first impressions of inkscape

[handrawn]

just as an example of the difference here are two ink drawings traced
the one on the left xara, the one on the right inkscape
sometime it wont matter, but usually it it will, for me

I totally agree with you about transparency and alpha being part of the color - if you have a multicolor gradient you can alter each colors' transparency independently in inkscape, you have to hack it in xara

horses for courses