Hoping PI sticks around

[gordonwd]

I've been using PI for quite a few years and think it's great for my two major uses for it:

- Manipulating photos, such as the usual crop, resize, brighten, etc.

- Creating graphic items for use on web sites

I don't think that I've seen a product that does what it does as well as it does, and costs less than $100 to buy and/or upgrade. Or, at least no product that is also well-supported by a company that's been around and will probably stay around (formerly Ulead, now apparently Corel).

I have used CorelDraw and still own it (V11 I think), but I have never become comfortable with its operating paradigm. Vector drawing s/w has a lot more complexities to it, and this product seems to be more oriented toward "publishing" graphics than web graphics.

CorelDraw used to come with a program called CorelPaint, which had similar features to PI, but the last version I used of it was really buggy, and again the user interface was too different for me to get used to.

At work, I recently had to get the latest Paintshop Pro X since it's our standard for graphics, but I found that this newest version is now really being turned into a somewhat dumbed-down, consumer-oriented digital camera photo manipulation program, with the more graphic-object features hard to find and use.

So what else would compete with PI? One program of interest to me would be Macromedia's Fireworks, which would integrate quite well with the Dreamweaver program that I use for web development, but I can't justify the price that they want for it ($400 buy, $200 upgrade).

So again, I plan on sticking with PI as long as it stays around, or unless it is turned into something else. One thing I've noticed recently are some price reductions and promotions for PI11, so maybe that means that PI12 is waiting in the wings.

[lemerich]

I agree, but even if it is changed or discontinued, the doesn't mean you can't use it. I know there are lots of folks out there that feel they have to upgrade every few months or every year just because a new version is out. Many of those new versions are nothing more than tweaks to the old system. This will probably be useable for years as is.
I used my old video editing system about 5 years after it was sold to Pinnacle and later to Avid. Upgrades ended, but the system worked great until the main board died. I know editors still using it to produce cable shows.
I have programs that I use that can't be upgraded anymore and aren't even produced any more, but they still work and do what I want.

Lynn

[heinz-oz]

I agree whole heartedly. Just because a new version is out doesn't mean one has to upgrade.

I still use MSP 7.3 because it has everything I need. Not very likely to go to MSP 8 in a hurry and only got MF 4 disk creator because there was an issue with MF 3 disk creator and PhotoImpact 11. Something didn't agree and caused me headaches. PI 11 I got because of it's improved handling of RAW format digital images.

Having the "latest" very seldomly equates to having the "best". If Corel were to decide to dump PI, so what? I would still use it until something became available that would suit me better. I only changed from Win 98 to XP when the 4GB file size limit of FAT 32 "forced" me to look for somethingbetter.

Honestly, I can't understand the hype sometimes. It looks to me right now as if I was going to use MSP 7 and PI 11 together with MF 4 DC well into the next decade. I'm surely not going to fork out a small fortune to get a working Vista64 system just to have HD playback either. It ain't worth it to me.

Just my 2 pennies worth.

[sjj1805]

I also agree that you can go overboard with getting the latest of anything.
Plenty of my workmates, friends and family have brought along their computers to me to take a look at because they tell me "It's struggling."

It doesnt take more than a couple of minutes to see why in most cases - they have been upgrading all their software to the latest version. Only thing is they no longer have a computer to match. The processor is too slow, not enough RAM and so on.

The favourite was a few years ago when Windows XP came out and everyone rushed out to get a copy only to find their machine now crawls along like a snail.

I quite hapilly still have the following on my computer and if I need more up to date information I use the worlds largest library - the internet.

Encarta 99
Encarta World Atlas 98
Microsoft Autoroute 2001
Lotus Organiser 5.0

Now lets look at the possible yearly outlay for the latest software.

for starters all those mentioned above.
Microsoft Office
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Acrobat
Nero

Well I could go one - but the point is if you want the latest version of everything the first thing you need to do is obtain the blueprints of the local Bank so that you can plan your robbery correctly.

My workplace consisting of several thousand computers mainly runs on Windows NT4 SP6. Now what would the cost be to upgrade several thousand computers to XP (Plus Vista is just round the corner) - then take into account half the stuff would no longer work due to compatability issues.

[vs]

Hi,

I find that shocking news, that Ulead is / will be owned by Correl. Correl went down the drain, with its Java focus, and it is no comparison to Ulead. IF they will own Ulead, I hope it will allow Ulead to act independent, as I think they have the best products. I tried Adobe (very hard to use, slow learning curve, expensive, tiny preview window...) Pinnacle, Magix, a few others...

Ulead was the best, and I own PI 11, VS 10, MF and PS. Yes, upgrades can be tricky at times, but I found PI 10 to PI11 worth the cost (which is only half for upgrades) and you get plenty of reasons... no other program made it easy enough to extract images, save as layer objects, drag and drop, smart curves, HDR, RAW, etc...

Correl knockout and Adobe forget it!

So I will immediately backup my software just in case, as takeovers can also be used to kill the competition... so Correl stinky products survive and Ulead dies... I hope not...

please go out and buy ulead to support them

[gordonwd]

I'll have to admit that I'm a bit of an upgrade junkie -- always want to see the latest new features or the redesigned user interface, if only to have a chance to learn something new. I even enjoy reading user guides.

Actually, I'm still using PI8. I was thinking of upgrading a while ago, but saw a lot of negative feedback on PI 11, so decided to wait a while longer. I am using VS10+ for my video work, but there are a lot more new features that they keep inventing for video editing.

[vs]

Hi

I have also seen some negative reports here, but I think of 2 things:

1. NO software is perfect
2. ULEAD BEATS any other software

I have read this in quite a few magazines (best in range - meaning it is not compared to a $ 5000 program). I have been using Ulead products for quite some time, and they are simply the best. Since it is a hobby of mine, I keep an eye out on competitors... but they are not match in my opinion.

Adobe - pricy and it does not have all the functions (usuall). The learning curve is slow here, so complicated user interface, poor workflow design, tiny preview screen (especially for video editing), hard to deal with objects, layers... same goes for Corel, MGI, ACDC and the likes. I dont mind reading manuals to get some cool advanced stuff going, but I want to be able to jump in and use intuition etc to get going... with Adobe be prepared to be stuck for hours and days... drag and drop a extracted object to another image - not easy and simple with Adobe. It is incredible easy with Ulead PI11, as is storing my extracted objects in my object library for future use. DVD Menu creation and re-use in other products.

I use PI for object extracting and fun montages, cropping, smart curves, HDR, express fix, Web slide shows... It is the BEST

I also use VS10 Plus, 5.1 Sound, Largest video preview window size, easy workflow, not cluttered workspace, flash objects... It is Great

Yes, I also own Movie Factory 5, for some cool menu creations, DVDs, I also have Workshop Express 2, Cool 3D is nice for panaroma pictures, I also use Picture Show 4 for cool picture slide shows... all these products are simply great. Yes, sometimes a bug is there, but I have to find any other product that can beat these, and that is one of the reasons I stay with Ulead and upgrade to the latest versions, as they offer more and more cool features.. I remember PI having object extraction so easy, while you had to use Corel Knockout and Adobe... phew... far too much work.

No, I am not paid by Ulead for marketing I am just a very happy, long time user of Ulead and I hope they will continue their great work.

[htchien]

So far as I know, PI is not in the dump out list.

H.T.

[keenart]

I have to agree with HT, I have done business with Corel for several decades now and they usually wait a good year before they do anything significant with vewly acquired software.
The other side is it costs too much to spend billioins on software just to dump it or combine it with another program. Corel usually sells off what does not fit the bill rather than killing the software. It is just good economics for them.

[NewtonA]

I think your right, and I'll take it one step further and bet that Corel will keep PI around. I base this on the statement made buy them that "They want to improve revenue".
I've used CorelDraw since ver 3 and PI since 4. And commenting on the upgrade situation, I pretty much want to anyway. Being a graphics artist as well as producing music on my computer, I want my system to be as powerful as possible and having the latest CPU and OS is the only way to do that, of course within reason. CorelDraw is very easy on the pocketbook to keep up to date, as is PhotoImpact. This last release of CorelDraw, X3, is amazing. The ability to crop vector designs? YOW! So many really new features, not just beefed up old ones. I do miss the ability to make TrueType fonts : ( As for Photo Paint, I seldom use it, but go right into PI with my CorelDraw designs. My dream would be for PhotoImpact and CorelDraw to be more compatible with each other. Well, I can dream can't I? LOL

-Newton

[htchien]

You can ask Ulead to do it.

http://www.ulead.com/pi/feedback.htm

Regards,
H.T.

[bobinorlando]

The only question to ask in an acquisition like this is what will be the level of continued development effort? If Corel keeps the PI development team and supports them in enhancements, we are good. If they lose the strongest developers as a result of the buyout, then we will end up with a loser product.

Let's face it, when a product gets to Ver 12 after 10 years, it is a mature product. I just did a quick review of the program files in Ver. XL, 10 and 12. They are for the most part the same files! New UI, but beyond that very little added in terms of new filters, new libraries, new paths, new effects, etc. There are some, and there has been some reduction in file sizes indicating further optimization of code, but beyond that, this product has achieved what it set out to do.

Corel may be the perfect "custodian" of this program depending on its track record in keeping old programs around.

Corel Draw sucks unless you are a techno-drawing-geek.
It was not designed for artists it was a drafting program originally. If you want to make pen and ink drawings on the computer, and still hand draw every little stroke, Corel is for you. But why bother with a computer if that is what you want. That is why it failed. It was too cumbersome. But they have kept it around all these years. Maybe they will prop up PI over the long haul, too.

Mostly it will depend on the user base and how many of us continue to upgrade.

Note about the moderators of this board - you are too heavy handed and defensive. This is proven to chase good people away. Thanks for moderating, but lighten up. If you don't you will kill off the board.

[sjj1805]

..........Note about the moderators of this board - you are too heavy handed and defensive. This is proven to chase good people away. Thanks for moderating, but lighten up. If you don't you will kill off the board.

With thanks. The forum Moderators.