Quote Originally Posted by willdean View Post
I'm not in the 'anti-amateur' camp at all but there are significant differences in the *amount* of money people spend on hobby software and the amount they're prepared to spend in business. I agree it's the same kind of money, but the size of the pile does differ.
Depends on how many amateur users you have.
I am an amateur and I spend the same amount as you do because
I also bought the PRO version, because of the extra possibilities.
And yes, expenses for your business are tax deductable and you can bill
them to your customers, eventually.

But I can understand you as a businessman want a pure business version.
But some other (small) businesses find the extra stuff usefull?

Nobody running any kind of credible business in Western Europe or the USA would even pause to think about spending a couple of hundred dollars on a decent bit of software (except possibly to wonder if its low price was a bad sign). I don't think everyone on this forum can spend their own money like that, though.

All the sane people around here are aware that Xara's progress is terribly constrained by resources (developers/money). I suppose some of us in the "would buy a hundred dollar upgrade just get the basic drawing improved" camp feel a bit sad that we've been passed over in the allocation of these scares resources in favour of the "would like to try an different panorama program to the one which came for free with my camera" camp.

Of course, if there are twenty times as many 10 dollar hobbyists as there are 100 dollar commercial users, then Xara know exactly what they're doing. That's entirely plausible...
I don`t know what they are aiming for, I know Magix, and they aim
the 'amateurs' and professionals too. Just depends on the package you buy.
And if I had more money I would buy more software, but I don`t, so I stick to Xtreme, affordable with a lot of features.
You might have the money to diversify in your software, but I need bang for my buck .(Untill I win the lottery ofcourse )