Drawinz

I've been trying for quite some time to make Affinity apps run on Linux, without much success.
As promissing as all the suggestions I've found were, eventually they all ended up as failures.
Then a couple of days ago, for whatever reason, I came up with the idea to simply copy the entire Affinity installation folder from my Windows machine to a CrossOver installation on my Linux Mint machine.
Lo and behold, to my absolute surprise, both apps were able to not just start, but also properly activate and run without any issues whatsoever.
If anyone is interested, both Designer and Photo are version 1.10.6, running on CrossOver for Linux v23.6, which again runs Wine v8.0.1 in the background along with the preinstalled .NET Framework 4.7.2 inside a CrossOver bottle.
My question is simple.
Am I allowed to run and use Affinity apps like this?
Affinity doesn't install on CrossOver at all because of the cursed .NET Framework 3.5 but apparently it works fine when the Windows installations are just copied inside CrossOver.
EDIT: I understand that this section is intended for Windows and MacOS but I really didn't know where else to post my question.

Starting up a virtual machine each time I wanted to run Affinity Photo had become too tedious for me, particularly given the poor performance of running it in a VM.  My Affinity Photo license goes largely unused now.

I've taken to just using Gimp instead.  It's rough around the edges and lacks a feature or two, but it's very capable.  The main hurdle has been adapting to its shortcuts and UI.
I raise my hand as someone who'd appreciate Affinity Photo releases under Linux, but I'm not holding my breath for it.  Serif will do what Serif will do.

As has been alluded of Linux users previously in the thread, I'm not opposed to paying for and using commercial, closed source software.  I've also paid for Davinci Resolve Studio, which I'm delighted to be able to use under Linux, and is a suitable equivalent for GPU/CPU intensive closed source graphics software running under Linux/Windows/OSX.  BlackMagic target and officially support CentOS (although perhaps under review given it's approaching EoL), so whilst you can run Davinci Resolve under other distros (and I do), they're only community supported.  And that's fine, because community support is something Linux has always done and does well.  In a nutshell, needing to support 200+ (or whatever) distros is not necessary.  Target one (eg: Ubuntu LTS or Fedora) and let the community worry about packaging for, and supporting other distros....or don't *shrug*

Sounds like a good idea, especially if you want to work natively in Linux. Not sure why you would support Serif if you are looking to work in Linux as they do not have software that works in Linux and have said it is not on the table for the foreseeable future. 

I decided to go for Inkscape (again) instead of Affinity Designer a few weeks ago and just made a donation to them.
My rarely use of Affinity Photo will be done by GIMP (again) in future. I made a donation for them as well.
And I'm going to use Scribus (again), if i might need some DTP again, but that happens all few years.
 
If Serif doesn't want to go to linux, we can support the products, that are available on linux to get better.

The more I use Krita, the more I realize it's a better analog to Photo than I initially thought. It's geared more heavily towards digital painting than raw photo manipulation, but it can still do the latter fairly well. At the very least, it has some decent content aware/inpainting brush style tools, and honest to god non-destructive adjustment layers, both of which GIMP lacks.
I'd still rather have Photo and Designer in Linux, but I'm finding I can use Krita without feeling like I'm sacrificing all that much.
edit: You can even make it look pretty snazzy.

I have Affinity Photo and Designer licences for OSX.
And Photo, Designer and Publisher for Win.
But I have to switch to Linux, probably Manjaro.
It will be cool to find my app on Linux even if I have to pay one more time for that.

For me, I'd really like Publisher and Designer on Linux. I understand the plan to get Affinity in attention in WINE, so I've put my 3 votes to Photo.
Scribus is .. functional, but feels convoluted/clunky to achieve things. Inkscape is better. However, neither have an interface or performance feel that I admire. GIMP and Krita are pretty good, and I've used them some on Windows too, but I'd love the full Affinity suite on Linux. That's all I need and there'd be no going back - I'd be a full Linux designer. People like Logos By Nick have tempted me to try it early, and I did for a while.
I'm anxious to jump ship. I hate MacOS (used at work) and comfortable with Windows (work and gaming at home), but I feel the heavy-handedness of their developer companies increasingly restrictive, invasive and unwelcome. And I don't like Adobe's software or licencing model. I used Corel for years commercially, until migrating to Affinity a couple years back. Affinity is so less bloated, more responsive, and more intuitive interface. Plus tops to their licencing costs and permissions. I'd even buy Affinity again to have it native on Linux. I hope they reconsider the platform and support it soon, whether native or courtesy of WINE.

I switched completely from MacOS to Linux 2 years ago. My reason was, that the hardware becomes more and more buggy (for such expensive hardware);
(and more critical for me) the OS drops more and more open standards and try to engage a more strict proprietary ecosystem...
Me as developer and designer is important to have a system that is fast, secure and customizable.
But what I saw, that the quality of the OS becomes really bad after Steve Jobs dies - the new focus was only on mobile business (which brings the most profit for Apple);
so they only put effort into iOS, but not on MacOS    

I think this is the reason why they push their own silicon and will move iPadOS to Macs in near future.
This means, you have to install apps ONLY by app store which dictates the prices and can choose what apps will run on your Mac

I really love to use Linux as my daily friend. It is so much easier to use nowadays;
but the big players still did not migrate their tools to Linux (yet)

Hope Serif and Adobe migrate their tools soon - MacOS becomes more and more less important to the market (now 3rd place of OS market share) and Linux is growing fast also in private sector... 

I am waiting Affinity 😍 for Linux 😍

Thank you Mark. 
If I understand correctly, the thing that is stopping Affinity products from opening the art board is a special version of Vulkan child window rendering (VkChildWindow), and it affects DxO PhotoLab and Autodesk Fusion 360 too. This issue is tracked in this bug: https://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=45277
I'm not sure that is the whole story, but it makes sense to see what happens after that bug is fixed first.
After that, if there are more Affinity specific bugs, what would be the best way for a developer to contact you?

I fully agree with your excellent points. For example, if I used Microsoft Office with Wine, I would expect no support whatsoever from Microsoft and similarly if Affinity Photo worked well with CrossOver/Wine, I would not expect any support from Serif either.
For example, if Affinity Photo ended up working well with CrossOver/Wine, I would still fully expect the Serif team to only list Mac, Windows and iPad under their Tech Specs headings and in these forums I would expect them to state that no direct support for Linux users would be offered either. I would be fine about all of that.

Graphic design is currently the main reason for my Windows partition. Inkscape/Gimp/Krita are pretty capable and good enough for many jobs, but Affinity running on Linux be amazing.

I'm now almost three years on Linux. I have no plans to move back to macOS, and certainly not to Windows. At the moment, I'm getting by with Glimpse for Photo editing and Gravit for vector graphics. Both for which I pay (£75/year for Gravit and $10/month for Glimpse). At the time, I also paid for Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher, on both macOS and Windows. I really wouldn't mind paying for it again to get it on Linux. I would even pay for to get a working version of the apps on Wine.
I know Serif isn't keen on to releasing a Linux version. But a bit of support to get it working on Wine would be very welcome.

And Why Affinity will gain on developing for Linux
OK, so as I understand Serif needs a $500.000 mark to start developing the products for Linux.
On my own personal time I already convinced many devs into buying Affinity and they never looked back into Adobe. However, most of us work on Linux/Ubunut or alike.
Here's my proposal to you:
- Make a PreOrder for the target of $500k
- Reach the target, start develop
- Deliver
I pledge my self to place in preorder 2 licenses for Affinity Desiger and Affinity Photo, each! 
 
As developers we are not cheap, just so you know. Personally I purchased multiple lifetime licenses on developer training websites which are way more expensive than all your products combine 10x over.
I beg of you, make this happen! You will only win!

Bests,
George

I currently own Designer, Photo and Publisher and would pay for an extra license if they released it for Linux.
My humble two cents on why it makes sense on publishing Affinity suite on Linux is:
Affinity's approach of being affordable, independent and the alternative to a number of competitors Less strict, more trust-based approach on licensing (in my eyes, they are the CDPR of graphics design / manipulation software industry) The huge lack of proper graphics design / manipulation softwares on Linux platform How it could be done?
Steam Store + Proton A little help with the guys who make Wine or WinApps, or even maybe some minimal collaboration Yes, Linux usage is very minimal, but it's growing. Steam had a big role in it. Now is the time to invest into it.
Kind regards and happy new year!

I'd take it however they wanted to do it honestly.
Steam/proton is a decent enough platform, and, I'm more than willing to jump through any hoops that they decide are necessary (likely for anti-piracy reasons).

Affinity software is great and while developers don't plan to make Linux version soon, maybe they could consider some engine changes, to open it for Wine in Linux. Yesterday I was looking for some alternatives for Sketchup. It is one of my favorite Windows programs without Linux native version. I've decided to try Sketchup Make 2017 with Wine because I didn't found any descent alternative. It runs great, and I must admit, I had great relief, to have one of my favorite programs runnig on Linux.
I will be waiting for the same relief at Affinity programs. Best option would be Linux native version which would use all Linux advantages, but ability to run it with Wine would also be great option. For now, Windows partition stays on my disk, just because Affinity software. [...and my daughter's Roblox, which also doesn't have alternative]
 

I've bought Mac and iPad versions of Photo and Designer and I just want to add my support for Linux versions. I would buy immediately if it was available.

I've bought Mac and iPad versions of Photo and Designer and I just want to add my support for Linux versions. I would buy immediately if it was available.

I'd like to add my voice to the chorus requesting Linux versions of Affinity software.
I'm in the process of migrating from the Mac to Linux, and one of the few stumbling blocks is around photography software. As a Capture One / Affinity Photo user, it's disappointing that neither is available for Linux, although Capture One's FAQ coyly answers the question with "Currently, the Capture One software is only compatible with macOS and Windows.", which at least gives me hope for the future.
As with some other commenters here, I'm being driven away from Apple by their expensive, locked-down hardware and some odd design choices, e.g. the keyboard fiasco and the touchbar on the MBP.
I've looked at Windows 10 but it's as ugly as ever and has too many privacy and security problems.
I've used Linux off and on since it's earliest days, and every few years I would reevaluate it to see how it was maturing. The last time, a few years ago, I had too much difficulty with driver support and HiDPI displays to persevere. However the maturity of recent distributions has prompted me to look again, and I like what I see.
GPU hardware support has matured greatly, and thanks to Vulcan and Steam, Linux has even turned into a capable gaming platform. I'm not surprised to hear other commenters say that it's the standard platform in the VFX industry.
Hardware vendors are getting on board, with Lenovo and Dell providing certified hardware, System76 creating capable laptops and workstations running their Ubuntu-derived Pop!_OS, and in Europe we have the likes of Tuxedo creating Ubuntu and Manjaro-based laptops.
As other commenters have noted, the introduction of Snap and Flatpak has greatly simplified the question of app distribution, and virtually all of the leading distributions now support both formats as standard.
I've decided to make the jump. I've moved to cross-platform versions of most of my software (e.g. cloud drive, password management, browser,  note-keeping, office apps, productivity tools) and the process was much less painful than expected. I'm currently running both a MacBook Pro and a Linux laptop in parallel, and later in the year I plan to drop the Mac entirely and build a decent Linux workstation.
I really hope that Serif will give an indication that they are willing to join me on the journey. If not, I'll make do with Darktable and GIMP/Glimpse while I wait for something better to come along.

I'm moving to linux as well.. Make it happen guys.. Port your awesome programs!!!

Affinity team, I bought Affinity Photo/Designer/Publisher and will buy all of them when a Linux version comes out.  

It's actually weird to me that Affinity supports Windows over Linux.
Not only is OSX a unix-like operating system making the base level application architecture closer, but Linux is absolutely starving for modern design tools, while Windows is saturated.
So from a market perspective, Serif is intentionally choosing to be a little fish in a giant pond, instead of the other way around.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯