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.
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?
Bowing out of this thread before I get lynched.
@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.