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  1. #41
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    England
    Posts
    1,130

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    Quote Originally Posted by browj2 View Post
    ...Wait until there is something that is useful [then upgrade]. This is basically the same as it was before...
    Agree. If nothing significant is added through the year, then why change to the 365 marketing model? To me it just complicates and confuses things and make end users wonder what exactly they buying into. It seems to me Xara expecting extra sales from previous users with expired licences that have since bought new PCs or had a disk crash?
    Jon (Jono) Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 19.0.0.64329 DL x64 May 19 2022

  2. #42
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    21,284

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jonopen View Post
    ... expecting extra sales from previous users with expired licences
    maximise the revenue stream that was suggested when 365 was launched as I recall, like tying the program to a specific computer as in OEM OS

    it is now 10 years to the week, quite possibly the day, since I joined TG - a lot has changed, a lot more must have changed since members such as Gary P joined the fore-runner of TG the name of which I forget

    but I don't ever see Xara talking in advance about possible features [let alone public betas as serif are doing] - this 365 model will actually bring that into focus and exacerbate it should it really turn out to be a damp squid squib [actually I rather like the idea of a damp squid, that at least makes sense... ]
    -------------------------------
    Nothing lasts forever...

  3. #43
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    La Malbaie, Canada
    Posts
    695

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    I believe that the main reason that Xara/Magix gave at the time was that it would help even out the revenue stream over the year, rather than having a huge spike of revenue when a new version came out. New users would have renewal dates one year from purchase, so this would work with new users. Existing users would likely have the anniversary date not longer after the date that the new version came out when the 365 program started, so there would be a spike. But it would be less pronounced over time, especially with those who would not renew at the anniversary date for whatever reason but wait until later. I can understand this, but Xara and Magix have to understand that their loyal customers expect useful new features during the year.

    Here are a couple things that have gone wrong on the Magix side. In a patch for Movie Edit Pro (365), they forgot the update selection in the menu. If you have turned off the news button, you don't see the message, will not get a patch or new features, and you will be displeased and refuse to renew - you would never get any new features even if you did renew. For MusicMaker, Magix issued the 365 version in March of last year, I believe, with new features, and then came out with more new features and content in August. That was when I upgraded to the 365 version. Since then, Magix has released the following new "feature:"

    "Customize your version of Music Maker Premium with more than 100 Soundpools, high-quality effects packages and over 20 software instruments. Log in to the Store directly within the program and add new content in a few clicks."

    There is a tab for Instruments, one for Soundpools, and one for the Store. Under Store, you have all of the Soundpools and packages that Magix is trying to sell you. So the new feature that you got was more advertising for new content that you could buy. Really!

    Imagine the cry of outrage from Xara users if the content that Xara added over the last year showed up adverts to purchase it.

    As for me, my main use of Xara is making masks and graphical overlays for Magix Video Pro X (or Movie Edit Pro) by using the feature within the movie editor that opens Xara in animation mode and then brings the result back into the video editor. One can reopen the object from the video editor which opens Xara, to make changes. Almost works perfectly. I showed Magix 2 bugs several months ago that have not yet been fixed and it looks like they won't be: 1. Clicking on the button to return to the editor causes Xara to crash (not always the first instance, but happens consistently with the third instance). The work around is to use the menu of the upper right X. Stupid of Xara/Magix to not have fixed this. 2. Using an art brush brings a non-functioning XAR object into the movie editor. Trying to reopen it causes the movie editor to crash. Without a fix for these, there is no point for me to renew.

    John
    John CB
    Xara DPX(19.0.1.65946)

  4. #44
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    SW England
    Posts
    17,748

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    If you don't renew, you are going to lose a lot more than you possibly imagine.

    To check, switch off your Internet and try and build a site page.
    Other than hunting through screeds of resource, you do not now have a Find utility.
    Download all the resource you can and burn to a DVD.

    Make a note of all the new updates following your purchase that you used to build, design and publish your signature site.
    Editing thereafter won't work should your version roll back to the purchase date version you bought.
    No Xara Publish so learn how to use Filezilla.

    Acorn
    Acorn - installed Xara software: Cloud+/Pro+ and most others back through time (to CC's Artworks). Contact for technical remediation/consultancy for your web designs.
    When we provide assistance, your responses are valuable as they benefit the community. TG Nuggets you might like. Report faults: Xara Cloud+/Pro+/Magix Legacy; Xara KB & Chat

  5. #45
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    San Diego
    Posts
    362

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    Quote Originally Posted by Acorn View Post
    If you don't renew, you are going to lose a lot more than you possibly imagine.

    To check, switch off your Internet and try and build a site page.
    Other than hunting through screeds of resource, you do not now have a Find utility.
    Download all the resource you can and burn to a DVD.

    Make a note of all the new updates following your purchase that you used to build, design and publish your signature site.
    Editing thereafter won't work should your version roll back to the purchase date version you bought.
    No Xara Publish so learn how to use Filezilla.

    Acorn
    And this right here, these workarounds are why people are more and more moving away from Adobe. There's only so much people will put up with this. Someone will always be die hard and just stick to their favorite tool no matter how poopy the changes make them feel, but overall, just in the last couple of years, I've heard nothing but complaints about Adobe's business model affecting their workflow, breaking their files, corrupting aspects of their templates and all of this. Personally, I'm not really into the clip art, tho some of the clip shapes are useful, the more generic they are and lend themselves to edits (i.e. arrows and the like). But even this...again, why does this have to be hooked up to the internet and why is everything based on micropurchase, dlc and subscriptions? Why are we having to pay year round for software that we used to not have to do that, only to have to also pay in bandwidth and lost time for server downloads when it should already be localized?

    As I said, Xara's engine stands head and shoulders above every other vector illustration tool out there. There's no contest in my book, even without new 'fangled' things like 'puppet warp' and grid transforms. Those are tricks, those aren't tools and Xara accells in tools and they're about to make that less and less obvious the more they bloat it out like they have been and combine that with subscription, what little market they have they can basically say bye bye to. People like me will start considering rolling back to older versions just to get around this mess altogether. I don't know how the full Designer Pro/Web Designer stuff deals with FTPs, but as you said...if I end up getting the full suite, if I know in the end if I don't upgrade I'm gonna lose the convenience, i might as well inconvenience myself now just to be used to it. So thanks for that heads up.
    See my some of artwork and hear some of my music at www.kniteforcerevolution.com

  6. #46
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    La Malbaie, Canada
    Posts
    695

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    Quote Originally Posted by Acorn View Post
    If you don't renew, you are going to lose a lot more than you possibly imagine.

    To check, ......
    No Xara Publish so learn how to use Filezilla.

    Acorn
    No Xara Publish? That is not a new feature that came out after purchasing XDPX(12 or 365). I expect to still be able to publish my web site as before and as I could in the previous versions. Do you have confirmation of this from Xara?

    I received a DVD with XDPX (didn't we all?). I just did a reinstall of W10 and had to reinstall everything, so instead of the download version that I used last time, I used the DVD to install. All of the content that was available is now in my Local gallery. before the anniversary date, I will go and download everything that I may not have and probably won't ever use, and back it all up.

    As for the websites, I haven't used anything that is new - only text updates. My Xara hosting will continue and I will pay for that next January (see my post about my problems with using the coupon).

    So, for me, I don't foresee any real negative consequences of not upgrading. I rarely go into the on-line content as it is.

    What else do you foresee as problems of not renewing?
    John CB
    Xara DPX(19.0.1.65946)

  7. #47
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    SW England
    Posts
    17,748

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    My bad, I meant no publish to a Xara-hosted location.
    Sorry about getting the detail wrong but this is my point, until it happens, we are guessing what gets disconnected and what the impact will be.

    On the DVD content, there was a period where not all of the business templates were provided at it overflowed the DVD size. I never got a DVD as I was an upgrade.

    Acorn
    Acorn - installed Xara software: Cloud+/Pro+ and most others back through time (to CC's Artworks). Contact for technical remediation/consultancy for your web designs.
    When we provide assistance, your responses are valuable as they benefit the community. TG Nuggets you might like. Report faults: Xara Cloud+/Pro+/Magix Legacy; Xara KB & Chat

  8. #48
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    La Malbaie, Canada
    Posts
    695

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    Quote Originally Posted by Acorn View Post
    My bad, I meant no publish to a Xara-hosted location.
    Sorry about getting the detail wrong but this is my point, until it happens, we are guessing what gets disconnected and what the impact will be.

    On the DVD content, there was a period where not all of the business templates were provided at it overflowed the DVD size. I never got a DVD as I was an upgrade.

    Acorn
    Hi,

    I also upgraded each year starting with XDPX9, X10, X11 and X12, on-line, and each year Xara sent me a DVD, and with the exception of X12, a laminated shortcuts reference card. I don't recall paying an extra for this CD/DVD, it just came. However, each time I installed the downloaded version, except for the reinstall of last week.

    As for hosting.Xara, if you have the free access, it will disappear. If you used the coupon that also gets you a web site domain (M website package) along with hosting.Xara, that remains for one year from activation, and then you either pay, or use a new coupon as I just did. Of course, if you don't renew your main subscription, there will be no free coupon for the M website package one-year subscription. I wonder if there will be a coupon for this even with a renewal.

    The other thing lost will be the Premium access to the on-line Designer. Client editing should still continue, as it is free.

    John
    John CB
    Xara DPX(19.0.1.65946)

  9. #49
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Ocala, FL, USA
    Posts
    387

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    I have both Pro and Web Designer versions 11 & 10. Pro was updated each year, Web every other year (only to assist someone else that had the lesser version). (One machine had version 11 on it but that laptop died so I am back to 10 on an old machine for a while)
    Xara has been a wonderful company to deal with, putting out superior products with lovely features, speed, depth, ease of use. Upgrading for me was always in my budget, a no-brainer.

    When the 365 came out, I was VERY leery of it. I don't like getting tools, get to play with new content then have it rolled back...

    I prefer to be able to choose WHEN I upgrade. Sometimes money is a big factor and is not available in exactly 12 months from last purchase. I might be at 14 months for upgrade. I know that each of my upgrades over the years has been stable (add feature x, y & z). They had no expiration on the use of those features. If I had to wait a couple months to gather the $180 (or more) to upgrade, I did not fear that features I was actively using would go dormant. I like it that way!

    I have not chosen to go to up to 365. Xara took someone that paid for two programs on a regular basis and cooled my interest. Telling me to UPGRADE before x date or you lose access to x features/content is a threat and unappreciated. Please just don't give them too me if I can't keep them. So in the end, Xara lost out on money from me (and maybe others) because of the forced 12 month features/options limitations.
    Last edited by samrc; 08 February 2017 at 02:05 AM. Reason: corrected version
    -Samantha
    "Try to live your life so that you wouldn't be afraid to sell the family parrot to the town gossip." Will Rogers (1879 - 1935)

  10. #50
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    La Malbaie, Canada
    Posts
    695

    Default Re: How do you feel about the 365 Program?

    Again, you don't lose the new features that came out in the year after you bought in......unless you have to re-install. So maybe the thing to consider is the re-installation problem; should it not arise for a couple of years after expiry of Xara, no problem; but should it arise, then you would be best to renew - at that time.

    One other problem with this scheme is that there is no distinction between an update and an upgrade; everything is lumped together but should not be. We deserve to have the bugs fixed and patches should always be available, renewal or not. If I have to re-install after expiry, how am I to get the patches to fix the things that were messed up at the time of purchase? Xara and Magix should at least separate the 2 things, IMHO.

    John
    John CB
    Xara DPX(19.0.1.65946)

 

 

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