Expiration of Designer Pro

[masque]

I've just received notification that in a few days I will no longer receive updates for the software, DesignerPro three hundred and whatever.. Okay, I know that what I've got will continue to work just as it currently does but I've no intention of paying £140 without any indication of what future benefits I may, or may not, get in the form of updates in the next twelve months. I can't remember a single update that has exactly thrilled me over the last year and certainly no drawing updates, which is my main area of interest. Is everyone else but me updating or waiting?

[tonylondon]

Looking at the design improvements over the year (marked in red on the what's new page) it adds up to quite a lot of small enhancements. The biggy for me was the contents generation. Do I trust there will be enough in the coming year? Answer is, I don't know. I may wait and see.

[Simondebelem]

maybye anyone know or saw future plans / roadmap for XD pro?

[gwpriester]

Hello Simon

Xara is always very quiet about new features. So with the exception of a few full time Xara employees who answer technical questions here, none of the members or volunteer moderators know any more than you do.

[Simondebelem]

thnx for reply
its strange in present days, but ok maybye they like do suprises so much

[gracehjs]

The price I was quoted to upgrade was 99 pounds or $129, I went ahead and upgraded, especially as I use the Xara web space.

I've just received notification that in a few days I will no longer receive updates for the software, DesignerPro three hundred and whatever.. Okay, I know that what I've got will continue to work just as it currently does but I've no intention of paying £140 without any indication of what future benefits I may, or may not, get in the form of updates in the next twelve months. I can't remember a single update that has exactly thrilled me over the last year and certainly no drawing updates, which is my main area of interest. Is everyone else but me updating or waiting?

[browj2]

You are paying for the new features and content that came out since you paid a year ago, i.e. to lock it all in, and you get an advance on what will come out over the next year. You will pay to lock in what comes out over the next year, if and when you pay again next year. If you don't like or use what came out over the last year, then don't renew. Just remember, if you have to reinstall, what you will have will be whatever the state was when you last paid, and you get to keep any new content that you downloaded. Also, you will no longer have access to on-line content, so you better have downloaded everything that you want. This has all been explained ad nauseum and is well-explained on the Xara site. So why is this so hard to understand?

[Dens]

I've been a user since the very first version on Acorn and bought every update since, the latest one being DesignerProX365. I was a little reluctant because I don't like to pay for things I have yet to see, but the promise sounded fine so I subscribed to the first automatic annual increase (which is just about to expire).

My expectation was for loads and loads of new graphics in the "Online Content Catalogue". But I've found that really disappointing and today was the final straw. I was looking for an image of a car I could use, and entered 'car' in the search for Photos and got nothing. Then I tried Illustrations, same again. So I tried 'Vehicle' in Photos as well as illustrations, again zero. That's pretty much how it has been for the last 12 months since I updated.

Also, there's been very little in terms of useful (for me at least) updates. I'm a designer but also do lots of photo selection and edits. If I go directly to free sources like Flickr etc. and enter 'car' I get loads of stuff. I was really hoping this would at least consolidate all that in the interface - then I would be happy. But right now, I can't see any point in continuing with the payments - unless anyone here knows if I'm doing something wrong (eg. if you type 'car' or 'vehicle' into the photo or illustration section of the online catalogue, do you get anything?).

[Jonopen]

I'm not a Designer Pro user (just a P&GD365 user who doesn't use the catalogue content much) but when my update guarantee expires, I shall wait. It seems you either have to take advantage of the initial discount, or wait, then pay the full upgrade price later (and probably utter a few offensive words).

[handrawn]

if you click on the renew button in the program you should find you are taken to an offer page for renewal at £99.... I was

but I won't be doing it

I shall revert to ver 11 and stay there - there will be usefull updates for me, but they won't be for this program...