I am keen to test CDTS X4 but cannot risk that it somehow interacts with version 12 on the same machine.

Has anybody tried this?

Brian Thoman:

 I am keen to test CDTS X4 but cannot risk that it somehow interacts with version 12 on the same machine.

Has anybody tried this?

Yes - both work fine together.  However, I suspect that problems will arise with version 12 after the X4 "trial" is removed.  In the case of the X4 trials of both the Wordperfect and Draw suites, the X3 versions had to be compeletely reinstalled after removal of the trials - not even a repair install would fix the problems.  But it's no big deal.
cheers
Bill

One small thing to add:

Corel DESIGNER Technical Suite X4 will pick up the connection to Corel PHOTO-PAINT completely (until uninstalled and CDTS 12 installation renewed with a repair installation).

That means whenever you are selecting a bitmap in Corel DESIGNER 12 for editing it will launch Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4 then. As far as I have experienced this is not an issue as you can edit and save the modified bitmap image back to Corel DESIGNER 12 without any problem.

Regards,
Klaus.