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Xara announces Xtreme Open Source 11th October, 2005 Xara plans to shake up the Linux, Mac and Open Source world with three major announcements.
Xara, developer of popular Windows graphics software, is making a move to defend themselves against Microsoft moving into their market, and at the same time is attempting to change the graphics landscape. Xara Xtreme
Firstly Xara is announcing the release of a new product, Xara Xtreme.
It's built on Xara's history of developing successful, award winning
and innovative graphics software for 15 years. This is a new
cross-category graphics application that can handle photos, business
graphics, drawing and illustration needs. Charles Moir, CEO of Xara, said "It absolutely knocks the stuffing out of Adobe and the new Microsoft product. In terms of ease of use, of sheer flexibility and in terms of performance. Adobe has tried for 10 years to get close to our performance levels and cannot. Microsoft are not going to be able to either. I guarantee it". Xara Xtreme is available for Windows now, at just $79 Linux and Mac versions
Secondly Xara plans to create Linux and Mac versions of the graphics
application. Charles said, "Many of our users are Mac and Linux
enthusiasts who, often reluctantly, use Windows to run our software
because it's only been available on Windows. For years we've had
requests from Mac and Linux users to create versions for their
platforms. Our plans are to change the graphics software landscape
forever, and that means we have to be cross-platform" "The Linux desktop has come on leaps and bounds in the last year or so. But there is scarcity of really slick, finished applications, especially in the graphics arena. Our goal is to create the greatest general purpose desktop graphics application that has ever existed and for this to be a first class Linux and Mac citizen." "Ironically, given the percentage of graphic professionals using Macs, there are few, if any, high quality, high performance, low cost Mac graphics applications. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop dominate, but those can cost more than a new Mac. That's outrageous. With Macromedia being acquired by Adobe, choice for Mac users just took a turn for the worse. We can help address that." Open Source Thirdly
Xara intends to make the new software Open Source. Charles said "We're
going to a place that Microsoft and Adobe cannot go. The Open Source
world is the acknowledged largest threat to established giants such as
Microsoft. We felt it was necessary for us to shake up the graphics
world a bit, and making one of the most powerful, easiest to use
graphics applications Open Source should do the trick." "To stand any chance of establishing a following in the Linux world you have to make the product free and Open Source, so despite the risks involved, that's what we're doing", Charles said. "We have a load of technology that's better than anything Microsoft or Adobe have. By making this Open Source (GPL) we believe we can help the Linux platform compete in the mainstream graphics arena better than it ever has before." "We used to develop for alternative platforms, such as the Acorn RISC computer in the 1990s, and so fundamentally Xara Xtreme is based on a cross-platform core." "Of course we are aware of Inkscape, an existing Open Source vector graphics program that has an active developer community, but is far from complete. We've been in discussion with Inkscape people, who have enthusiastically welcomed us. Our short term goal is to create a fully working Xara Xtreme as it exists now. After that we've agreed to work with Inkscape to determine how best to create a 'best of both world's' product." "Xara Xtreme, Open Sourced and available on Linux will make a huge difference to the platform. We believe it will significantly accelerate the acceptance of the platform as an alternative to Windows. Down the road, combine the best of Inkscape and Xara, and you've got something that has the potential to disrupt the established world that is dominated by Adobe and Microsoft." "Graphics desktop applications are a cornerstone of any modern desktop OS. We have what we (and many others) believe is the best desktop graphics application there is. By making it Open Source, by making it available on Windows, Mac and Linux, we hope to change the graphics software landscape forever" Demo movie If you want to see what Xara Xtreme can do, there are demo movies available in various formats here. Demo download
Xara has been working on a new cross-platform version (Linux, Mac and
Windows) for some time and have a simple viewer (Linux only)
demonstration available. You can find more details here. More Info See the Xara Xtreme website at www.xara.com/xtreme Photo
Editors: For further details please contact: Nova Fisher, Communications Director,
. About Xara
Xara has been developing low-cost mass-market software since the early
years of the Microcomputer era, in 1981. It has focused mostly on
publishing related software products, starting from Wordwise, a hugely
popular Word Processor in the '80s, to desktop publishing software
(Impression) and graphics products in the '90s for the Acorn RISC
computer. Xara's first Windows product, Xara Studio was quickly snapped
up and marketed by Corel in the late '90s. The rights were acquired
back from Corel and it has since evolved into Xara X and the most
recent Xara Xtreme. Xara has particularly strong technology and innovation history. It pioneered many of the graphics technologies and techniques used by industry today. It was the first to introduce vector anti-aliasing, the first with vector transparency and graduated transparency, the first vector feathering. Many of its User Interface techniques have been adopted by the industry. The graphics engine that is at the core of the Xara Xtreme still remains the world's most powerful. The technologies used to create Xara Xtreme have been developed by Xara over the years and incorporates many pioneering features. It has been modelled on the successful Xara X¹ (sold for $179) as used by many professional graphics and illustration artists but has been significantly re-engineered to open it up to third-party plug-in developers. |
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| Last Updated ( Friday, 09 December 2005 ) | |||
