Why Xara Designer Pro+

**Acorn** · 14 October 2020, 05:19 PM

Vaguely, somewhere, when you purchase add LIFETIME50 or LIFETIME (sorry I can't remember which it is) to the voucher box and anyone can get it.

It is a speciality of Magix and Xara to never communicate these offers and most other things in a sane and appropriate fashion, making it hit or miss for punters who end up getting very disappointed or cross.
c.f., https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...224#post629224.

Acorn

**bwood** · 17 October 2020, 03:43 PM

@mb365. Took the plunge Matt and subscribed to Pro+. Considering I do 4 non profit websites, and 2 newsletters I figure it’s a pretty good deal. Xara has given me a great deal of pleasure over the years and they deserve support
I like what you’ve done with Pro+. The switch was very seemless and Pro kept my passwords and log ins with no problem at all. Also impressed with the support from a fellow named Dimitri.

The downloads triggered all the MS defender stuff. It took several times to get the download right.

I’m a little confused over the difference of Pro+ and Cloud+ but I’ll figure it out eventually.

Glad to be around for the ride

-Bill

**Egg Bramhill** · 18 October 2020, 01:06 AM

I’m a little confused over the difference of Pro+ and Cloud+ but I’ll figure it out eventually.

Basically ther is no difference Bill.

**Sheridan** · 04 December 2020, 01:16 AM

Hi,
I just got (another?) email from Xara - the one as above, from Ana... it's most confusing, even despite having a text-chat with Xara several weeks ago...

They offered me the 50% life-time discount. When I pointed out that I had only just renewed the annual update-service (just for WebDesigner) with Magix, Xara offered me 16 weeks extension for free. OK, not bad, but they'd based their math on the full cost, thus halving the free extension period! (It's not a huge amount of money, but the principal is core to building trust). I asked about the Magix/Xara relationship, the future plans, bug reporting, fixing etc, etc. - none of that was answered.

The only thing that I was tempted by, was that support (for Pro+, inc WebDesigner) was with Xara directly, seemed to be better, and has a UK office (I think, if I recall correctly??). Just the improved support alone is tempting. I have spent many, many hours collecting screenshots, reporting bugs, fathoming a work-around etc, for Magix support (by email). Quite often a response comes many days later (in the middle of a project - not good), and often with an initial response of either 'its supposed to do that' or 'please send more information' (to which I usually respond with "see my 3rd email already sent" or similar!! Grrh). Not that I blame the support staff!

I am more than happy (addicted?) to collecting info to help solve a bug that leads to a fix. But when it mostly seems to fall on deaf ears...

The Pro+ web/collaborative aspects could also be great - to smooth working on web pages with remote clients, but that needed me to assess by use of trial software... and I've put that on the back-burner for now...

Overall, the key factors (for users and their clients) is the long-term strategy for the software, support and training/learning options (I've found the help to be somewhat 'all over the place', but perhaps I am expecting too much!?)

The Magix-supplied WebDesigner is still powerful software, but the 'querks' made it a horrid experience on occassions, especially when they're so obvious and probably relatively simple to fix in code. Let's hope Xara find their way.

Cheers

**behzad** · 04 December 2020, 01:59 AM

I never experienced such confusion with other software companies. Good luck. I personally after finishing my magix 1 year, will keep using what I got.

**MB365** · 04 December 2020, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by Sheridan

Hi,
I just got (another?) email from Xara - the one as above, from Ana... it's most confusing, even despite having a text-chat with Xara several weeks ago...

They offered me the 50% life-time discount. When I pointed out that I had only just renewed the annual update-service (just for WebDesigner) with Magix, Xara offered me 16 weeks extension for free. OK, not bad, but they'd based their math on the full cost, thus halving the free extension period! (It's not a huge amount of money, but the principal is core to building trust). I asked about the Magix/Xara relationship, the future plans, bug reporting, fixing etc, etc. - none of that was answered.

The only thing that I was tempted by, was that support (for Pro+, inc WebDesigner) was with Xara directly, seemed to be better, and has a UK office (I think, if I recall correctly??). Just the improved support alone is tempting. I have spent many, many hours collecting screenshots, reporting bugs, fathoming a work-around etc, for Magix support (by email). Quite often a response comes many days later (in the middle of a project - not good), and often with an initial response of either 'its supposed to do that' or 'please send more information' (to which I usually respond with "see my 3rd email already sent" or similar!! Grrh). Not that I blame the support staff!

I am more than happy (addicted?) to collecting info to help solve a bug that leads to a fix. But when it mostly seems to fall on deaf ears...

The Pro+ web/collaborative aspects could also be great - to smooth working on web pages with remote clients, but that needed me to assess by use of trial software... and I've put that on the back-burner for now...

Overall, the key factors (for users and their clients) is the long-term strategy for the software, support and training/learning options (I've found the help to be somewhat 'all over the place', but perhaps I am expecting too much!?)

The Magix-supplied WebDesigner is still powerful software, but the 'querks' made it a horrid experience on occassions, especially when they're so obvious and probably relatively simple to fix in code. Let's hope Xara find their way.

Cheers

Hi Sheridan,
We want to answer your questions and would welcome another opportunity. If you have time, please reach us via the chat inside Xara Cloud or at www.xara.com.
Talk soon,
Matt

**Boy** · 04 December 2020, 08:00 AM

Why not answer them here? We all have the same questions as Sheridan. Building trust.

**Acorn** · 04 December 2020, 10:32 AM

@Sheridan

If you have XWDP then a Xara offer to move to XPro+/Cloud+ will factor in the cheaper cost of XWDP vs XDPX. The fact Xara is offering an extension at all is actually generous. 16 weeks is 40% of your remaining Magix Update Service period (I am guessing 40 weeks).

For the Magix/Xara relationship, you have t delve into company listings to get to the bottom of it all.
Treat Magix as a reseller. Xara then bought into Magix's Support and Distribution, probably thinking global sale even at a far smaller financial gain per unit sold would be good business.
You then end up with an artificially fragmented, promotion-driven, suite of applications that are simply subsets of the main XDPX. Delivery Hell.

Magix, again probably, would not want to handle Patch releases, bug fixes and frequent updates.
Matt originally promised 3 to 4 releases a year. Magix insists on a Major Version release each year. In the end, we appear to get just two.
version 17.0 was nothing of consequence so customers are actually getting a yearly update; this is what Xara delivered pre-Magix.
Throw in the disastrous roll-back to purchase version (losing patches) and that is where you are with XWDP/XDPX...

The new Pro+ is one product. Cloud+ is the same product but on a server.
Easier to support and update.

Support is not just UK as Xara is GmbH registered and has staff in Germany.
Development is mostly UK for the desktop but the Cloud could be developed from anywhere.
Documentation is a bottleneck as Xara is not bulking up its staff in this area. It relies on on-line tools!

Personally, Pro+ is a far superior and logical approach.
I use it and XDPX for client and in support of TG.
I would be happy to abandon XDPX if I was just a hobbyist.

Acorn

**Daniel** · 04 December 2020, 10:38 AM

It feels like Xara selling their software directly, with better support and more updates than via Magix, is like a repeat of breaking free from Corel.

I can't imagine many people who have used TalkGraphics over the years wanting to subscribe to LatestProductName+ are doing it for the webbased editor, only for the newer desktop software.

**Acorn** · 04 December 2020, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Daniel

It feels like Xara selling their software directly, with better support and more updates than via Magix, is like a repeat of breaking free from Corel.
I can't imagine many people who have used TalkGraphics over the years wanting to subscribe to LatestProductName+ are doing it for the webbased editor, only for the newer desktop software.

Yep, it feels like Corel 2.0.
The Cloud experience is worth persisting with. I do hope Xara fulfils its earliest promises around it.

Acorn