I work in politics, so this year is very busy for me. Corel is my primary design program, and I'm currently using version 24.2.1.446 (September 2022). It works. Couple of annoying bugs, but at least I know about them and can work around them.
I have a couple of months off and have the following questions for you experts:
1. Will be buying a new computer (current computer is Win 10, and over 8 years old, so it's long past time) -- can I just install just the build of Corel I'm currently using (24.2.1.446), or will I have to install all Corel 2023 updates and/or Corel 2024?
2. Should I at least install the updates for Corel 2023, or will it break things that will annoy me? I'm not going to have a lot of time/energy to fight through new problems until 2025.
3. Should I install Corel 2024, or will that annoy me even more?
4. Finally, can I run Corel 2023 and Corel 2024 side by side, or will 2024 replace 2023? I've been using Corel since version 2, and FAR preferred having multiple versions of Corel around, but realize that times have changed. Sigh.
Thanks for any/all advice.
Thank you so much for the GREAT advice! Delighted to know that 2024 installed along side 2023 as a subscription (which I also have).... I do massive amounts of photo manipulation also, so I'm pleased to hear about your experiences with having lots of memory hog programs open. I'll take your advice and just wait to do anything until I've got the new computer going. (BTW, when I installed 2023 it broke 2020, which seriously pisses me off...never been able to get it to work again, sadly.) And, it cracks me when people ask if anyone's making money with Corel, because the answer is, uh, yeah. Hah!
From my experiance I'm sure you're going to have a busy year so always be cautious and plan some down time after the elections.
Are you using Photo-PAINT for your images?
As far as making money with CorelDRAW and Photo-PAINT, I did it since late in the version 3 cycle. I'm comfortably semi-retired now but needing to sooth my masochistic tendencies I took up photography as a hobby. My camera says I've taken 40,000 images and it inspired my wife to take up a birding hobby. Plenty of date days!
I use PhotoPAINT first, but also Photoshop CS6 and Affinity and PortraitPro and occasionally PaintShop Pro as well as some plugins. Every program has the things it does best.... Always on the lookout for new solutions! Keep thinking that I'll be retiring sooner or later, but still enjoy the political mayhem, so am still in the thick of it.
I agree that every application has strong points, that's why I use the set I do. I found Affinity 2 to not have enough to make me update even though I downloaded it and tried it twice. For low to mid ISO noise reduction Affinity Photo 1, PaintShop Pro, AfterShot Pro 3 and Photo-PAINT do a good job.
I'm plotting a course toward high ISO low light backyard wildlife photography and am in the process of testing some applications like Topaz, DXO, Luminar and another shot at downloadingCapture 1.
Unfortunately the last time I test drove Capture 1 and Luminar felt too much like Mac thinking and to add insult to injury Adobe thinking as well.
The though I have is will CorelDRAW 2023 subscription just stop working at some time after the 2024 subscription date?
Your last question:
David Milisock said:will CorelDRAW 2023 subscription just stop working at some time after the 2024 subscription date?
is VERY important to me. Would love it if someone knows the answer to this. Again, I would far prefer if they would continue to work side by side. In fact, I have had so many problems with upgrading in the past that when I do upgrade I save everything for the previous version so I can open it there if necessary, and I do this for months.
In fact, I still have a laptop with Corel 5 installed, because I still have files I might need to open.
To me this roll out seems odd. I assumed that a subscription model would roll out more like a patch to the previous version. Instead, it was rolled out like a standalone version so I have no idea, but I will send off some emails to try and find out.
I'm sure I spend a little more money on my systems, but I don't waste time on mix and match processes, (no way will I screw with virtual machines to run old software). I get a system built with plenty of horsepower and it runs in general until it displays odd behaviors, most 5+ years of working it really hard. My systems run 24/7/365 until they die. If I had to rebuild Windows just once, I'd be pissed beyond compare.
My time is just do damn important to me! My ISP must be 99+% up time and my systems only get restarted for updates, in the end its money in the bank.
David Milisock said:My systems run 24/7/365 until they die. If I had to rebuild Windows just once, I'd be pissed beyond compare.
I was. But at that point there was no going back, the machine was f*****d. Thats why PS CS6 went on the Win10 VM, where it behaves itself fine. In fact I would recommend Win10 over 11 all day long. Theres too much still in development for my liking.
Windows 10 especially the later updates has leaned to trying to get me to go places on the web and buy crap. While I support several clients that have Windows 11 I'm not using it and won't until I'm forced to as it's not to my liking.
You all are making me rethink upgrading to Win 11. Thought I had to with a new computer, but of course not. Particularly since I have people to do it for me (I don't mess with the insides anymore). Hmmmm. Maybe I won't! Current computer is so old that I can't use Win 11 (crying shame), but I suppose I could let my laptop go to Win 11 and if I hate it, return it to Win 10 and learn something in the meantime.
Thanks!