An Elegant Draw Program?

["Roz Ault, Information Technology, X 377" <AULT -at- FAXON -dot- COM>]

I was glad to see Tim's reference a few days ago to the
Computerworld article on elegance, since it was an analysis that
resonated for me too.

Elegance -- clarity, simplicity, and aesthetics -- is important
for me when choosing a product. I want it to have what Don Norman
calls "good affordances."

With that in mind, I'm asking anyone with some Windows experience
what you consider the most elegant Win95 graphics program.

I have been doing all my graphics work on a Mac, but I'm going to
have to move a lot of it to Windows. Up till now I've been using
Canvas 3.5.4 on the Mac, and chose not to upgrade to Canvas 5,
precisely because of its bloatedness and lack of elegance. My
needs are not elaborate -- primarily screen shots, charts, and
diagrams.

On the Mac I use the PICT format for all my printed graphics, and
I must admit I don't even know what the analogous format is in
Windows. I don't want a program that only gives me bitmap
graphics -- they need to be vector-based. But I don't need
anything so complex as Illustrator or Freehand.

All our documentation is done in Word, so I need something whose
output will import easily into Word. I would also like to find a
graphics program that will let me import and edit the PICT files
I've created on the Mac, if possible.

Someone I know recommended Corel Draw. How would you rate that on the
elegance scale, and what other options are there?

Thanks for your suggestions, and if there's general interest I'll
post a summary of responses to the list.

- Roz Ault
  ault -at- faxon -dot- com