Xara X to Be Released as Open Source 299
zero-one writes "Xara today announced that they are releasing an open source version of their vector drawing program, Xara Xtreme. They already have a Linux demo but source code is not available quite yet. Xara Xtreme on Linux will not only bring a leading-edge graphic tool to the platform, but with community assistance, has the potential to become the world's most powerful, easiest-to-use and simply the world's best graphics program. If they get this right it could bring the Linux desktop into whole sectors of the market that is has not been able to address before."
Press Release and more info... (Score:4, Interesting)
a friend of mine swears by Xara X (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Guess what? Won't happen! (Score:4, Interesting)
I know a couple GOOD designers and they are intelligent enough to see that different tools are better for different things you want to do. Personally I can't stand the interfaces of Photoshop and Illustrator but will sometimes use them when I need to do something GIMP or Inkscape can't yet do. On the other hand there are things that are hard to do in Photoshop and Illustrator that are easier in GIMP and Inkscape. It comes mostly from which tools you know best and a bit from the way the tools were designed. Being able to use all the tools you have available lets you do awesome work.
Even good designers sometimes have blindspots that are amusing. One of the best I know I heard the other day complaining to another designer that animated gifs always have white borders around the image. Duh. Years in school and work experience and neither knew how to get rid of the borders left over from converting an image to a gif? Of course you'd think Photoshop and Illustrator would take care of that issue automatically anyway since it's a fairly common problem. Anyway the point being that designers look at interfaces more from a stylistic point and they may miss the benefits of usability.
Re:If they do it under the GPL (Score:4, Interesting)
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?thre
p.s. Last comment (or it was last at the time I read was probably the only inteligent comment, about shared LGPL libraries)
Artworks (Score:5, Interesting)
Boo hiss and all that.
Great News For Me and Hopefully You Too (Score:4, Interesting)
It does not compete with The Gimp.
The windows version is very easy to use. Hope the linux version uses the same interfaces.
Woohoo!!! Gets me excited about linux again.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:If they do it under the GPL (Score:4, Interesting)
Having said that it's conceivable that a version of the Open Source Linux port could be converted back to Windows. But it would not be the official Xara version (it couldn't use the Xara name), it wouldn't include any customer support or any of the licensed components we can include. So we hope it doesn't happen, because that would jeopardise our ability to continue. Put simply, if we can't earn money from the product somehow, we can't employ full time engineers working on the Open Source product, and that helps no one.
It's not inconceivable. It will happen, maybe even under cygwin, but it will. Windows users will start to get mad since they have to continue to pay (and no they won't switch to linux). Sure the OSS version would not include some of the proprietary plugins, but if the user really wants or needs those then he/she would be happy to pay for them by purchasing the retail version. With an OSS version ported to Windows, all that Xara could do is just sell their support and expertise. But with so many online forums, chats, and help pages would their support even be necessary?
It seems to me that Xara is really shooting themselves in the foot.
And on Linux that means it has to be Open Source in order to stand any chance of success
I also think this is not true. I think they should have done the exact opposite. That is port it to linux and macosx, keep it closed source, and sell their product at their current low price on all platforms. Not only would this help them, but it would give support to Xorg/Xfree + whatever window manager/desktop + linux kernel as a feasible graphics platform with a commercial backing. If they are scared about being bought out (are they even a publicly traded company?) then open source the linux / macosx codebase in the event that it seems imminent that they will be bought out.
Xcellent.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Once a decent/user friendly bitmap editing application is available for linux, then I might be able to move over fully.
Gimp users sigh in relief...twice in one week! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:exaggeration--yours (Score:2, Interesting)
[Gimp] is very similar to iPhoto or Elements.
Not really. iPhoto is so simple your grandma can use it. Gimp's interface takes a lot of getting used to, it's another great example of where open source falls down - it's all run by geeks and programmers. Where are the interface experts, usability consultants, test groups etc? One thing commercial softwaredoes have that open source generally doesn't, is wholeness and polish. Geeks write features when they need them, and get used to the interface on the way. Nobody turns around and says "Hey you know what? the behaviour of the windows in Gimp is painful. How come if I click a tool on the toolbar, I have to click back in the job window before I can use the tool? And why do they clutter up my taskbar like that?"
As far as function goes, you can't compare it to Photoshop elements either. The pixel wrangling is so much smoother in Photoshop, the tools are so much more mature and cooperative. Gimp looked ok up against Photoshop 4, but whereas Photoshop is now up to version umm...8 I think, with matured tools and interface improvements, the latest version of Gimp looks like and feels like a point release of the same version we had 6 years ago. Photoshop Elements doesn't have the feature set of full photoshop, but it does have the maturity and polish
No disrespect to the Gimp developers intended - you do what you can with the people and time available, and they've done well. But people like to roll it out as an example of why Open Source 'has the apps' too, and it's really a good example of why Open Source apps just don't compare for normal users.
Re:Another second rate product runs to Linux... (Score:3, Interesting)
New criticism a bit more rooted in reality is a different story, and any "linux isn't ready for the desktop" statement is at least five years or maybe even ten years out of date (win3.11 was ready for the desktop remember). Linux on the desktop is not good enough for XYZ makes more sense than some blanket statement that was proved wrong by a lot of people years ago.
Re:exaggeration--yours (Score:2, Interesting)
Gimp was not created for Windows, it was created for X-Windows. That the port to win32 wasn't perfectly implemented to work with Windows' quirks is not related to the original quite decent design.
That's why they didn't turn around and say "Hey you know what? the behaviour of the windows in Gimp is painful. How come if I click a tool on the toolbar, I have to click back in the job window before I can use the tool? And why do they clutter up my taskbar like that?"
Because, they didn't have those problems. They had a decent Windowmanager, and a decent taskbar replacement.
Without the slightest doubt, Photoshop is *not* for normal users, either.. just look at the pocket-industry of photoshop educational videos, photoshop tricks, tips, manuals, and secret methods. Normal users don't need that stuff. They just crop photos, and print. Artists/Professionals/Hobbyists do need that stuff, 'cause Photoshop and the Gimp, like most decent applications are complex and *Gasp* not exactly like every other application.
skin saving (Score:1, Interesting)
Even at worst could become just a support company.
slashdot invaded with msft shills/zealots? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm noticing this trend on slashdot more and more. Some good news for Linux is announced (often no BFD). And many posters here are screaming about how Linux is so inferior to msft.
Frankly, I don't care what desktop you use. I don't care if you don't like Linux. But, it seems strange to me that this sort of news would make so many posters so angry.
Xara Linux so far...... (Score:1, Interesting)
Very good news (Score:2, Interesting)
First open source project then: color management (Score:1, Interesting)
Not just designers that find Gimp hard to grok (Score:3, Interesting)
But the Gimp certainly has made me scream at it. I never seem to be able to figure out how a certain feature works (the stuff with pasting and layers for instance). I am no useability expert either, but I am sure that if you get the user in a state of sreaming, there is something seriously wrong with the software.
There are two ways to fix that problem; the easy way and tha hard way. The easy way is just dismissing evey complaint about it as caused by an unwillingness to learn the interface (stupid user excuse).
The hard way is to actually listen, analyse and do something about the problem. But that requires hard work (not neccesarily the coding part, finding the problems in the UI may be much more work).
The moral of this story: pointing fingers at photoshop or the user will not make UI issues disappear, so please don't do that.