Hand -- yes, your monitor is at a much higher resolution than my iPad. Paradise in pixels! That accounts for the blurry book images... will see if I can fix their size in the HTML.
I think we are coming at Xara and art from different perspectives. You from fine art, me from graphic art? In my commercial world, art is pretty simple. No sable brushes. And Xara scores big because it seamlessly combines vector and raster. Ad, brochure, and annual report images are simple. Pix for websites. We are selling our clients' products, not our own graphics talent. Sure, there are features we would like Xara to have. But they are unimportant because everything you need to make good money is already there. And then the focus shifts to, well, how do I get the money? Which again is different for both the fine art and commercial worlds. If you have time, go back and read my chapters '5 in gold' and 'Fine art world'. Would love to hear your thoughts ... if you can take a break from painting an undiscovered Vermeer with that sable brush!