When I open CDR files in CorelDRAW the application does not automatically re-save them. I'd be really pissed if it did that. When I do save CDR files I usually save them down to earlier version 24 format or version X8. It depends on what's in the file. If there is any live text and it is set in variable fonts I have to choose v24 or later.
Most don't do that, but the problem comes from
opening them, not necessarily with the saving part. Corruption of files can happen on opening them, changing brushes/effects that aren't done the same way, have to be changed in order to render them. Even then, when saving and saving to that old outdated format, one still has to respect the limitations of that legacy format, text is only one of those (as far as Ai goes). How things were done before when that format wasn't legacy are not how the file is going to be saved even when saved back to the legacy format. Sometimes, that even means rasterization when before it would have still been a vector.
I have used Illustrator and CorelDRAW alongside each other for over 30 years. They both have their unique strengths and weaknesses. I can point out specific things where Illustrator is way better than CorelDRAW and vice versa.
Irrevelent to our discussion as I wasn't doing a "measuring contest" between the two. I had started with Ai back in 94, hardly used Corel. It came with my embroidery software towards the end, installed x5, used it for a bit, got rid of it. Didn't care for it.
If the company selling the application is going to fuck its customers by taking away access to some or all of their work files by virtue of installing a new version then that new version of their application is not worth buying.
HAHAHAHAHAHHA. And yet some are on here on subscription programs and once one stops paying, oops, no access to what they have done, at least not using said vendor (and that's important when talking about proprietary vendor file reading). And how is that different? They have a corner of the market (real or perceived, they have a corner on it) and they are able to get away with more compared to someone like you or I would be able to in our business.
Features, we have seen Adobe remove things that people liked/used as well. Ooops, sorry, gone. It happens. That's actually an argument to keep on running legacy software as well (something that we can't do as easily in this SaaS age as well), even though dependencies can get one and make things hard when running multiple versions of the same program on the same machine.
Regarding the excuse of re-writing code or whatever, my response to that is Mr. Pink from Reservoir Dogs playing the world's smallest violin. I don't care. They need to develop an import filter or something. Also, there is a huge difference between an application opening old files and not doing it perfectly versus just not opening the files at all.
Regardless if you care or not (which you should, because when doing re-writes and trying to also meet outlandish requests from users that really don't know what they are asking, could lead to bad UX, which still can bite them in the butt). If the format is geared from ground up for legacy and not breaking legacy files, that's one thing (but even that hasn't turned out well, because things that you would like to do, may not do them, because they break legacy or if they are done, it's not quite a robust as it could have been if not worrying about legacy), but typically application files are not. Especially proprietary ones. Their main goal is to keep people buying the latest, that is their main goal. And after 40 yrs, it's harder and harder to entice people to buy one offs (which has lead to SaaS). If they actually did a full re-write and take advantage of all of the new abilities especially of even the latest C++ features, could actually make a far more robust program, but that as it's own risks, but I digress). Want to talk about breaking legacy as well. See regardless if you care about it or not, it will still affect you and the product that you use to make money with, that alone should make it worth your caring.
However, what exactly is the plus side of being opening files at any point, if it can't do things 1:1? If willing to accept that, even with the loss of data, should have just saved it in a more "universal" format (and yes there is data loss there as well, but since there is data loss regardless, it doesn't matter at that point) and it wouldn't matter if the latest version of the original program could open it or not.
However, I will leave you with this one little bit of EULA (you know the document that most don't read) and that is:
"
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES: YOU AGREE THAT ADOBE HAS MADE NO EXPRESS WARRANTIES TO YOU REGARDING THE SOFTWARE AND THAT THE SOFTWARE IS BEING PROVIDED TO YOU
"AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. ADOBE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THE SOFTWARE; EXPRESS OR IMPLIED; INCLUDING; WITHOUT LIMITATION;
ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE; MERCHANTABILITY; MERCHANTABLE QUALITY OR NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties; so the above limitations may not apply to you."
I'm unaware of any commercial software that doesn't have that disclaimer in some form.
