[XaraXtreme-announce] Xara LX progress report

["Charles Moir" <CharlesM@xxxxxxxx>]

Although everything's been quiet for some time, we've been beavering
away on Xara LX, so this is an update of the current situation.

Open Source delayed
-------------------
Following advice from those with more experience of managing large
open-source projects, we've decided to delay making the source code
fully public until we've progressed the port a little further and the
program is more functional on Linux.  To make the source code fully
public, in it's immature state will probably result in chaos for our
internal developers, who would be spending all their time answering
questions. So we've been doing some more foundation work, such as
changing some system types (to make it 64-bit compatible) which are best
done by our engineers who understand the code base.
 
So our focus right now is trying to get it into a more finished state,
so it's a lot easier for third party developers to contribute.
 
But here's how you can get access
---------------------------------
Having said that, we are giving some volunteer developers private access
to the source so they can help us right now, before we release the
source publicly. Because of the nature of the early porting work we're
restricting this to those who are interested enough to devote some time
over the short term, and to the more experienced C++ developers. I know
many developers have contacted us expressing interest and willing to
offer support, but if you've got the time and experience and want to get
in early please contact us again on mailto:developers@xxxxxxxx and help
us with the port.

Because most of the effort has been going into core framework code,
automated build systems, sorting our Subversion server etc, there has
been little visible progress in the latest version of the program. Once
the fundamentals, such as the tools framework, are operational, the
tools and other features should start appearing faster! Xara are also
cranking up the number of internal developers working on the Linux
build.

RIP wxDockit, hello wxAUI
-------------------------
A new wxWidgets docking library has recently appeared, called wxAUI, and
we've been so impressed with this we've replaced the old wxDockit
library with wxAUI. This promises to provide some really nice bar and
window docking features, better even than on our existing Xara Xtreme
for Windows.

Mac version
-----------
We'd really like to get it working on the Mac - we're almost there, but
do not have the time or Mac experience to work through the final issues.
We really need the help of an experienced C++ Mac developer who can
spare us some time, short term. We have a LOT of Mac users really
interested in this product for the Mac, but we need the help to make it
happen. It would be really good to get the Mac version in sync with the
Linux one.  So if you're a C++ Mac developer who can spare us the time
please contact us again: mailto:developers@xxxxxxxx

New documentation
-----------------
There are new documents put up in a new Developers section of the
website http://www.xaraxtreme.org/developers/
Here you can find out about the basic Xara Xtreme architecture, a
detailed description of the UI, and other documents.

Daily Builds
------------
We now have an automated daily build server that places the current
version on the website for download. You can find this on the downloads
page. Because this is work in progress, we don't recommended you
download this as it tends to be more broken than the old 0.1c stable
build.

Libre Graphics Meet
-------------------
Xara are proud to be a sponsor of the Libre Graphics Conference being
held in Lyon France in March.  We'll be there demonstrating the current
state of Xara LX.
http://www.libregraphicsmeeting.org/


Awards
------
We are also proud of the fact that Xara Xtreme has recently won a spate
of awards. OK this is the Windows version, but this is the exact same
product we are now porting. So with your help, Linux and the Mac users,
you can have this same award winning product on your platform, AND for
it to be free and open-source.

Help us make it so.


Computer Shopper: Best Buy
"..is almost an obligatory buy even for those with only a passing
interest"

Person Computer World: Recommended
"Provides just about everything you'll need for creating and editing
graphics"

About.com: Guide's Choice 2005
"It may not be one of the 'big three' drawing programs but it beats them
in features, price and performance"
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/vectorbased/gr/xaraxtreme.htm


Happy New Year to everyone,
Charles