Wow! It's great to know that other Xara fans are interested in Affinity.
I have been using Xara since it was released at Corel Xara in 1996. Great tool and I still using it today (Almost 20 years!).
In fact, Xara is the only reason why I still keep a Windows PC in my office. Otherwise, I would do everything in the Mac ecosystem. I have shown Xara to many hard core Illustrator folks and they are always amazed at how Xara handles things like gradients, rounded corners, exporting, etc.
I am also happy to discover that Matt has worked on Xara. So hopefully, he can incorporate some Xara features into Affinity. (I love the color palette that runs in the bottom of Xara. It would be great if you put that in as a option.)
- - WiLd