The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
12:39pm on Sunday, 16th January, 2005:
Outburst
My art package of choice is CorelDraw/PhotoPaint. I usually spend my time in the PhotoPaint component, which is the bitmap-manipulation part, but I occasionally use the vector graphics CorelDraw for things like game board design.
Over Christmas, I cranked up CorelDraw with a view to making some cards for a game I'm designing (for fun). When I tried to set the grid dimensions (so I could snap the individual cards to it), it crashed. Loading up some of my older files from previous games also made it crash. Turns out that version 9 of CorelDraw isn't compatible with Windows XP service pack 2. There's a service pack for CorelDraw 9, but when I installed it the problem remained.
OK, well I've had version 9 for several years (and version 7 before it) so maybe it's time to upgrade to the latest version, 12. There's a free trial available, so I downloaded that to check it out.
It works quite well. I'll probably buy it.
Actually, I'm going to have to buy it...
When I run it, it tries to connect to the Corel site. This may be to look for updates, or it may be to verify that my trial period it still active. Whatever, it does it. This would be merely inconvenient if my broadband connection was well-behaved, but it isn't. If I'm not already on the Internet, it tries to connect; half the time this fails, which forces me to reboot my PC to fix it.
Because of this, I reverted to using version 9 for my normal graphics work, or at least I tried to. I loaded a piece of vector clip art, made some modifications, then tried to export it as a bitmap. Instead of the usual window, I got a delay, followed by a warning about how long my version 12 free period remained, then an attempt to connect to the Corel site. Great: version 12 has installed some module over version 9's instance of it, so now I can't even use version 9 without getting the version 12 connection issues.
I'm going to have to shell out £421.82 (plus £5.95 delivery) for version 12 on a CD, or a mere £359.00 for a key to make the documentation-free version I already have work.
I'd switch to Paint Shop, but three months ago Corel bought Jasc.
If I die of a heart attack brought on by rage, you know whom to sue.
Referenced by Lost Memories.
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Copyright © 2005 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).