wonderings

Yes lots of devices are using Linux at it's base, but that is not really a Linux user that matters when talking about how big the Linux community is. I believe The Amazon Echo devices using Linux at it's core, so if we go by that then I have 8 or 9 Linux devices in my house. Linux yes, but not Linux desktop which is what developers care about. I have a feeling Affinity will never be coming to smart speakers, as great as it would be to verbally give instructions on how to design or setup forms. 
Some big "ifs" there when trying to break down numbers and say even 1% would buy a version of the Affinity apps. But let's say that they do sell 50,000 Linux versions a year for £2,500,000. That is not just pure profit of 2 and a half million. You have developers, support, advertising and everything else in the back end to promote and support Affinity on Linux. You start eating away at the 2.5 million pretty quickly when you are paying full time staff. Then the question is the growth, will there really be 50,000 new sales every year from Linux? It is a gamble and if it does not hit those numbers and is drastically lower you are now still paying to support Linux while making even less. I think the potential for return has to be much higher than 2.5 million. 

You really think someone is paying people to think that Affinity on Linux is not a great idea for Serif? I don't think people really care all that much about Linux and certainly not enough to pay people to try and hold it back. No conspiracies here.... or have I just been paid to say this? Your will never know! Ok you will, I have not been paid. 

I don't think anyone is saying flat out no just because it is Linux, everything I read is reasons it does not make sense for Serif to develop for Linux. I don't think it is a good move for Serif, but think having more options for the consumer is not a bad thing. So yes Affinity for Linux would be great, just does not make a lot of sense for the company.

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. 
 

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. 
 

I have never worked this way with fonts and Adobe. I have thousands of fonts that I use and manage with Font Explorer Pro. Is this a feature that is really only useful for those creating fonts? I just don't see or can think of a benefit for work in print and design. I do like how Adobe handles fonts in packaged Indesign files. Indesign sees the font in the folder in the package and can use it without being activated system wide. This is helpful and functional when working with clients native Indesign files and not needing to use my font management software. Would love to have the same thing with Publisher when packaging files. 

I have brought that up in the past. I run Windows as a VM on my intel iMac as well as M1 Max MacBook Pro, they run great. I was under the impression that VM's in Linux were not as efficient and did not run as well as they do on the Mac side of things. 

No one is forcing you to do anything. If you can't do what you need to do with Linux then Linux is not for you. Software developers do not owe you or the Linux community anything, they are a business looking to make money while providing a product they are passionate about. I think they have been clear with their intentions and directions thus far. 
You certainly can keep using Photoshop though if Affinity Photo did everything you needed to do not sure why you would continue to pay monthly for Photoshop when you can get Photos for a very cheap price.
 

You can use your Adobe CC subscription on Linux? I know it is not official from Adobe, does it break each time Adobe releases an update?

It is an answer just not the one you want to hear. 
I am not saying anything for or against having unicode support for what you need. I am simply saying it is not there and has not been promised to you that it would be there. Now if Affinity had said this feature was coming by May 2021 and it was not here then I could see some disappointment as you may have purchased with that feature in mind and the promise of it soon. Affinity does not owe you or anyone anything in terms of features. They are in this to make money, as any business should be. They must navigate offering features the masses want while being realistic with their work load. They are not Adobe, they do not have billions in the bank and a massive work force. 
In regards to your question about why they would sell in Indian? If my emails are anything to believe there are plenty of Indian companies working with the N. American market and wanting to do work for cheap. I do not use the services but get the spam emails regularly offering various graphical services. 
Nothing wrong with asking for features to be added, it is welcomed on the forum. Your original post was not exactly a request but a demand for when it would be ready and how the software is a "waste" if not implemented. I am sure some of it is the language barrier and my perception of what you wrote and I could be way off base. I still stand by my reply that purchasing software without testing to make sure it works for your intended use is not a wise move and should always be done first. Affinity offers 30 day trials and sometimes even 90 trials, all fully functional. This is to help avoid this exact situation of purchasing and then finding out you can't do what you want with your purchase. 

I don't think I have been given a single file from any design house with variable fonts. Of course my experience is anecdotal but I am in no way panicked for variable fonts. I like the idea of them, but have never felt a need to really get beyond the standard font families that have thin, light, regular, medium, semi bold, bold, black. Even then most fonts do not have that entire set, they might be light, regular and bold. I wonder what the real difference is between want and need here. 

I don't think I have been given a single file from any design house with variable fonts. Of course my experience is anecdotal but I am in no way panicked for variable fonts. I like the idea of them, but have never felt a need to really get beyond the standard font families that have thin, light, regular, medium, semi bold, bold, black. Even then most fonts do not have that entire set, they might be light, regular and bold. I wonder what the real difference is between want and need here. 

It seems that people get very entitled when it comes to software, like they are owed complete transparency from the software company. Is the expected anywhere else? Am I at my mechanic wanting to know where they are heading and how it will make my life better? Or at McDonalds wanting to know and have direct input on the next burger? 
I would question why you would ever buy software that does not do what you want it to do on release. If what I need is not there then I won't buy the software. It is a pretty simple thing. So many things can change for a company in this business and things can turn on a dime which would have the users who took the roadmap as a promise even more upset if direction was changed and they did not continue on with their road map. The software is a tool, it lets me make a living, pay for my house, car, motorcycle, food and everything else. I would never buy a drill that could only use 1 kind of drill bit with expectations that they would soon be able to use other bits. I would wait till it does what I need or buy the one that does. 
 

I have no other software I use professionally for page layout, working with vectors and for photos. I use Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. I have all 3 apps from Affinity I purchased out of curiosity for the first app for app competition I have seen for Adobe, the cheap price tag made that possible as well. Indesign does everything Indesign is supposed to do for me. I am a pro user in the fact that I make my living with Adobe CC as well as some other apps, none of which over lap with Indesign, Illustrator or Photoshop. I have other apps for numbering, imposition, PDF conversion, font management, etc. None of these are things that overlap or any of the 3 apps I use daily have claimed to do or even attempt at doing. I have not had a need to go looking for other software to get my work done, curiosity has me looking to see what is out there but that is a very different thing then needing to find an app to do something I cannot. Everyones needs are different though and I can accept that for some they need more, I will bet that it is not as common as you seem to think it is. 
When you say no software can do everything, what does that mean? Progams are made for specific tests and functions, no one app is going to span over into fields it was never intended to be in. I am not going to map out a trip to the west coast in Photoshop. I don't think that is what you mean, I should hope not as that would be a silly thing. 
I do agree on relying on a company for the long term, I would not want to invest my money into a system that would no longer get updates. It would be fine for a while but eventually it would not work in future OS's along with other issues any aging app can have. Serif has been around a while and they seem to be a solid company. Adobe is obviously the same just on a much larger scale. I would say Adobe is to large to fail at this point.
Again I think it is a unique to software self entitled attitude that you would not use anywhere else. Serif has said they have a road map, they are planning for the future. Your problem is you don't know what they are planning, so you either have to like what you see now and trust that they will continue to improve on it or you should be looking somewhere else. No idea why the customer needs to be guided through the process of the companies game plan. Should they be holding our hands, whispering soothing words into our ears that everything is going to be ok with the software we bought? I think what they have done now is a good indication that they are capable at making quality software and I do not believe it was just dumb luck that got them where they are now. They have a track record that is well respected and have chosen to keep their roadmap private at this stage. They have been clear on this and I don't think people crying out for it will change anything, just like those wanting a Linux version. 

I guess it probably comes down to capitalism then. Why give an inch to a competitor, even a really small one. 
I never use Bridge but am curious, does it display native working files for other apps not developed or owned by Adobe? Like a CDR or QXD file, will they display in Bridge?

I have no other software I use professionally for page layout, working with vectors and for photos. I use Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. I have all 3 apps from Affinity I purchased out of curiosity for the first app for app competition I have seen for Adobe, the cheap price tag made that possible as well. Indesign does everything Indesign is supposed to do for me. I am a pro user in the fact that I make my living with Adobe CC as well as some other apps, none of which over lap with Indesign, Illustrator or Photoshop. I have other apps for numbering, imposition, PDF conversion, font management, etc. None of these are things that overlap or any of the 3 apps I use daily have claimed to do or even attempt at doing. I have not had a need to go looking for other software to get my work done, curiosity has me looking to see what is out there but that is a very different thing then needing to find an app to do something I cannot. Everyones needs are different though and I can accept that for some they need more, I will bet that it is not as common as you seem to think it is. 
When you say no software can do everything, what does that mean? Progams are made for specific tests and functions, no one app is going to span over into fields it was never intended to be in. I am not going to map out a trip to the west coast in Photoshop. I don't think that is what you mean, I should hope not as that would be a silly thing. 
I do agree on relying on a company for the long term, I would not want to invest my money into a system that would no longer get updates. It would be fine for a while but eventually it would not work in future OS's along with other issues any aging app can have. Serif has been around a while and they seem to be a solid company. Adobe is obviously the same just on a much larger scale. I would say Adobe is to large to fail at this point.
Again I think it is a unique to software self entitled attitude that you would not use anywhere else. Serif has said they have a road map, they are planning for the future. Your problem is you don't know what they are planning, so you either have to like what you see now and trust that they will continue to improve on it or you should be looking somewhere else. No idea why the customer needs to be guided through the process of the companies game plan. Should they be holding our hands, whispering soothing words into our ears that everything is going to be ok with the software we bought? I think what they have done now is a good indication that they are capable at making quality software and I do not believe it was just dumb luck that got them where they are now. They have a track record that is well respected and have chosen to keep their roadmap private at this stage. They have been clear on this and I don't think people crying out for it will change anything, just like those wanting a Linux version. 

The entitlement comes from the request over and over for transparency in how the company operates. It has answered this question before and constantly people think they should be able to see everything the company is working on. This is very different then feedback for how the software works, suggestions for improvements, glitches, etc. The descriptive line for the feedback sections is "Discussions about features that you think will make Affinity even better. Any suggestions about the software go in these forums" Now maybe I interpret it differently then you, I do not read that as requests or suggestions for how the company operates and interacts with the user base.
I think any company should be free to alter their road map and not have people screaming at them because they changed course. This is of course a reason against road maps as a road map is viewed as promises. Who knows what they come up with when working on these things that may cause problems or have them put it on the back burner till some other things get sorted first. 
Very Best is subjective and everyone does it. The 5 pizza places in my town all say they are the best in town. Some here will say Affinity is best and can happily replace Adobe with it, personally I could not and prefer Adobe presently. You can try out a demo, and try those basic things. I do not jump to new software anymore, Adobe is great value for the money so not something I have to deal with but when I switched our company over from Quark to Indesign I did some serious testing of the most basic required functions in the new software before jumping ship, and even then we ran both in tandem as moved over to Indesign. I would operate the same way if we switched over to Serif, I would expect people to work almost exclusively in the Affinity apps, only going to Adobe if something could not be done or to convert files. This forces the user to get comfortable with a new system and also maintains the safety net of having what you know works already if you get stuck on something in the new software. You learn pretty quick the pros and cons of both sides of the fence. 
 

It seems that people get very entitled when it comes to software, like they are owed complete transparency from the software company. Is the expected anywhere else? Am I at my mechanic wanting to know where they are heading and how it will make my life better? Or at McDonalds wanting to know and have direct input on the next burger? 
I would question why you would ever buy software that does not do what you want it to do on release. If what I need is not there then I won't buy the software. It is a pretty simple thing. So many things can change for a company in this business and things can turn on a dime which would have the users who took the roadmap as a promise even more upset if direction was changed and they did not continue on with their road map. The software is a tool, it lets me make a living, pay for my house, car, motorcycle, food and everything else. I would never buy a drill that could only use 1 kind of drill bit with expectations that they would soon be able to use other bits. I would wait till it does what I need or buy the one that does. 
 

It seems that people get very entitled when it comes to software, like they are owed complete transparency from the software company. Is the expected anywhere else? Am I at my mechanic wanting to know where they are heading and how it will make my life better? Or at McDonalds wanting to know and have direct input on the next burger? 
I would question why you would ever buy software that does not do what you want it to do on release. If what I need is not there then I won't buy the software. It is a pretty simple thing. So many things can change for a company in this business and things can turn on a dime which would have the users who took the roadmap as a promise even more upset if direction was changed and they did not continue on with their road map. The software is a tool, it lets me make a living, pay for my house, car, motorcycle, food and everything else. I would never buy a drill that could only use 1 kind of drill bit with expectations that they would soon be able to use other bits. I would wait till it does what I need or buy the one that does. 
 

It seems that people get very entitled when it comes to software, like they are owed complete transparency from the software company. Is the expected anywhere else? Am I at my mechanic wanting to know where they are heading and how it will make my life better? Or at McDonalds wanting to know and have direct input on the next burger? 
I would question why you would ever buy software that does not do what you want it to do on release. If what I need is not there then I won't buy the software. It is a pretty simple thing. So many things can change for a company in this business and things can turn on a dime which would have the users who took the roadmap as a promise even more upset if direction was changed and they did not continue on with their road map. The software is a tool, it lets me make a living, pay for my house, car, motorcycle, food and everything else. I would never buy a drill that could only use 1 kind of drill bit with expectations that they would soon be able to use other bits. I would wait till it does what I need or buy the one that does. 
 

It seems that people get very entitled when it comes to software, like they are owed complete transparency from the software company. Is the expected anywhere else? Am I at my mechanic wanting to know where they are heading and how it will make my life better? Or at McDonalds wanting to know and have direct input on the next burger? 
I would question why you would ever buy software that does not do what you want it to do on release. If what I need is not there then I won't buy the software. It is a pretty simple thing. So many things can change for a company in this business and things can turn on a dime which would have the users who took the roadmap as a promise even more upset if direction was changed and they did not continue on with their road map. The software is a tool, it lets me make a living, pay for my house, car, motorcycle, food and everything else. I would never buy a drill that could only use 1 kind of drill bit with expectations that they would soon be able to use other bits. I would wait till it does what I need or buy the one that does. 
 

It seems that people get very entitled when it comes to software, like they are owed complete transparency from the software company. Is the expected anywhere else? Am I at my mechanic wanting to know where they are heading and how it will make my life better? Or at McDonalds wanting to know and have direct input on the next burger? 
I would question why you would ever buy software that does not do what you want it to do on release. If what I need is not there then I won't buy the software. It is a pretty simple thing. So many things can change for a company in this business and things can turn on a dime which would have the users who took the roadmap as a promise even more upset if direction was changed and they did not continue on with their road map. The software is a tool, it lets me make a living, pay for my house, car, motorcycle, food and everything else. I would never buy a drill that could only use 1 kind of drill bit with expectations that they would soon be able to use other bits. I would wait till it does what I need or buy the one that does. 
 

It seems that people get very entitled when it comes to software, like they are owed complete transparency from the software company. Is the expected anywhere else? Am I at my mechanic wanting to know where they are heading and how it will make my life better? Or at McDonalds wanting to know and have direct input on the next burger? 
I would question why you would ever buy software that does not do what you want it to do on release. If what I need is not there then I won't buy the software. It is a pretty simple thing. So many things can change for a company in this business and things can turn on a dime which would have the users who took the roadmap as a promise even more upset if direction was changed and they did not continue on with their road map. The software is a tool, it lets me make a living, pay for my house, car, motorcycle, food and everything else. I would never buy a drill that could only use 1 kind of drill bit with expectations that they would soon be able to use other bits. I would wait till it does what I need or buy the one that does. 
 

Do the numbers for Linux take into account all those devices that run a version of Linux but are not really laptops or desktops? Amazon echo devices running a version of Linux, would these be counted to bring up the total numbers or are they able to differentiate? If not then I have 7 Linux devices running in my house daily 

You can clearly see Serif has been working and updating the Affinity applications, that should tell you something about their momentum. Lots of software out there you will see years or more without updates. In those cases you know what you are getting from the company and know not to expect a lot or any updates. Again though you buy based on what the software can do now, if you are looking for growth and development in the apps and buying large volumes of licenses you can connect with Serif directly and I am sure they will either convince you of their direction or you will see it is not what you are after. For individual users, which I would say is safe to say the vast majority are none of this is important (or should not be). You have ample time to demo, test and with the software to ensure it does what you want. 
With Adobe it was forum based and email. I did not even know it existed till I was invited to participate. Serif for all we know could have the same thing but are just tight lipped about it. I don't see the value of opening it up for everyone. I liken it to working on a design project and having 12 clients all commenting and they all have different ideas and wants from the project. It becomes a sea of chaotic noise. Now talking with a small selection of people with experience in the industries they are hitting is a smart idea and again they may be doing that already.