Re: [XaraXtreme-dev] Commercial Xara Xtreme Version for Linux?

[Thomas Zastrow <listen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Charles Moir wrote:
> Sorry, should have replied last time.
>
> But yes we have thought about it, and indeed would like to do it. It's
> not clear whether it would be worth doing or not, so it would be a
> gamble - many people say there is no market for any commercial software
> on Linux, but I really don't know the truth of it.  To be honest we'd
> probably only need sell a few hundred copies to get a pay-back on the
> development work.
>
> And of course the other benefit of a commercial version is that we could
> use closed source parts, not just CDraw, but our Pantone licenses, our
> PDF importer and exporter code and a lot more. So it would be fully on a
> par with the Windows Xtreme Pro release.
>
> So do you think a commercial version would sell?
>
>   

Just my thoughts on a commercial Xara Version for Linux.

In the past, there were two other attempts of bringing applications similiar to
Xara to Linux: CorelDraw and Canvas. Both failed, for several reasons.

But this is some years ago. In the meantime, two things happened in general: at first,
the Linux community growths a lot. And second, there are many "normal" users now who
don't think of themselves as "OpenSource evangelists".

In the meantime, there are a lot of commercial apps under Linux: SoftMakers Office, Nero's 
Burning Rom, and so on. But as graphical application, Xara will be without competition.

So I would say, give it a try. I would buy it.

Best,

Tom