Xara software and have purchased many products and upgrades over the years. One main point of confusion of Web Design 365 premium is that they have moved to a part subscription model with one of the main draws, an online live designer which is still in Beta, surely they should have waited until it was out of Beta? The other main draw of all the now free business templates isn't that relevant to me as I usually design from scratch.

[dutchim]

Since xara keeps track of when you registered your purchases... Why would it go back to version 12.0 after reinstalling.

It could easily go to 12.x.x according to what you are entitled to!

[Acorn]

I am pleased that Acorn (A Moderator) actually agrees with me that Xara has left many unstated aspects open to interpretation. It proves that this is a very democratic forum.
Actually I'm a big fan of Xara software and have purchased many products and upgrades over the years. One main point of confusion of Web Design 365 premium is that they have moved to a part subscription model with one of the main draws, an online live designer which is still in Beta, surely they should have waited until it was out of Beta? The other main draw of all the now free business templates isn't that relevant to me as I usually design from scratch.

Moderators are Xara product users, occasional advocates, but not part of the Magix / Xara organisation. We have our own opinions, make mistakes, but at all times, try to help.

On the free business-specific templates, it is still fantastic to preview them at http://www.xara.com/uk/web-designer/templates/#! and then look into their designs. You can learn a lot of techniques from this alone.
The products have the word designer in them and where Xara excels is in its ability to support a design from scratch.

Acorn

[Stevey]

I think on balance I will buy the new web designer product and see if enough improvements filter through to justify the yearly renewal cost.

Message to Acorn, I had a slightly senior moment accidentally associating a forum moderator with Xara, that's why I posted my apology in italic red text. I immediately realised a second after posting this silly comment, we've all done it at one time or another.

[gwpriester]

Employees of Xara and Magix do post from time to time but they identify themselves in their signatures.

Moderators are unpaid volunteers who enjoy helping others.

I suspect is one of the reasons for the vague nature of the 365 program is it is a work in progress and is probably still being determined at this point.

[mwenz]

...I suspect is one of the reasons for the vague nature of the 365 program is it is a work in progress and is probably still being determined at this point.

It may be being "tweaked" upon, but I would reckon it is because of the vocal nature of users' responses and the confusion surrounding the ill-advised subscription program and the actual lack of thinking through ramifications of how it was written up.

Mike

[Acorn]

I think on balance I will buy the new web designer product and see if enough improvements filter through to justify the yearly renewal cost.
Message to Acorn, I had a slightly senior moment accidentally associating a forum moderator with Xara, that's why I posted my apology in italic red text. I immediately realised a second after posting this silly comment, we've all done it at one time or another.

Stevey, keep this up and you'll be in the frame for nomination!
Acorn