Xara
Encyclopedia
Xara is a UK
-based software company founded in 1981. It has developed software for a variety of computer platforms, in chronological order: The Acorn Atom
, BBC Micro
, Z88
, Atari ST
, Acorn Archimedes
, Microsoft Windows
and Linux
. It was originally called Computer Concepts, Ltd.; the company name was changed in 1995 to Xara, Ltd. and later to The Xara Group, Ltd. On 30 January 2007, Xara was acquired by German company MAGIX
AG, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary.
The company also developed a range of hardware for the Acorn Archimedes including:
and Windows NT
), development switched from the Acorn to Windows platform. The first product was a re-write of the ArtWorks product. This involved a team of 20+ developers, who worked for more than two years to produce a competitor to then market-leading drawing software CorelDRAW
. The result was Xara Studio, which was initially licensed to Corel who released it as CorelXARA in 1995. Corel marketed it as a web-oriented companion to CorelDRAW, but it was clearly designed as a stand-alone alternative to the older software. In 2000, Xara released the software themselves as Xara X, which was superseded by Xara X¹ in 2004, and then Xara Xtreme in 2005. In 2006 a Pro version of Xara Xtreme was released, named Xara Xtreme Pro. Xtreme was later renamed Xara Photo & Graphic Designer and Xtreme Pro was renamed Designer Pro.
Other Windows products from Xara include the website design title Xara Web Designer and the 3D web graphics title Xara 3D Maker.
/Free Software
port of the Xara Xtreme
software for Linux
and Mac OS X
under the GNU General Public License
.
.
, Hemel Hempstead
, an 18th century Palladian style villa, designed by the celebrated architect James Wyatt
, built in 1768 and reputed to be his first building in the UK.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based software company founded in 1981. It has developed software for a variety of computer platforms, in chronological order: The Acorn Atom
Acorn Atom
The Acorn Atom was a home computer made by Acorn Computers Ltd from 1980 to 1982 when it was replaced by the BBC Micro and later the Acorn Electron....
, BBC Micro
BBC Micro
The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by Acorn Computers for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation...
, Z88
Cambridge Z88
The Cambridge Computer Z88 is an A4-size, lightweight, portable Z80-based computer with a built-in combined word processing/spreadsheet/database application called PipeDream, along with several other applications and utilities, such as a Z80-version of the BBC BASIC programming language.The Z88...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
, Acorn Archimedes
Acorn Archimedes
The Acorn Archimedes was Acorn Computers Ltd's first general purpose home computer to be based on their own ARM architecture.Using a RISC design with a 32-bit CPU, at its launch in June 1987, the Archimedes was stated as running at 4 MIPS, with a claim of 18 MIPS during tests.The name is commonly...
, Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
. It was originally called Computer Concepts, Ltd.; the company name was changed in 1995 to Xara, Ltd. and later to The Xara Group, Ltd. On 30 January 2007, Xara was acquired by German company MAGIX
MAGIX
MAGIX AG is an international provider of software, online services and digital contents for multimedia communications based in Berlin, Germany. The Company also operates from branches in the USA, Canada, the UK, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands...
AG, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary.
BBC Micro
- Wordwise - a ROM based word processor
- Disc Doctor - utility software
- Graphics ROM - graphics utilities
- SpellMaster - a ROM-based spell checker. Believed to be the world's first check-as-you-type spell checker
- Inter-Word, Inter-Sheet, Inter-Chart, Inter-Base - a suite of ROM based productivity applications
Atari ST
- Fast BASIC - a ROM-based, BBC BasicBBC BASICBBC BASIC is a programming language, developed in 1981 as a native programming language for the MOS Technology 6502 based Acorn BBC Micro home/personal computer, mainly by Sophie Wilson. It is a version of the BASIC programming language adapted for a U.K...
-like semi-compiled Basic language - Fast ASM - 68000 assembler
Archimedes
- ArtWorksArtworksArtWorks is an advanced vector drawing package for RISC OS created by Computer Concepts in 1991. It has been developed by MW Software since 1996. Xara has continued to develop a Windows version called Xara Photo & Graphic Designer....
- vector graphics drawing software. The predecessor to Xara Photo & Graphic Designer. Launched in 1991 it was the world's first drawing program to offer real-time vector anti-aliasing along with many other innovations. - Impression - award winning DTP package (and variants Impression Style, Impression Publisher).
- Equasor - equation building tool
- AudioWorks - audio editor
- WordWorks - English dictionary and Thesaurus
- TurboDrivers - a range of printer drivers
- MacFS - utility to read and write Apple Mac discs
- Compression - general purpose zip-like compression utility
The company also developed a range of hardware for the Acorn Archimedes including:
- ColourCard - graphics card - the first to produce 24bpp video for the Acorn
- ScanLight - a range of hand-held and flatbed scanners and software
- LaserDirect - a range of laser printers. The company developed the world's first 600dpi that retailed under £1000 (it purchased printer engines from Canon IncCanon Inc.is a Japanese multinational corporation that specialises in the manufacture of imaging and optical products, including cameras, camcorders, photocopiers, steppers and computer printers. Its headquarters are located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan.-Origins:...
, and using its own drivers and laser modulation techniques (hardware and software) was able to increase the resolution to 600dpi.
Windows
With the advent of a 32-bit OS (Windows 95Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
and Windows NT
Windows NT
Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...
), development switched from the Acorn to Windows platform. The first product was a re-write of the ArtWorks product. This involved a team of 20+ developers, who worked for more than two years to produce a competitor to then market-leading drawing software CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel Corporation of Ottawa, Canada. It is also the name of Corel's Graphics Suite...
. The result was Xara Studio, which was initially licensed to Corel who released it as CorelXARA in 1995. Corel marketed it as a web-oriented companion to CorelDRAW, but it was clearly designed as a stand-alone alternative to the older software. In 2000, Xara released the software themselves as Xara X, which was superseded by Xara X¹ in 2004, and then Xara Xtreme in 2005. In 2006 a Pro version of Xara Xtreme was released, named Xara Xtreme Pro. Xtreme was later renamed Xara Photo & Graphic Designer and Xtreme Pro was renamed Designer Pro.
Other Windows products from Xara include the website design title Xara Web Designer and the 3D web graphics title Xara 3D Maker.
Free software
In 2005 Xara announced it would release an Open SourceOpen source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
/Free Software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
port of the Xara Xtreme
Xara Xtreme
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is a 2D vector graphics editor created by the British software company Xara, which was acquired by German company MAGIX AG in 2007, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary. It was previously sold under the names Xara Studio, Xara X and Xara Xtreme...
software for Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
.
Xara Networks
In 1995, a subsidiary company called Xara Networks, Ltd. was formed, specializing in the provision of high-bandwidth Internet connectivity to companies and ISPs. Xara Networks was subsequently sold to the ITG group in London, most commonly known for the Global Internet brand, and was subsequently renamed GX NetworksGX Networks
GX Networks began by offering internet services to corporations. It believed that it had developed the first transatlantic IP backbone running native ATM....
.
Location
Since 1984, the company has been headquartered in Gaddesden PlaceGaddesden Place
Gaddesden Place, near Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire, England, was designed by architect James Wyatt and built between 1768 and 1773, and was the home of the noted Hertfordshire Halsey family....
, Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
, an 18th century Palladian style villa, designed by the celebrated architect James Wyatt
James Wyatt
James Wyatt RA , was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical style, who far outdid Adam in his work in the neo-Gothic style.-Early classical career:...
, built in 1768 and reputed to be his first building in the UK.