How do you feel about the 365 Program?

[jmanganelli]

You know, I also use a program called vectorworks architect. Great program. About 5-7 years ago it had fallen behind the times. Great 2d tool. But.... Late to convert to 64-bit. Weak 3D geometry editing abilities. Weak rendering. No associativity. No procedural modeling. Slow to adopt BIM methods and tools. The forum comments had a similar fee to these forum comments. In the case of vectorworks, they did slowly address the major issues between about 2010-2015. By slowly, they were bringing out one major fix/upgrade per year and many minor fixes/upgrades per year. And at one point, in 2015, they rolled out several new major features that were very well implemented. I don't know how they introduced so many new features in one release and integrated them that well. Now their forum comments are filled with task oriented questions and optimism-or at least not negativity and concern. They also have engineers participating on the forum. It went from looking dire to lots of optimism and enthusiasm. So turning things around can happen and it can be worth sticking with a company and a tool. But it does mean that real progress must be made. In the cas of vectorworks, they also adopted a customer-centric approach to development. They did ongoing, continuous customer engagement and research and oriented their efforts around what he market was telling them they needed.

with respect to the forum itself, the modo forum is a great example of the forum as a primary driver and value of the software. Since its start, it has been a great community. In that case, developers from the software maker are also heavily involved with the forum.

[iamtheblues]

Very little chance of any of the above happening here. Xara/Magix appear to be listening, the rare comments from the powers that be suggest that is so, but the facts over the past year and beyond tell a different story. They have their own plans, which they won't divulge and despite a few mealy-mouthed comments about how they are listening, they are just meaningless, empty words. The company deserves to fail, they have treated their customers and a few of their members who have devoted many years of selfless work, by offering stunning tutorials and promotional videos only to be pushed to the side-lines. The recent price hikes are not commensurate with improvements to the product, but feel like naked greed. The company deserves to rot.
Bob.

[tonylondon]

I think that is a little unkind. Sadly xara widened their development front and have found they don't have the resources to keep at the cutting edge; they may need more resources to get back on track. It may be that the things Kate mentioned fit their business model - they have a wider picture than us to consider - but that is no consolation to us. You are right that a lot of people have contributed freely in the way of tutorials etc. Xara has to be hard nosed to survive but we loyal customers need to be equally hard nosed before deciding to cough up.

[iamtheblues]

Yes, a tad brutal, I will admit, just hoping for a contrite reaction from the powers that be, I've been steadily more and more truthful as I have gone along here.
Being a business doesn't mean that they should just ride roughshod over their customer base in a cavalier fashion an not expect an outraged backlash.
I can take "unkind" but it's not my fault that the natives are getting restless here.