Got an email to purchase 2019 upgrade and it's also stating upgrades are ending??? Is it going the dreaded "subscription" (rent, never own) model?!
After reading the many bugs and problems with 2019, very reluctant to move on to that one. I'd hate to purchase that 2019 upgrade and they leave it to die and NEVER fix it, but force me to SUBSCRIPTION after they take my money.
CorelDRAW Upgrades are Ending!
Now is your last chance to upgrade to CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019. Later this year, upgrades will no longer be available.
Hi everyone. I want to provide a bit more context. As everyone knows, we pride ourselves at Corel in offering choice for how to get CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. For some, that means subscribing. For others, that means buying a perpetual license. The only thing that is really changing later this year is the "open upgrade" whereby users of any previous version can buy the perpetual upgrade license of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2019. We will still provide the opportunity for current version owners to get into the latest version without having to subscribe or pay the Full version price. In the past we have changed the upgrade policy where only certain recent versions were eligible. Right now, the policy is wide open. But that is the only element that is changing later this year. As for Upgrade Protection, if you choose to go that route, it is valid for a period of one year from when you purchase it before it would need to be renewed to remain eligible for new versions as they come out. Thanks.
John Falsetto said:We will still provide the opportunity for current version owners to get into the latest version without having to subscribe or pay the Full version price.
Can you please "elaborate" on this very important part?
Typically it has usually been $199 (or $159 or so as I have seen at the lowest on sale) for an UPGRADE.
What are we looking at now?
Clarity is singularly missing in this case John. If Corel want to be honest with their customers you do have to spell out exactly what is going to happen. Is 'Upgrade Protection' necessary for 2019 owners? What does it guarantee and for whom? What if CDGS2020 is late being released and the year long 'Upgrade Protection' has expired?What if a current 'Upgrade Protection' member decides not to upgrade in 2020? Can they pay for 'Upgrade Protection' for another year to allow them to get CDGS2021?
And I'd bet there are many more questions.
KISS has a lot going for it and in this instance Corel are doing the opposite and not being entirely clear about the plans. Maybe thats deliberate to get people to pay protection money!!!
Hi John. I am still wading through all of these emails but I wanted to share with you my thoughts. I have been a CorelDraw/Photopaint user since the early 90s, with its very early versions. At the time I bought it for work related reasons. More recently I am also a user of Corel VideoStudio. In recent years I have upgraded Draw every few versions because I mainly use it for personal things and for flyers, ads, directories, etc. I do to help out at the church where I pastor. For my two cents, so Corel can understand, if my options are:
1. Upgrade every version or lose the upgrade option or,
2. Pay $99/year just for the insurance to upgrade at an upgrade price, and still have to pay the upgrade price over and above that,
I will, with tremendous sadness and costing me countless hours of migrating files, move to an OpenSource program. I can't justify that kind of money any more and I don't need the absolute latest version for the work I do. It would be very, very hard for me, after over 25 years, to say goodbye to Corel, but I will if these are my choices. Please pass that on if there is anyone you think should hear it.
Thanks for "listening"
Erick
I've used CorelDraw since the first version, but for the past decade I might only use it a couple of times a year as I spent most of my time using Adobe products (which is unavoidable). I kept buying Corel upgrades just to support the company, as there are some things CorelDraw does better than Illustrator - for example I'd use it for some logo design work (which eventually has to be transported to Illustrator) or for floor-plans. I could have dropped CorelDraw entirely but have stuck with it - however none of the new versions offer me anything useful, so I've had no need to upgrade the past few years. I might upgrade to support a new O/S better or updated/improved file import/export options. I'd definitely upgrade if you made some of the keyboard shortcuts more Adobe-like (shift-space panning, adobe-like zooming) - something Affinity has latched onto as a means of making swapping between the CS-Suite and their apps more appealing. At full price a new version of Corel might be the end of the line for me, but an upgrade discount might keep me in the loop, even if there are a few years between drinks. I imagine there are a few peeps like me who would upgrade every few years but drop the whole thing if there wasn't a financial enticement. Corel has been annoying me with it's attitude for quite some time - firstly by making the "included content" cloud-based and unable to be downloaded as a package - I'd upgrade if I could download all of the "included fonts" in one hit for local storage and use for one example. If you want to compete against a massively dominant competitor (Adobe) or a much cheaper and alternative (Affinity) you have to play nice and accept that you can't charge as much and that your upgrade version will have to earn their keep by being appealing rather than mandatory.