Hi All,

I am somewhat new to Xara. I decided to transition to it a few years ago, as a disgruntled Adobe CC Web Design suite owner faced with the realization that through the way Adobe structured its subscription-only model, Adobe was effectively doubling my yearly maintenance costs for the CC suite and yet telling me that the subscription model was saving me money.

I have been transitioning to xara slowly because I still need to get work done and I never really had the time to just dive into xara and figure it out. But the last several months, I've been playing in it long enough that I am at a jumping off point, and spend more time in xara now than adobe cc.

Anyway, this past week, I've had a chance to watch Xara Xhris' excellent tutorials on youtube. I must say, given that I've already come to enjoy working in xara, by watching Xara Xhris' tutorials and learning some of the philosophy behind how xara is organized and intended to be used, and based upon that philosophy, what it can do, i cannot help but think that xara is a brilliant piece of software. I have been using photoshop and powerpoint since around 2000, illustrator since about 2010, and had previously used sitegrinder for websites. The way that xara works is so efficient and well-integrated and allows doing more with less.

On the one hand, I am incredibly enthused about using it. On the other hand, I have read all of the concerns expressed in this forum recently and I do wonder if I am coming to xara a bit late, when it is on the decline. For now, I am trusting that it will have a bright future.

But I would also like to say, to keep a positive view of things, that it is still a competitive piece of software. Someone said in another thread that 10 years ago it was way ahead of the competition. Now, it is not really ahead of the competition. That may be true. But it does not mean that it is behind, either. Or, if it is a little behind in some capabilities, it is still a bit ahead in other capabilities. So I think that it may not be the clear and unquestionable hidden gem that it once was, but there is still a lot of value in it and it has a very solid base and could regain a competitive edge. For the time being, I will remain optimistic that it will.

- Joe