Re[2]: [XaraXtreme-dev] Xara Xtreme 4.0 released

[Thomas Göttgens <thomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Alex,

Friday, April 4, 2008, 10:18:35 AM, you wrote:

AB> I don't think there has ever been any doubt that Xtreme 4.0 is a
AB> commercial (and not an open-source) product! 3.x was never open-sourced
AB> (though some features and code got into the Linux version).

what irks me about this is not the fact that the open source project
ran dry, but that the Linux project didn't seem to be continued within
xara. Personally i couldn't care less if this is open source, some
other license or even closed, cause advocacy didn't solve anything in
the past. I just want a linux version that is somewhat comparable
to the windows version and i am prepared to pay for it, as i have
paid for every update since the days of CorelXara 1.1.

There was the question from xara people on the list whether we thought
a commercial version was a good idea, but this was never followed from
a statement (or even a hint) from xara regading the direction they
would take. I can understand they will not disclose business plans
on an open list, but a general commitment or dismissal would have
been nice. Plus any news on the mac version other than 'this is now
developed internally' didn't surface either.

However -as a side note- i get the impression that since Magix took
over, the release cycle was switched to 'release every 6 months and
collect the update fee, regardless of feature set complete'. The
'update' from Pro 3.0 to 3.2 was not really worth the money,
especially because i already had a copy of Xara 3D6. In this light,
please calm down with the releases and especially the update fees.

4.0 pro again doesn't warrant the jump in version numbering - if you
go from 3.2 to 4.0 the changes should allow for a new manual, and not
a supplement on CD, especially if you are supposed to fork out $50 for
it.

And even more - a "crossgrade" to the german version 3.2 from the
english 3.2 version was offered to me for the special price of €249(!)

In spite of this I would consider buying the 4.0 update if there was
a commitment to the other platforms associated with it. If the current
course continues however, Xara will stay a windows niche product,
since Adobe will take Freehand out back to shoot it in the forseeable
future and will establish yucky Illustrator as an industry standard.

A final word regarding the 'parent' company. Magix is German, and I
have been aware of them since the mid 90s. The rest of their
portfolio, current and past, doesn't really fill me with hope my
wishes will come true. Magix' focus has been on software where you
could accomplish something with a few button clicks, but nothing
more. It's like 'buy this software, and you can rearrange some canned
pieces to form something remotely new'. And this image is stuck in
the heads of people, at least in germany, and even if they're
committed to change that image, and offer indeed better products than
these computer-illiterate-mass-software, it's going to take some more
effort than offerig localized versions of xara products and setting
up a few web pages for them, to change the image of Magix in the mind
of people. And naming the german xara version something like 'Magix
Xtreme Foto & Grafik Designer' (okay, they kept the Xara name for the
PRO version...) surely doesn't help change this image, cause it is in
line with one of their first successes 'Magix Music Maker' (and
almost every 'tabloid software' product since) and people can not
see on the box whether this is just another one of their usual
software or actually something useful. Seeing the 'Magix' logo on
the box sure would scare ME off, and from the name i would have
assumed this was some cheap Photoshop Elements ripoff with a few
vector drawing functions added. Heck, the similarly named
'Magix Xtreme Foto Designer' (notice only the Graphic is missing) is
exactly that.

-- 
Best regards,
 Thomas                            mailto:thomas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx