Feature: Xara Xtreme for Linux has reached the more than halfway mark
Motivation: Progress has been steady with a few surprises

Following up on the review of Xara Xtreme and its move to Linux, this will be an update on progress into the new year of 2007. One of the reasons Xara took the Open Source approach is that management felt they could make the conversion must faster than if they did it themselves. In addition, the Xara Team expressed the desire to make Xara technology more open and permanent by going Open under the GNU GPL license. But this would depend on their ability to attract developers.

Not to worry.

It appears that Xara has done so and well enough to contemplate a MacOS version as well.So now, roughly 3/4 of a year later, one can assess the progress and see how things are coming and to get straight to the point first - here are some of the major things Xara Xtreme Linux can do:
* Opens and renders all the XAR files we've tried. Rendering 100% complete.
* Text renders according to Font design hints.
* Text tool includes new support for tabs and rulers.
* Xtreme menus and Selection tools are operable. 4
* Object delete cut/copy/paste/duplicate/clone using menus or Ctrl-X,C,V,D,K
* Drag objects around, plus scale, rotate, shear. Plus numeric control via Infobar.
* Magnetic object snap. Grid snap and grid display.
* Push tool (middle mouse button also works to push the page around while in any tool)
* Group and ungroup (Ctrl-G, Ctrl-U)
* Undo/redo using toolbar, icons or Ctrl-Z / Y
* Rectangle, Ellipse and QuickShape tools
* Interactive Feather tool with new popup slider added to wxWidgets
* Fill, Transparency, Blend, Bevel tools
* Text tool, including ability to set the font
* Freehand and Shadow tool
* Color line and full color editor
* JPG, GIF and PNG import and export
* Bitmap export dialog includes image previews
* Early version of SVG import (work in progress)
* Drag and drop file import
* Layer, color, line and bitmap galleries
* Guidelines and Rulers
* A choice of document templates
* Status line and progress bar
* Options dialog (and most options now operational)
* Printing. Click here for details.
* Profile editing in feather, fill, transparency and blend tools
* Full comprehensive Help now integrated.

….. and many more. To see which features are up and which are not:
Here is the complete list of what Xara Xtreme Linux can do

Here is what Xara Xtreme Linux can NOT do yet as of roughly the new year
As you can see what can be done is a lot more than what cannot be done. Progress is notable from my late summer look see. Also it is interesting that Xara Xtreme for Linux is sticking pretty darn close to replicating exactly the look and feel of Windows Xara Xtreme:

In addition, the Xara Open Source team appears to be moving over almost all of the new features and most of what I thought would be "exclusive to Windows":
* Pen bezier path tool
* Ability to use PS plug-in in Live Effects tool directly - big surprise
* Interactive Feather tool with new popup slider added to wxWidgets (extra work here).
* Early version of SVG import (work in progress)
* Working Adobe Illustrator import (to same level as Windows Xtreme version)
* Many new menu items e.g. convert lines to shapes
* New plug-in system for import/export filters -not sure whats happening here
* Profile editing in feather, fill, transparency and blend tools
* Docking galleries/bars that remember their size/position - start of Xara workspaces ?
* Anything to do with animated GIFs
* Downloadable movies and built-in movie player - okay, Whats up Doc ?

In summary, this means that Windows users will be able to crossover to Xara Xtreme Linux a lot more easily than Windows XP users will be able to upgrade or use Windows Vista. Even more notable - the Xara crew will use the Linux code as a template to port to Apple Mac and appear to have started that process.

So the Question Arises : How Does Xara Make Money?

Here is Xara's answer on their FAQ page.
"We believe that we can make enough money from a variety of activities to enable us to continue with this project and indeed thrive. We're not a large company and do not need or expect to make hundreds of millions of dollars (and that alone separates us from Adobe or Microsoft). But we will continue to sell versions of Xara X into the Windows market. We'll also sell commercial version into the Linux and Mac market if there is demand. The commercial versions can include premium elements such as third party licensed components that we can't make available under Open Source, for example fonts, plug-ins, Pantone colors. All the bundled Live Effects plug-ins are examples. And of course things like CDs, boxed versions, manuals, and last but not least customer support - these will always cost money and can't be part of an entirely free product. These things only enhance the acceptance and respect the product has by commercial or professional users but takes nothing away from the Open Source version. We will also continue to sell other Windows software. There are numerous ways in which we can make money to continue to prosper as a company."

"And further, users will have the security of knowing their product will ALWAYS be supported by a dedicated community of Open Source developers, unlike those poor customers of Macromedia Freehand or Mac versions of Expression. So Xara X has a future, no matter what."

Readers interested are encouraged to read the FAQ page and contribute to the project however they can. But most important of all try XaraXtreme (Windows or Linux) and see for yourself why this software is so good.