With the introduction of version X4, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite has gained some new online capabilities. In addition to the visible ones such as the integration to CorelDRAWConceptShare.com and WhatTheFont.com, we have also added some features within the product that will leverage a network connection when available. These are two-fold. First, through the life-cycle of the product, we will be providing additional tips & tricks to users of X4 directly within the welcome screen. The same technology will be use to also provide automatic updates of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite when a service pack or a patch is released. The second aspect, which was already included in version X3, is the integrated online registration process when launching the application. As I know that the online links from within applications can be a sensitive subject for some of you regarding privacy, I wanted to provide more details of what is happening, what information is transmitted and what are the benefits of these for you.
One of the option we wanted to provide with X4 is the capability to enhance the learning tools included in the welcome screen after the product had been released, providing you additional insights and tools to learn even more about our product. When you go to the welcome screen, you will be able to see these additional tips&tricks in the "Learning Tools" tab. We already have a few in there and will be adding some more as we go.
In addition to that, we also integrated a feature that will enable CorelDRAW to notify you and even automatically download and install the patches and service packs when available. Reading through the forums, we saw many of you asking if they had the latest service pack installed and how to check that. With X4, the product will know if you have the latest and greatest, and if it is not the case, will enable you to seamlessly go through the upgrade process. So how does this work. Well, you simply go to the "Updates" tab in the welcome screen. This will list all the available service packs and patches (there are none for X4 currently available). In addition, you can also click on the "Settings" link in the top-left corner of that welcome screen page to choose if you want, or not, for CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 to get this information on-line, e.g. it enables you to disable all these features. You can also disable these during the installation process if you want.
All the information that CorelDRAW sends to the Corel servers to retrieve the correct information is collected in an anonymous way in accordance with the Corel Privacy Policy and End User License Agreement, once per day, when the application is launched. The size of the file transfered to check if there is anything new waiting for you is about 1kb. As mentioned before, if you don't want this information to be sent, you can disable all communication from CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 for new tips & tricks or updates either from the installation screen or directly from within the application's welcome screen. If you have configured CorelDRAW to be blocked by your desktop firewall, no information will be retrieved, and this won't impact your usage of X4 in any way, except that you won't be notified of updates and new learning information.
The second part I mentioned before is regarding the registration of your application and the screens you see when launching the application when using the trial version. The screens you see on these pages (anything displayed before CorelDRAW is actually launched) is mainly HTML, e.g. web pages. If you are not connected to the internet, these will come from your local hard drive. If you are online, these will come from Corel.com. As these pages are coming from our main web site, they include some little tracking information (we currently use Omniture for that), enabling us to know how many times you see the screens for example. This is in no way different than when you go to Corel.com with your web browser for example. Here again, all information captured is in accordance with the Corel Privacy Policy and we are very careful to make sure that this information is collected in an anonymous way.
One of the main advantages of registering your copy of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, in addition to having access to the extra benefits that come with the registration (free stock photos and more), is that all the serial numbers that you have registered are actually stored with your Corel.com account, providing you an easy access to all your serial numbers and also enabling the technical support team to provide you with faster support, in case you need it. And if you don't want to register, you have this option as well (after a few clicks on the "Later" button).
We strongly believe that the closer link with the online world of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 is of value for you, users of this product, but want to give you the option to disable these if you have any concern regarding the data captured without impacting your experience of the core features of the product.