Xara Embraces Open Source, Will draft for Mac & Linux
Xara, a shareware developer of many low-cost Windows apps, has announced Mac and Linux versions of Xara Xtreme, a new program for handling photos, business graphics, illustration, and drawing needs. The company is very outspoken in its latest press release, addressing Microsoft and Adobe as direct competitors, and talking about how the recent Macromedia acquisition by Adobe could hurt the graphics world.
Few companies can take the announcement, that Microsoft intend to get into their market, lying down”, says CEO Charles Moir. “The recent acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe can only reduce user choice and will likely see the elimination of hugely popular (and high quality) applications such as Freehand. The graphics world is becoming increasingly dominated by giants, to the detriment of the users. The second recent announcement by Microsoft to try and get into the graphics market is likely to distort the market even more.”
Xara also plans to Open Source the program so users can inspect the code and modify, develop, and extend it. Xara points to Mac OS X and Safari as an example of successful key products entrenched in the Open Source world.
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