The "Show Xara your appreciation" thread

[Know1]

I don't do this often enough but I'd like to show my appreciation to Xara over the years. My first experience with Xara was in 1999 with Webstyle. I used to create in my opinion pretty awesome navbars (for the time anyway). I have upgraded every year from Xara X (released in 2000) up to the latest version which at the moment is called Xara Designer Pro X (v8). Over the years Xara has been my main application for graphics. If I needed to edit a bitmap or create a detailed alpha mask I'd go to Photoshop and save the result as a transparent PNG, it would end up in Xara for my final layout purposes. And that's still how I work today.

The reason I'm starting this thread is because I see a lot of companies moving away from being customer oriented, or at least trying to appear to be customer oriented. Most noticeably at the moment Adobe with their recently announced renting only scheme. Before that they screwed us over by only allowing us to upgrade from one version behind, knowing full well that they would stop giving us perpetual licenses. That is not the type of behavior I want to support.

Quark now also announced that you can only be one version behind to upgrade starting Juli 1, 2013. Autodesk has been screwing over their users for years now with their subscription scheme. Prices just keep going up and up.

With CorelDRAW you can be two version behind and still qualify for an upgrade, that may not sound like a lot, but the new versions are two years apart so you can at the moment upgrade from X4 (which was released in January 2008) to X6 and still get it at a normal upgrade price. That is very reasonable.

Personally I really like Xara's approach to upgrading. When a new version is released there is a grace period where you can get the upgrade at a discount price (in Euros its €89 instead of €129).

You can still upgrade later in the year without the introduction upgrade price if you so desire of course. This way a loyal customer is rewarded when always getting the new version right away.

You can also decide to skip a year or more if the new features just aren't worth it for you. You can be FIVE versions behind and still get the same upgrade price as everyone else. This way it's the users who are in control in deciding to upgrade or not. I know this makes a lot of companies shudder just thinking about their users having these choices. When you treat your customers correctly they actually want to upgrade and get the latest features. I like the way Xara handles this, especially compared to Adobe's and Quark's new policies.

Xara has been very consistent over the years releasing one new version every year around the same time. No weird policy changes, no weird upgrade schemes where you are forced to upgrade or be left behind. Just the same consistent customer support and pricing as always. You know what you get, when you get it, and what you pay for it.

I was worried that MAGIX was going to destroy Xara's normal policies when it acquired Xara in 2007, but so far all has been good.

So thank you Xara for being a normal company that we can rely on to do our work.

[gwpriester]

I'm sure your comments will be much appreciated.

[Michael]

So thank you Xara for being a normal company that we can rely on to do our work.

They're not a normal company, they're a bunch of PEOPLE. And that, my dear, makes a huge difference...

I haven't upgraded personally in the last two years but I will certainly put my money where it's worth; so I will upgrade this year. It's a marvelous program and it developed nicely. I'm flabbergasted how Xara keeps up it's identity, either under Corel's or Magix' reign. And I really appreciate the way the folks at Gaddesden Palace stay in touch with their user base. It's nice to feel that they know that their users are the real asset of the program. As long as we are convinced that Xara has more value than Illustrator or Xwhatever the program will be here to stay and prosper every year!

Keep it up Xara!

[Acorn]

I've been with them since ArtWorks, Impression and earlier with WordWise on the BBC micros.

It is not nostalgia, but if Xara could be ported back into RISC OS, it would be a marketing coup to bundle a free Raspberry Pi to host Xara; sales would rocket.
Pipedream over.

On a more mundane note can we have better product naming in future?
I would love to see a full family tree from WordWise through Impression and ArtWorks through XDPX, and where they married.
A dynasty in the making.

Acorm

[peter walder]

I would like to endorse the original posters comments. Having been on board from the Wordwise, Impression and Artworks days I have always found Xara (previously Computer Concepts) to be an excellent company. I have used Xara products with literally thousands of University students (non computing) over a 30 year period and Xara software has, without a doubt, provided these students with the opportunity to develop skills which would have been difficult to achieve with other software in the time available with the students. So a big thank you to Charles Moir and his team. Here's hoping for some surprises in version Xara Designer Pro v9.......fixed layout ePub export would be really nice!

PWalder

[Albacore]

I am like Peter above I came from little acorn's or BBC Masters. Used the above programmes, never like Wordwise, thought both Impressions and Artworks led the field over anything that was produced for Mac's or PC's and they got me promotion and different jobs. When Xara came out my school were still using Acorns for they could interface easily with programmable eproms but I quickly kitted out one classroom with PC's for Graphic Communication and my pupils did very well on that diet. Enough of the history and lets look to now and the future using Xara. I have always said Xara listens to its clients and I still think it does if TG has anything to do with it. See the number of posts in the Xara web forum areas compared to the number of posts in the Xara graphic areas they are larger so more development has been done there and we still have a drawing programme what more could I ask for. Well I could say what I think is obvious that certain tools have not changed in a obvious way since Xara was introduced and that is the brushes and strokes and it is as simple as that. I don't think that Magix has helped or hindered the development of the product but it has helped the company to stay in business over a number of years.

[Michael]

can we have better product naming in future?

What about "Camelot"? ("Help, help we're held hostage...")

[wizard509]

What can I say that has not already been said. I love the products. I started out with Xara ScreenMaker and Webster, then moved to X3D, then on to the Xtreme line. For me at least it has been a wild ride and I have enjoyed it and learned a few things along the way. I rarely if ever use anything else. Granted I am using it as a hobbyist but it fills all my needs. So Thank You Xara and TalkGraphics for many years of fun and enjoyment.

[SignPig]

DITTO. I have been using Xara on a daily basis since the beta release of Studio. I have most of the other contenders but Xara is my program of choice. It is powerful, fast and easy very user friendly.

[Know1]

Ah karma, it seems we meet again.

Now that Adobe has changed the playing field for every graphics company out there, I figured other companies would use that to their advantage, instead of taking advantage of their customer base... Guess I was wrong (or just very naive).

Xara's upgrade policy is now only beneficial for customers who are ONE version behind.

If you are going to release a new version every year regardless of what's actually in the new upgrade, you should really allow users to skip a version without penalizing them with higher upgrade costs. But if so many people are willing to accept Adobe/Quark/Autodesk's bullshit, I guess this change for Magix/Xara doesn't seem like a big deal to most users.

I for one am not amused with this new development.