wonderings

I think that is a bit of an over reaction saying "I can't even do basic graphic design tasks that involve any text...". While variable fonts are great and a nice addition, there are still hundreds of thousands of fonts to do all sorts of great and wonderful things. I like the idea of variable fonts but rarely ever use them as most font families cover all my needs.  I do agree it is something that should be added, it will be the future of fonts for sure, but I don't think there is going to be a big tidal wave and everyone stops using traditional fonts as we use them now, it is just going to take a while as new fonts are created and new standards set. 

Just saw this thread and read the original post. How would anyone expect a company to grow if they did not charge for major new releases? I can't believe anyone would even think this makes sense. There are a few outlier apps that do this, but it is not the norm. You the user can decide if the update price is worth it, there is no gun to your head, you will not be stopped from using V1, you have exactly what you paid for... actually more considering how much Affinity did to update and improve V1. Many additions I thought for sure would be V2 features. This is standard practice. Quark and Corel are not giving away free updates to their software, you pay for version updates while enjoying updates for various things through the life of that specific version. 

As others have said, those websites are the amateur way of doing things. They give you simple basic tools, drag and drop, dead simple. Publisher is not like that, it is full featured layout software. I work in print for a profession, I would never dream of using any of the sites you listed for the simple fact as they are so limited in what you can do. You find it unintuitive because you are using a full featured application, many of the tools you will not need. Not sure why you bought the software before using the demo first to see if it suits your needs. There are lots of websites for photo book creation, is there a reason you are looking for a stand alone app to set these up? Especially with no experience?

I use Indesign daily, it is my main application for work. I find it strange that if you can figure out Indesign you can't figure out Publisher. Are they different in how they do things? Yes, but the basic ideas are the same and getting around to simply make a book in spreads should not be that complicated for you. Your original post made it sound like you want drag and drop like the websites you use for photo books, this is not what Indesign and Publisher are for, simple book creation. You create everything from scratch having powerful pro tools to do it. 

As others have said, those websites are the amateur way of doing things. They give you simple basic tools, drag and drop, dead simple. Publisher is not like that, it is full featured layout software. I work in print for a profession, I would never dream of using any of the sites you listed for the simple fact as they are so limited in what you can do. You find it unintuitive because you are using a full featured application, many of the tools you will not need. Not sure why you bought the software before using the demo first to see if it suits your needs. There are lots of websites for photo book creation, is there a reason you are looking for a stand alone app to set these up? Especially with no experience?

If Lightroom serves your needs and actually does it all well, I am not sure why people don't just keep using it. It sounds to me like people want it but don't want to pay for it. I wonder if Adobe and others are getting the same requests, please make it cheaper and you will have way more users.  Is there more the hobby photographer community wanting pro tools for non pro work?

QR Generation integrated in with Publisher would be a nice feature. Yes you can create QR codes elsewhere, but can you create QR codes based on variable data? Not all QR codes are common in their use. I have a few clients who generate QR codes based on data, so each piece addressed to a person will have a different QR code, or for business cards when scanning the QR code it adds their contact info. This can all be done through a data merge and because Indesign has QR creation it can be done directly with the data, no manual creation of the QR code for each name. 

QR Generation integrated in with Publisher would be a nice feature. Yes you can create QR codes elsewhere, but can you create QR codes based on variable data? Not all QR codes are common in their use. I have a few clients who generate QR codes based on data, so each piece addressed to a person will have a different QR code, or for business cards when scanning the QR code it adds their contact info. This can all be done through a data merge and because Indesign has QR creation it can be done directly with the data, no manual creation of the QR code for each name. 

Never thought about the idea of 2 or more data files to be used at once. Sounds like a scary thing if data does not line up exactly. I have done more than my fair share of mailings with variable data and this idea seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Your data has to be meticulous and perfectly matching the other data records for this to work, and I have yet to see data come into our mailing department that did not need cleansing. 

I can only speak anecdotally. I work in print, wide format and signage. Everyone uses this software. From design houses to the print shops themselves. In the days of old it was always a gamble on what file type you would received and more so if you could even open it for editing or working on it. In a world where people work collaboratively, being on the same software version is huge. Also the use of AI now in Photoshop and Illustrator is HUGE. I use it daily and they are massive time savers. 
That being said, I have never had issues with PDF files created in Affinity. I can't say the same for Corel, Canva or other graphic apps people use that are more budget friendly. If pro's don't want to pay the money that is their choice, I wonder what their margins are like and if working too cheap... could be what the market can bare in their area. For what we do, and we have multiple users with Adobe CC, the price is covered easily with lots of profit to spare. 

I can count the number of times I have used or seen variable fonts used on 1 hand. I work in print and design so get a lot of work from designer houses (not people with photoshop who call themselves designers). I think they are a great idea, but not something that drastically changes how people work in these field. Many fonts already have the gamut from light to ultra which I would think suits the vast majority of the world. Again I think variable fonts are a great idea and nice to always have options, not sure I would make such a big deal about the variable fonts not being in V2 myself. 

There are plenty of video editing options out there, I always get the impression people just want this from Serif because they want more inexpensive apps. For page layout and vector editing the field is not all that big in terms of options and alternatives to Adobe who sit king. For video editing you have a whole host of options for multi os's and a variety of prices. Because we have Publisher, Designer, and Photo it does not mean they are done. There is a long road ahead for this software and much room for improvement and refinement. I would much rather Serif focus on these 3 apps and making them the best they can be rather than branching out and spreading themselves thing because people want more inexpensive software. 

I can count the number of times I have used or seen variable fonts used on 1 hand. I work in print and design so get a lot of work from designer houses (not people with photoshop who call themselves designers). I think they are a great idea, but not something that drastically changes how people work in these field. Many fonts already have the gamut from light to ultra which I would think suits the vast majority of the world. Again I think variable fonts are a great idea and nice to always have options, not sure I would make such a big deal about the variable fonts not being in V2 myself. 

Catch up to what?

I make my living using Adobe CC and Indesign is what I use most. Affinity Publisher is the closest thing to Indesign that I have seen. It is relatively simple to use (with understanding of how Indesign works). Adobe CC is made for professionals, it is their market, they are not aiming this at casual home users. This is where Serif shines with their 3 apps, Publisher, Designer and Photo. Amazing price for feature rich applications. They are not perfect, and have room for improvement, but the price tag is amazing.
Not sure what type of work you are trying to do, but Publisher should be able to handle just about anything you throw at it if you are creating from scratch. If you need to work collaboratively with people using Indesign then you should be using Indesign, you will have nothing but headaches trying to work in an Indesign environment with anything but Indesign. 
ALWAYS test out demos before buying to make sure it does what you need it to do, no excuse for a bad purchase if you don't try out a demo first. 
 

Interesting application. Briefly looking at it I could not see how to export a PDF, only had option for TIFF, JPEG, PNG, etc. Trovalds really should not have to do anything on his/her end. These printshops are over the top requiring this level of PDF compatibility especially from such an old profile. Personally I would be shopping around for a printer who can do these simple jobs without requiring you to back save a PDF or buy a program that will do this. Really is crazy. 

Then I would agree with the client, the duo tone done in Photoshop is nicer. I made the duo tone in photoshop in my above post and took the file made in Affinity Photos from Smadells post to compare. I would say with the client being picky your best option is to get a license for Photoshop, or at least do a demo of Photoshop to make the file you need. Also if you wanted to send the full file I could make the duotone for you with your RGB values and send back a PSD file

Adobe stock brings your plan up a fair bit. We have Adobe stock with our CC licenses. It is unlimited and having a massive library for images and vectors at my finger tips is super helpful and makes life a lot easier. I would have to sit down though and really work out if it is worth the higher price tag, on quick thought I would if you were able to factor in the time it saves hunting for artwork and designing when you have access to just about anything and everything you could need. 
 

Financial punishment? You are not owed anything for being multi platform. You would have noticed I am sure that when you purchased your Affinity software that you had to specify if it was for Mac or PC. While not the most common practice these days, it still happens. CorelDraw is an example, you buy a Windows or Mac version. When Adobe went to the cloud they became cross platform as it was a subscription model you were paying monthly, no reason to need 2 subscriptions. Before that you needed to buy for the OS you were using. Of course it would be nice to have one purchase and be able to use across multi OS's. I do wonder if it would be an issue though with the ways you can buy their software. How would cross OS work if you bought Serif on the Apple App Store or Windows Store? Would they have to sell those cheaper because those are locked to their specific OS? As you did say the software is not expensive, it is a great value for the dollar with very feature rich software. 

Financial punishment? You are not owed anything for being multi platform. You would have noticed I am sure that when you purchased your Affinity software that you had to specify if it was for Mac or PC. While not the most common practice these days, it still happens. CorelDraw is an example, you buy a Windows or Mac version. When Adobe went to the cloud they became cross platform as it was a subscription model you were paying monthly, no reason to need 2 subscriptions. Before that you needed to buy for the OS you were using. Of course it would be nice to have one purchase and be able to use across multi OS's. I do wonder if it would be an issue though with the ways you can buy their software. How would cross OS work if you bought Serif on the Apple App Store or Windows Store? Would they have to sell those cheaper because those are locked to their specific OS? As you did say the software is not expensive, it is a great value for the dollar with very feature rich software. 

No answer for you, but is it really a wise idea it you need to work with people using Photoshop and you use something else? I never got the idea of doing that. Seems like the simplest thing would be to use the same software they are using as none of this would be an issue and the potential for other weirdness happing goes almost right down to zero. 

I used the wrong verbiage, it is the registration key or validation that is different when purchasing through the Windows store or direct from Serif. 

I don't think anyone does not want it to run in Linux, myself and others are pointing out why it probably does not make sense for Serif to develop their software for Linux. I think it would be great to have more options despite not using Linux myself. On the business side of things I don't think it makes sense. 

Does photoshop add hair and age to peoples faces with a click? All these things sound like you just want a mobile app like FaceApp. The change of the sky feature I can see, and have used a few times but it is hardly a must have app and I would have lived ok without it. Not sure any of these would be considered necessary, unless the market they are going after is like the countless apps that do these types of things already. I guess I am just not the market for this type of thing. I make my living with Adobe and outside of the sky change function in photoshop I have never wanted to age a face or change the season of a picture. When using stock images, like most people do, there are HUGE amounts of photos for every season that are amazing and readily available without photo manipulation. 

You disagree that every company is different? You have no clue what spending is like internally, what they prioritize in terms of staffing from developers, techs, IT, CSR's, sales, etc. Every company is the same in that they all have similar roles to fill, but how the do it and what they prioritize will be very different. 
Not sure what your point is regarding Adobe. Adobe makes the 3 big apps that Serif has offered alternatives too: Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. Adobe decided it was not worth developing for Linux and I am assuming that it is because it does not predict the returns to be worth the money that would be put in to developing and supporting Adobe CC on Linux. Serif cannot avoid being compared to Adobe as again, they are making direct competing software of Adobe's big 3 apps. Serif is going after a different market than Adobe. Adobe is not made for the home user who wants some reasonable design tools and options at an affordable price. Adobe is the standard in many industries and made for the pro user, pro user as in people who make their living with the Adobe software. Serif is no slouch, but they are not Adobe and not in a place for most to give up a standard and all the great things that come with Adobe CC. If I was working on my own, just doing my own poster printing for people out of my house I would go with Serif for sure. In the print/design world where standards matter and equipment is made to work with Adobe, and you need accurate file reproduction as well as collaboration, Adobe is it. 
I am sure there are lots of things missing or people would like changed. I don't use the Affinity apps for work though I bought all 3 to check them out and see how they compare and if it would be something we could ever switch to at work. Serif has done some amazing work and produced some high quality software for most people at a very affordable price, I find it hard to complain about lack of features considering the price point.
Serif has made it clear they are not developing or planning to develop for Linux, the market is small and I am assuming Serif does not see great gains for the effort it will take to support a Linux option. And again, I don't think anyone is hating Linux, there is no passion for not developing for Linux. What there is is reason, and I would say the passion is on the other hand in the Linux community who just can't accept that developing for them would not be profitable.