I have removed the MS spyware store from my system. To install, upgrade, or uninstall an "app", I have to reboot into safe mode, enable those services, rename several directories, reboot again, install/uninstall/upgrade, then reboot into safe mode again to disable the spyware, then reboot again.
By using the MS spyware store, your product now has dependencies stretching into every tiny corner of the Windows system. If one little firewall or antivirus or update service isn't running, the install (or upgrade or uninstall) will fail. It is insane that I had to troubleshoot a firewall to install a photo editor. This is like if I had to mow my lawn to change the oil in a car.
This, for me, is the most important statement in the thread so far. It's something that developers should take more seriously because over time it just wears us down to the point we can no longer be bothered. I have many thousands of pounds worth of software that I use daily. Add to that all the other online accounts and various systems we use every single day as part of our work.
All of these changes and aggravations added to our workflow can feel like it's becoming a full time job simply trying to deal with unnecessary nonsense. Over the past three years I have been slowly changing the way I work and slowly doing away with everything I use unless it's an absolute necessity. I have given up subscriptions, stopped upgrading software and even uninstalled some software (that I have spent a lot of money on over the years) that I like, and want to use, but can no longer deal with the accumulation of aggravation. A hundred small changes and annoyances to our daily routine ends up a very real, and very time consuming problem
Companies and developers think we are being trivial and behaving irrational but they just don't see the other side of it because they treat every problem like it's the only thing we have to deal with. We get the same cr*p with all other software, dealing with banks,HMRC, Paypal, Stripe, email providers, forced updates, hardware ... the list just goes on and on.
For this reason alone, I have been slowly changing how I work and even given up completely other smaller sources of revenue (and it's associated software, online accounts etc) because I can no longer continue dealing with the added workload. I've had weeks where I have literally spent more time with stuff like this than I have actually working. It gets you down and even ends up affecting your health.
The end result is my typical behaviour now goes something like this ... I notice a software upgrade in email, I click the link and look at what it offers - I wait and then check forums to see what others are saying. I see this type of unnecessary added aggravation and I make my mind up before even trying, irrational or not, this is now just another company that has decided to go down the route of problem causing. I don't need the problems, I'll just add this to my ongoing list of software that I need to find alternatives. Maybe I'll calm down, maybe I won't, but whatever happens - Affinity is now on my list of "just like all the other companies - find alternative".
Your software might be great, it might not, but I just don't need another problem in my life dragging me down if I can find a different solution. The most important decision factor in my work life and anything I purchase or sign up to has become one simple first-stop check - "how much unnecessary change or problems is this company prepared to inflict on its customer" ... anything above zero and I'm already questioning whether or not I can live without it.
I just reinstalled Windows 11 a few days ago. As usual, I nuked the app store. I do not use apps.
Purchased without knowing I'd be sent an app. After seeing this, I decided to give it a shot anyway instead of immediately asking for a refund.
Install fails, of course. The problem was that the installer would halt because updating firewall rules wouldn't work while my Windows Defender Firewall service wasn't functioning. Why in god's name do I have to troubleshoot a firewall service to install a photo editor? Because app.
Of course the solution was to add permissions to the registry key for the BFE service. When you are changing registry key permissions, something is not right in the world. You have taken a wrong turn. So then everything appears to be running fine. But I run into another issue. If I have an .afphoto file open (not a raw) and I click the File menu, the "app" immediately crashes. That's where I am now.
The one and only reason I switched from Adobe to Affinity is that I deeply resent Adobe's abuse of my property. I do not want ridiculous spyware that reaches its tentacles into every corner of my systems and constantly phones home. It looks like Affinity will be adopting the same model that places user needs last.
@Mark Ingram
These "App Execution Alias" do not work for many. They get the error message: "The system cannot access this file." It seems like it's a Windows permission issue.
The following workaround from Camera Bits was the first one that worked for me:
Forum Camera Bits
You bypass the problem with the permissions via a shortcut of the running program.
Maybe this will help others as well.
Thomas
kelement got a reaction from Apophis in Extremely disappointed that this installs as an "App" and not regular software program
kelement got a reaction from Richard Bledsoe in Extremely disappointed that this installs as an "App" and not regular software program