A Letter from Xara's new CEO Matt Bolton

[Barbara B]

Hi Ron,

I'm obviously not Xara staff or Matt Bolton, but I think I an know the answers to some of your questions and I am confident that Xara will correct or expand upon my answer where it is needed.

Charles is still active and carries the title of Founder and Chief Software Architect.
Kate Moir (I'm not sure of her exact title) is still a very active marketing person for all Xara products with a particular emphasis on developing and supporting Xara Online's marketing plan and execution.

It is my understanding from what Xara staff have said to me in person and what they said in previous releases and discussions on TG and from what Matt restated and confirmed in his letter as Xara's CEO -- that the desktop products are still Xara products, developed by the Xara team that has always done so except they now have more support.

Secondly, Xara is not pivoting from the Desktop products. We will continue, as we always have, to release new features and performance improvements on a consistent basis. What we are doing is investing in new areas of growth, but the existing business around the Desktop products remains strong. The rich content creation market is massive yet highly competitive and we believe Xara is well positioned to drive the market forward.

Additionally, if you go to Magix's site where they are doing sales and support for Xara products you will see Graphic Designer continues to be called Xara Designer Pro X.

I don't know how they are dividing the development resources within the Xara product line but I've been told by Xara management and Rob-Xar has also stated here that all of the changes mean more development resources for Xara products overall.

As to the question,

"Will communication on with users on TG improve? (I.e., timely responses/exchanges ((daily, weekly?)) improve?)"

I expect so, after all the man just gave the world his email address. - I'd say that that indicates a desire to connect on his part. Our own Angelize is co-moderating the new Xara Online Designer forum with Rob-Xar who is a Xara staff member and he actively posts in that forum and sometimes in others as well. Rob is also the moderator's go-to person for help with member support issues that we can not solve without official company help. So these, IMO, are two very visible moves toward increased communication with TG members and the userbase.

As far as your questions 3 and 4, I have no official or unofficial info on that and I hope that Xara personnel will give some kind of answer to these questions. But personally, I have to say, I know of no commercial software company that offers daily or weekly detailed reporting to the public of their development activity or comprehensive insight into how they prioritize their development goals and resources.

And on a personal note to you Ron, I know that as an artist, Xara is an important tool for you and the work you have and continue to produce with Xara is just breathtaking. And I truly believe that you have no reason to worry that "something bad" is going to happen to the tool you have depended on for so many years.

Barbara