It's smart they going this direction, perhaps a result of them getting some key players in their staff. I haven't played with Serif since probably 2002. Back then the interface didn't seem all that smooth, but they do a lot of work in the education marketing area, so their products are probably evolving reasonably well. It's interesting your mention in the last sentence, because that's how Xara Designer Pro feels in a way for me after yet again buying their latest app. Where as they are adding useful things, some core stuff is still not addressed and GUI is a bit haphazard.