At last, we now can set the color/contrast of the desktop and not be so blinded by the abundance of white.....
Thank you, Corel, for this nice gift.
Pretty damn cute.
MikeWe said: Pretty damn cute.
Not.
Do I even want to install this update?
pranderson said:...But since I am a Premie, I am going to enjoy not having to wear sunglasses! Patti
Patti
Same registry hack applies to PhotoPaint, just a slightly different location.
Do note on either location (for either application), the key is not present until such time as one tries to use the premie feature. Then CD or PP adds the key, which can then be modified.
The short of it? I'm not wearing sunglasses anymore in CD or PP, either.
Right when Adobe went with subscription only model, people started saying that Corel was different. I said Corel must be dying to follow that same model. It's just business after all. Now we get to see the truth of my words. Corel can't force it on you like Adobe, so it's trying to influence you to subscribe. In this case, it's just pathetic how they chose to do it. They picked a couple of features that are extremely old news on competing products, and made them only available to subscription users. I don't think consumers view the subscription in the same way that Corel imagines they do. The more Corel does nonsense like this, the more even it's fans will dislike and distrust. It's really unfortunate. People were begging for the ability to change the brightness of the interface. Corel responds by dangling it like a carrot on a string.
I am not really upset about the whole premie scheme that Corel uses. Why? Because they have people willing to lay out $100 bucks a year to be beta testers. It's brilliant, really. By the time we mere mortals get the changes, maybe the bugs in those features get worked out.
Under the former scheme, I wouldn't see those features until a new release anyway.
While it would be classified as still playing catch-up, why don't they actually give premie users something of value like real paragraph and character styles? PDF/X-4 output? I could list a few dozen things under the "catch-up" category, let alone some actual new things. These things would at least provide a value-added deal for those willing to spend the extra money. Better than putting lipstick on a pig, so to speak, and then calling it a premium feature.
Hi Mike,
MikeWe said:people willing to lay out $100 bucks a year to be beta testers.
Not really. You can pay the 100.00 a year and get the new stuff as it's being created or wait 2 years and pay the 200.00 (same thing) for the upgrade except you are 2 years behind the learning curve. Why wait. Business moves real fast and having the latest tools is very important here. I get my 100.00 worth with the free content, fonts, images, etc. and get to play with new feature tools.
Beta testing is something completely different than what you say and perhaps you should try applying for it if it interests you. You make some great comments on improving the suite why not put your thoughts to action. I have been beta testing ongoing for over 12 years now and I will say affirmatively it is completely different than premium membership big time..Not even close.
Lipstick on a pig? Sounds like Sara Palin?
@bob,
Having access to new features isn't all it's cracked up to be. Certainly not for me and likely a whole lotta other people. What feature(s), through version X6 that was premium only, did you really make money on while I needed to wait for X7? How many jobs really depended upon that access to premium only features?
Content? I would rather gouge my eyes out than use that content thing on the Internet (when it works), even for browsing my own local computer. Slow doesn't half describe it.
Fonts? I have somewhere around 9k quality fonts (i.e., not Bitstream, etc.). I really don't need access to them...and I would hate to depend on the content thingy to find "something new."
I understand what beta testing is. Done it a lot since 1990. My only real point of comparison is that most new features Corel (or whoever) introduce have issues. Most of those particular issues get worked out during the release cycle. Even if they don't have issues, I would refer back to my opening paragraph...which one made you some solid dollars during X6's release? I really want to know what I am missing.
Let me explain why the $100 a year for "early access" means nothing to me. I make, prepare, and/or manipulate artwork in CD, AI, XDP, ED, PL, PP, PS, TB, AR, etc., etc. Other than a rare, single-sided ad page, I create nothing in any of those applications that isn't placed in a layout application. Nothing.
Out of the current new features for premium members, what is really going to make you have more to spend at the end of the year that I will have to wait for? And more importantly, because I am not dependent upon Corel products alone, what new features for premies only that just arrived is not, has not, been in every other application for years?
If Corel really wanted to make life better for its customers, hiding of objects would have been in the application years and years ago instead of bolting on useless features.
If Corel really had wanted to make life better for its customers, they wouldn't have changed the desktop color to pure-ass white and then make it customizable as a premie feature only.
Instead, Corel would have ... that list is for another day.
Mike
MikeWe said:Having access to new features isn't all it's cracked up to be. Certainly not for me and likely a whole lotta other people. What feature(s), through version X6 that was premium only, did you really make money on while I needed to wait for X7? How many jobs really depended upon that access to premium only features?
Most of my work is web and interactive software. So one of the premium features of x6 were the QR generator. I use that a lot to direct print ads to specific web pages that provide a "deal" etc. I also have them on posters that can be scanned. Can you get that somewhere else, yep but I like it under one hood. I use a lot of stock images for sites and I get my dollars worth out of them alone. Because I do a lot of image work getting the white out is a big plus for me.
I will agree with you Connect needs a lot of help and I am not wild about how you have to depend on being online and that you cannot simply download all that content. Hopefully that will be addressed soon?
Beyond the premium membership which is a choice, you can have it as it grows or wait 2 years. I guess that is a businessl choice. Sadly software is going SaaS which I also do not like but it is what it is.
Can I equate a single feature with income? No I can't but I can look at a tool/equipment investment vs. return and in that space I give it Draw a huge YES.The only thing I can equate with income is sales and the ability to provide superior product is the best path to income. I mean the only real income security is opportunity.
Lots of users use it completely differently so I can only speak for what I do. I can say it's worth it to me and you can say it's not, we are both right.
MikeWe said:If Corel really had wanted to make life better for its customers, they wouldn't have changed the desktop color to pure-ass white and then make it customizable as a premie feature only.
I totally agree with you here that making it white was a bad idea. To me a premium feature is a peek into the future of the next release and not depriving others, you can opt in now$$ or wait.
I am sure there are things that really mess with some workflows again depends what you use the suite for.
Well, seeing how the white desktop is only a registry entry as pointed out in this thread, I changed it without spending the money...which is one reason it boggles the mind that it is a premie feature to begin with.
Anyway, we are both preaching to the converted regardless of where one stands on the subscription model. What I do know is I hope I end up retired before the whole industry is subscription only. The subscription model is of only real value to the companies, not the consumers.
MikeWe said:What I do know is I hope I end up retired before the whole industry is subscription only.
agree
MikeWe said:The subscription model is of only real value to the companies, not the consumers.
It's a horrible deal for all, I would never use it. You are putting your entire business and work product in third party hands, that makes no business sense at all. Read the fine print, you are getting the royal you know what.
Trust me...if the premium subscription is even modestly successful, I can see Corel moving to an Adobe-type subscription in the future. It does stabilize cash-flow I suspect...in adobe's case, it is down. But they make most their money elsewhere and not on consumer software, so I doubt it matters to them.
The way this was handled (the white desktop) was handled and implemented, I am hoping Corel does the right thing here. There are only a few possibilities. One, someone messed up and it became a subscription feature. Two, it was planned from the get-go. Three, they needed to have more "things" to justify subscription and some boneheaded person made this decision. And there are more possibilities I suppose.
With the way it is implemented, I am hoping for #1. Likely it was #3. I just cannot believe they would take something away and add it back later as a premie feature...
MikeWe said: Trust me...if the premium subscription is even modestly successful, I can see Corel moving to an Adobe-type subscription in the future. It does stabilize cash-flow I suspect...in adobe's case, it is down.
Trust me...if the premium subscription is even modestly successful, I can see Corel moving to an Adobe-type subscription in the future. It does stabilize cash-flow I suspect...in adobe's case, it is down.
Are you really surprised it's down? When Adobe moved to the subscription model I simply stopped updating. A lot of us did. They send me snail mail periodically with "special pricing" (that isn't really) but so far everything I really need is in CS6. And to be honest, it hasn't hurt as much as I thought it would. To this point it hasn't hurt at all. Oopsie.
So I'd hate to see Corel fall into that trap. Features (and stability) are what sell me on new releases. I'm ok with the white screen, I'm more annoyed with the pettiness of making it a premium option.