SrPx

In raster (AP), I have lag with (around 400px) large brushes, but mostly texture based one, not so much with basic round ones.....I have not really gone into depths to notice lag in AD (there might be). But not sure on what part of it is to blame on my type writ....er , my arcane PC. I'm way more worried for the color picker (in AP only). Have you experienced the same lag when on a small canvas, nothing drawn, than with that ton of vectors ? Might it be simple CPU overload, in general, due to that heavy vector drawing ? (it is a question, not an statement: I'd like to know.) That said that lovely wolf (or husky?) is definitely sth that at that level of detailing (hair by hair) I'd totally do as digital painting, in raster (AP). I mean, is very nice to do as vectors, as an artistic decision, but I believe is pushing the boundaries a bit, in the sense of what is mostly been created for (even in a savagely wide variety of expected uses, the typical workflow in most of them I guess is expected to be more about stylizing that detailing like in raster, from a techical POV, only, as who's to tell anyone how to do own art. But just like an oil brush might give you probs to get a watercolor feel (doable, and some ppl do wonders by doing so, tho, but I get my point is somewhat clear...)). Great work.

Bone & mesh raster warp with Moho. I like that she used Gimp for the photos.

How is alt key color picking working for you? Or do you color in some other way ?

Yes, XP-PEN Deco 03 is a very good choice. I have not found a better quality/price ratio. It has a size bigger than Wacom Medium. Which is the minimal size I recommend for actual drawing. The XP-Pen Deco 03, for around 100$ in Amazon, oficial XP-PEN shop, is... well, not just a bargain, a steal. I'm a Wacom person...I believe one does not need a Wacom Intuos Pro. You are good to go with Wacom Intuos Art or the like, IF is the Medium size. My own, personal preference is Wacom, despite how much praise I have for that Deco 03. I see two golden, "best purchases" in Wacom line, depending the budget range: Wacom Intuos Medium (no pro) I believe for around 250$, but don't quote me on that, or, my fav tablet right now (I use an Intuos Pro 4 XL, 800$ EVEN NOW, is still sold, tho never produced, because people keep wanting it!! HAHA. But u need a swimming pool size table. And long arms. LOL ) would be the L. The Wacom Intuos Pro Large. XL is excessive, L is a dream come true for an illustrator. Is the right size. Also for comic inking, etc. I definitely wouldn't go for an Intuos Pro Medium. Makes no sense to me, tho is probably the one most purchased. It has pro features, yep, but a lot of us don't use tilt features, and a lot of the most convenient pro things have been moved to the "basic" (how can it be called so, if is good for a pro...) Intuos gamma. You spend quite some money (near to 500, I believe) while you get virtually almost the same core functionality and active area than with the wonderful Intuos Medium. That said, I like precision in the brush lines. I so am only happy with L and + sizes. One thing to mention, though, these days most packages have some sort of line stabilizers, and AP and AD ones are good. This makes most medium sizes workable, good enough tools. I wouldn't go with Small size (A5 and A6, I believe) just in very specific cases/uses. I work in a bunch of areas/fields, so I'll tell you what I find the best size for each use. Is a bit of common knowledge among a few pros, but there's disparity of opinions : A lot of people would not agree with any of what i am saying, but here goes the list : - Comic, specially if inking regularly ---> Wacom L. Or any cintiq alternative, non wacom brand. Even the cintiq 16 (imo 13 is too small for comfort) is way too pricey for the usual comic artist indie/pro. XP-PEN has an amazoing 22 Pro model at around 800 bucks. Huion has more variety , with models like 191 v2, which is VERY interesting in price, yet a nice size. I'd only go for a 22, but that's me. The Wacom L also gives you the Paper edition, that allows inking on Paper. It might worth it for inking, but I have not tired that yet. - Pixel art --> You are good to go with even a small size. Wacom has a very nice price no this, and if want a durable piece, IMO, the only thing really tested in that regard is WACOM, no matter the size. Is the deluxe brand for something (just look at the number of test labs each product pass! Is crazy. And those tests cost them a lot of money. A lot of people that complain about its pricing don't consider things like this. That said, I believe their cintiq line is highly overpriced, just for market dominance. But the averag jane//joe tablets are priced almost right for what they provide with. - Digital painting, if not doing comic inking(which I do ) , or, heavily line-art based illustration (my case), I mean, if one is just doing digital painting illustration, concept art... Then a medium does the deal. For the eventual rare line art, or precision detail that needs the line perfect in a row, instead of multiple brush actions, well, one could always activate at low level the line stabilizer. So, for this one imo, if willing to save bucks, and/or need all the desktop table space for other things, the keytboard, mouse, etc. Then yep, Wacom Medium / Deco 03 is the way to go. That said, IMO, a Wacom L is BETTER also for digital painting. But that's go with each person's preferences. Indeed, the best solution for this field is imo a hybrid: A pen-tablet for being able to stay painting very long hours sessions, but a pen-display (cintiq alternative) for medium sessions to speed up, as is faster than a pen-tablet. I don't believe in a cintiq only workflow for peopel with 8 -10 hours sessions a day, during years...but that's me. Bottom line: You can do in this category quite well with just an Intuos (non pro) Medium or a Deco 03. So, is a "cheap category". - Photo retouch only. You are good to go with a Wacom Small. You will want to focus on fine tuning very well all the pressure settings, both in the driver panel, and in each app you use. As is key to have a lot of control on how it reacts to the actual pressure. I might go Wacom here. When you are using a tablet in the way is used for photo retouch, you probably don't want it to be an XL. But a device that plays well with all other devices, doesn't grab a large amount of space. That said, a lot of photographers prefer a cintiq alternative at 22" inches Bosto, yiynova, Huion or the like. Which is probably dangerous : You need a lot of color accuracy. Of course this people will have a pro or semi pro monitor were they can check the colors, and not rely on the pen-display image, but imo is a very cumbersome workflow. In this regard, I only see a good shot going for the Pro 16" version of XP-PEN, or the pro 16" version of Artisul. They have a 92% and 94% Adobe RGB coverage (and of course, ful sRGB). For some reasons, not seeing this level in the 22 inches of any brand. Must be a tech limitation reason. Although XP Pen 22 PRO version supports a 88% of NTSC, which is quite much. So, in this category, imo best bet is a small ("Small") regular tablet, and if going cintiq-like, be sure to get one with an amazing screen, which is very very rare in the alternatives. Those two 16" models would be my bet, if I wouldn't hate any screen size lower than 22". Good news is that if going the regular tablet path, your putting 100 and sth bucks if the A5/A6 is Wacom, and alternative brands are as cheap as 50-60 bucsk. If going non wacom, PLEASE, get a batter-free pen. Chances of jittery lines with the battery based alternatives are high. At this price range, it does not worth it imo to risk it with a non Wacom. At small size, go Wacom, that's my advice. - Vector works. Unless it's illustration with line art, or comic (I'd refer to previous comments), I think it's fine a small tablet. Again, Wacom offers the tested reliability, so, to each his own. I recommend Wacom here again because we're considering here low prices, even with big differences. But it's really low money. A Medium would give you better control, but if really is only for some works, and you have been doing fine with vectors with only the mouse, the small is not a bad bet. It depends enormously in what is your exact workflow, tho. For many, in this category a Medium size is a must. - 3D works. Good to go with a Small or Medium. You need also comfortable distribution as you are using keyboard commands constantly, also typing numbers, etc. And you probably need to use the mouse a lot. My usual distribution with all tablets is keyboard at the left, tablet in the middle, mouse at right (I'm right handed, just invert if not). This is amazingly good distribution specially with small and medium tablets. Great for productivity.(worked so in a bunch of game companies, tho I did all, 3D-2D with this distribution) - 2D animation....IMO, in many cases a medium size is good. Also, in the cintiq-alternative zone, seems a lot of flash animators find the 16" size quite good (ie, the artisul and xp-pen models). I'd go 22 or L, but I've found a majority of flash animators preferring the 13-16 pen-displays. For traditional tablets, well, if using the stabilizers CC Animate (Flash) has, or, any other app with line stabilizer, then I guess Medium sizes are fine. For very accurate in line, despite absolutely nothing beats yet pen and paper ( a lot of studios still use this), I'd quite go with a large cintiq, cintiq-like, being a very nice bet a Dell Canvas 27 (1700$) ,or at least, a Wacom L. But for flash-web animation, heck, good to go with a medium or 16". But those are my opinions. For just playing around a bit.... if mostly for photo retouch and vectors (AD), a Wacom Small does the deal. If illustration and drawing is involved, I'd go for Wacom MEDIUM, or the XP-PEN Deco 03. These two make the deal with practically any category, which make them very attractive. There's literally nothing you wouldn't be able to do with these two (and in some cases, the line stabilizer help).

BTW, she's beautiful....

hahahha

Actually, I wouldn't go that far. Both are very powerful. I have used PSP a lot in the past, versions 7 (not x..., but purely 7, u can imagine how old is that ) and 8 offered by magazines. These days is a total different thing, but I have been downloading and testing the trials quite regularly. What I definitely can only confirm without the shadow of a doubt is that Aff. Photo DOES a great job, that for very sure. I'm a professional. I know it has corners to polish, but the key things I need (those which are not in other apps, because some things I still need to do them with other tools (check my signature to have a hint )) are there, and in good status. Also, that is unlikely A.P. to be matched by alternatives, even by some quite above in price, reason why I don't think mentioning a rival (also, this thread's main topic is a comparison, polite and civil, but a comparison) is any sort of threat for Affinity. Indeed, helps clarifying where are the strong points of each (I said it, I like the brush core system and color picking in PSP), so people can do a better decision. I'm only dumping my thoughts (arguable opinions) about the matter. So, I do know PSP current is VERY featured. I know it does not have a ful CMYK mode, and for those (and others) forum threads, I know there are too important issues (for my use, is not everyone case) in color management. I also know is so good and has a quite such an easy UI that if they get their way in fixing the CM, and adding a full CMYK mode (the former way more important than the latter, as at least they have a way to export/proof a cmyk file. Well, a similar situation than Gimp, but even Gimp is solid in its color management, just RGB only, and also capability to do the separation) once they fix those it could be quite a success of a tool. But EVEN so, the momentum gained by A. Photo is already (IMO) too important. Also, you get a full suite with the vectors and publishing apps in Affinity. In the Corel scenario, only the AP equivalent is at this price range. The only thing you can do is put the 700 bucks to get the whole thing. So, HUGE advantage for Serif, there. But there are many more. The price is so low in both companies' products, and the tools are so powerful, that the right thing to do for anyone having a serious full time workload would be to have both, once the issues are solved in PSP. But I know most people prefer to stick to only one solution, mostly so to learn one. I like the more the merrier, or at least, several. (most of my current files are in CSP native format...). The criteria of not using an app is only if is not fit for the job, or another one does it better, that particular task (hence the advantage of having several. No tool is perfect in all fronts) but never the resistance to learn. That always make you better in the particular field (learning several UIs and workflows). Neither am I. I have done literally tons of photo retouch, but I am an illustrator, designer and game artist (including 3D) as for a living, but I can't handle a camera, hehe. Well, not completely true, I did a year subject in Fine Arts college of artistic photography with a B/W reflex camera ( handling aperture, ISO and all that stuff with a borrowed traditional pro camera) and all the liquids stuff and revealing also your film and all. But that's all I know. Been a huge while. No idea of photography , even less how to handle a modern digital camera . Funny thing is have done very crazy complex photo retouch, though. You're on the right place, then. With really advanced projects, you end up resorting to quite a few specialized apps. And the tasks in hand are often so difficult and complex , that the less you care about is what you used to get the result. Is just the peace of mind a lot of people seek to think their main app is going to cope with everything. This is not real in more than hobbyists projects. But anyway, does not matter because people with real will to discover things and advance, realize this organically. Meaning, yep, PS, AP, whatever, are going to be the main work horse. But resorting to particular tools is going to be almost a habit, for efficiency and best results. Is way more evident in a production environment where the ratio speed/quality must be 10/10. I found my self at companies caring for just what was really essential to deliver. But yes, normal workflow will be one main app, and then several apps, maybe 2 per project, as specialized, but what's more, often NOT the same 2. Needs and details vary a lot among different projects. At some games back in 2006, at a studio we'd even buy an expensive tool, perfectly fitting the task, do the stuff one month, and be done with it, no need to use anymore. Expensive most of the times, but paid very well. For a freelancer or hobbyist, is gonna be FOSS apps, and a like 4 - 5 purchased apps as specialized tools, YMMV. About the general question, and trust me, not because we're on a Serif's forum (I have no professional/$ relation with them, BTW) I'd feel quite safer going with A. Photo, all things considered. Not to say PSP is a bad option, but those issues are an obstacle, the way I see it. AP is neither perfect, we all know this as well. It happens to be that for the bunch of fields I handle (quite many) AP fits perfectly, and the lacks/cons are well compensated by the pros, very clearly. For my specific uses, I don't see a rival even in the 300 - 700 $ range. And pricier than that, it's even debatable. Subscription options are totally out of question. Mostly... is just 50 bucks . I'd purchase both in case you feel so hesitant. But for me is crystal clear that AP is a better bet... Buying both you still can always do some stuff with the other (just beware the problems and everything). Even so, if I were to purchase an extra helping tool while keeping AP the main app ( the sensible thing, IMO) if anything that would be Photoline, not PSP, for many reasons ( wont hurt to have the 3, either, they're that cheap). And beginning to think I wont need to use more money (other than AP 2.0 update) in new painters, as besides CSP is a dream come true for inking and even painting, AP is lately improving in the brush system, so I have very high hopes there. I'd rather move the 90% (maybe just not inking) of my activity to AP, by a collection of good reasons.

I used arcane shareware versions of PSP, specially Animshop addon/companion utility that used to come with it for my pixel art animation (and even higher res 2D animation), decades ago. I always liked as well UI interface, for ease of use and learn, and being a fast UI. That said, today I wouldn't go for it. Tested it I believe around June, and then the 2019 version. I'll explain my reasons, pros and cons that I personally see. I run away very far from any toy-feature that makes the sort of magic you would much better do with advanced pro tools. Yes, it can be extremely useful for some very specific cases, though. Would never change it for really advanced selections, masks and other operations, as I'd be loosing a ton of flexibility, and well, the pro ways. Like in every package this would worry me the less. In every program I've handled in my life, plugins are often poorly coded, or simply not that compliant with the software internals. There are though brilliant cases where the plugin, addon, or whatever, is so good that has better stability and improves the package so much that some times the plugin keeps evolving (or the author does ( I think Kai Power Tools' author ended up making a "somewhat known " digital painting solution, called Art Rage ). But these exceptions don't distract me from the fact that a ton of plugins are poorly coded, or have less stability or performance than the core software has. Or simply they are not fully compatible with the app internals. So, is a bit of a gamble, if I find a plugin crashes, almost never blame the core app. Crashes with big files could be the app's fault, or an issue of some sort in a system, often just revealing them selves when using certain libraries and in big load of memory or processing. So, hard to know when someone reports crashes if it's gonna be the app's fault or the machine/system. PSP was always stable on me, but I could have been only lucky. This is a reason for me to bail out of the psp option. This is sth MS does as well. Let me handle my machines, and do it the old way, like Serif does. For a lot of people this is not a problem, and if they have to call support with some new machine upgrade or change, to get a new number, and/or wait a pair of days (that's really bad for my case) , they wont mind at all. So, more than a CON, I'd say it depends a lot on each person's take. Tie to the machine or any hardware piece is a no-no for me. (just like subscription). Well, I think in my testing I did not have any crash, back in June.... But I am a user that never have crashes (neither in Affinity) unless those I know I am provoking by asking the machine what the machine can't handle, so, what do I know..... This, for me is not a CON. I only care about the app core features, how well done they are, if stable, if accomplish what the market demands, etc. Yep, Painter Essentials is nice, but not to miss it that much if getting the free Krita (although I don't use Krita anymore as I used to do), or the cheap CSP, Art Rage, or Rebelle). As you said, mostly what tends to be included is half baked software or at least not the very best, which today you can get for not such a high price. A clear PRO for me has always been good performance with the brush for a PS-like solution (nothing rivals with CSP, Rebelle, Sketchbook or Art Rage in that regard, but all these digital painters are not complete enough for a lot of illustrators like me, where PSP, PS, Corel Photopaint (but need to buy the 700 bucks corel suite :s ) and Photo would be way closer to be the overall good workhorse) . The brush and alt picking color works great, fast performance, no glitches, and this is for me super essential. So... is a HUGE pro, considering is inside a tool that handle most 2D operations pretty well. Yet tho, there are show-stopper issues that prevent me from buying, since a while; mostly a very big one for me ( I send a lot of stuff to print, I too often need CMYK, and I also need good color management in general) : color management I kind of split into 2 branches of issues : - Yes, there seems to be a proof mode of some sort, and split for CMYK in export, but....NOT an actual CMYK mode like you ave in both Photo and Designer (or Krita(poorer, but is free), PS (uber powerful), CSP (again, more limited than in Photo)). This can be very inconvenient in workflows where you need a final conversion and some edits for certain print companies ( having the situation right now in this very moment) that work with offset and yes or yes want a CMYK PDF (or whatever), not a modern offset workflow with PDF/X-4, neither a digital printer asking you for just RGB files, but PDF/X-1a 2001 or just a TIFF, then needing to be CMYK by spec, but also as they want it so. One way or the other you're gonna need that CMYK mode, and quite more related features. - Color management in general. I constantly am digging and trying new apps. This is how I know Photo keeps rocking overall, tho I don't do that to demonstrate it to my self, it just becomes self evident every time. So I dug PSP just once again (again, mentioning I was a heavy user in the oldest shareware times) months ago this year. Found an extremely worrying issue/bug/lack quite detailed in their forums : https://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=63629 Of quite some interest is this very post from someone that seems to know a bit more about the matter/issue than the other posters, and about color management in general : https://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=63629#p357023 It's curious that they mentioned (is from May) Photoline and Qimage as a better path when wanting good color accuracy but did not mention Affinity Photo ( maybe is a too dangerous competition, or more simply, it was yet may, and people knew less Affinity then). I've tested Photoline and IMO (again) Photo wins in UI by a mile, plus also found issues when painting with the brush some basic stuff and zoomed out. But for other matters, is a very nice and useful app. Qimage, haven't tried but from what I've read, is a very specialized app, and I love to have those, but just like the digital painters case, in many fields is nice to have them, but you totally need the work horse, the integration package, the general 2D behemoth, the file preparation package and that also allows you to make all stages of the project if needed, or to speed up the global workflow for less switching and I/O (still not to diminish the usefulness of having specialized tools). IMO this is what PS and Photo do provide with. CSP and A. Rage are the digital painters having more "out of their parcel" functionality, but it's miles away from all what you can do with Photo or PS. Or even PSP. So... For me, as was asked in the thread, until they specially fix the color management (their users would love it) problems, and add a real CMYK mode, sadly, is not sth I'm gonna purchase. I like to have the more the merrier tools, but for any app to treat my files, I need to be able to trust in color management (provided I'd always have well calibrated my system, monitor hardware calibrated, 6500k bulbs lighting, no windows affecting while I work, no intense colored walls near, etc), and of course, also to work in CMYK mode when needed. Another show stopper would be stability. But I don't remember PSP crashing on me... And as a rule that tends to be almost always true in my case: I wont worry about other people crashes... besides are often deep incompatibilities or some faulty driver/system file(/s), is just the case that never I do see crashes of those applications in my machine, unless absolutely every one else has the exact same crashes. Licensing tied to machines is a very big con, but a big pro that they didn't went for subscriptions (but is not enough, either in this case). A pity, as is a very nice app, with a very long story. It had a very bad moment when they wanted to convert it, years ago, to more of a toy for newbies, but they clearly steered away for that, luckily. In the current status of things detailed above, is a no-go for me....Might change in the future. Is one of those apps I would love it to be better. I dislike that the current installer requires you to register with your email or you want get to check the trial ( not doing such trial now just for that, but I had already tested 2019). I mean, of course, they want to grab your email surely only to keep you up-to-date with new versions, but I see it fine when is only an option, not enforced to even try the trial. With current fierce competition, these things should be handled better....Minor thing: it makes an extra zip when installing, does not delete afterwards, leaves it in same download folder. No biggie, but have worked many years in a company very focused in installers, and that kind of thing was avoided, as a rule.( is not a file of config setting left ( after asking) in an app or system folder, it makes it even in the download folder, and wont delete on uninstall. Zero probs with it, very minor, but found it curious. All pros and cons mentioned, I'm inclined to like quite the application. Once they solve those issues, would be a very nice extra tool to have in "the workbench". (considering one of the issues the "tie to the machine thing" .Until license is just like Affinity's, I might not be very interested)

Well, at the time I learnt it, I was very busy too... one kind of learn only what's needed....

You probably will learn it faster and and easier than any 3D newcomer, that's for sure. Only thing is that is quite different in all, but 3D is 3D. Like anything to be learnt, you need to "forget a bit" when facing it, of course, not the core of your 3D knowledge, which I'm sure will translate perfectly, and will be super key (pun intended), and will be up and running more solidly than a lot of even seasoned Blender users, but I mean, forget in the matter of not "expecting" things on certain way, and in certain place, just expecting to be surprised and adapting to it, to its own philosophy, is the way to win in Blender. Is way faster for learning anything. I was a Maxer at a bunch of companies, it was hard for me to learn Blender, but I hadn't an urgent need (indeed, was curiosity and my eternal empathy/sympathy for the underdog), so I learnt progressively in a need to nerd style, only learning what I needed for each project/gig. Well... was WAY harder for me to learn XSI back then, very close to XSI to get cancelled (wish I had known before purchasing Foundation...). Its nodes system made me almost crazy. But served later on to understand better the very powerful node editor in Blender, which is key for really getting all advantages of Cycles. I'd be to think you'll be up to speed in months.... Dominating the whole app is another thing. Is like aiming to be an FX/particles/physics/cloth-soft bodies expert, low cage/high count modeler, animator, texturer, uv-mapping genius, rendering expert handling well all the PBR workflow, video editor/composer, rigger magician,... lately even 2D animator, as Grease pencil has evolved way beyond its initial objective. I mean, I know a bunch of these areas, have worked in several, but....ALL, at 100% ... well, that's a weird specie, haven't found a full 100% in all that where I could say the person really covers all perfectly in every and each of those areas. Even generalists do specialize in sth, have weaker areas... I would not over stress/feel overwhelmed with Blender(or any package) immense capabilities.. they are there just for when you might need 'em... or... that's my take... PD: I'd focus in 2.8, specially if starting with it (or mostly).

Maybe digging into fine details of this Final Cut plugin/rendering system would help you : https://www.motionvfx.com/mO2/Manual/index.html#svg-import " exporting all shapes as simple path objects in SVG 1.0 format should generate a proper result " When I export anything svg to a 3D app (which I've done a lot) I check it to be ultra basic. (as well as the SVG spec required by the app, you can see there is SVG 1.0). Besides checking all shapes are closed, no single dot or isolated segment rubbish anywhere, fonts are converted to paths, avoid at all costs any rasterized effect and transparency. You don't need any kind of fill, I guess, but if any, just solid fills. If the issue is that the SVG exported version is too modern, you might want to use Inkscape as a converter ( inskcape.org ) and try the several versions of SVG (flat, standard, etc). Can't say more as I don't own Final Cut neither that plugin... But I'd typically be able to make it work (there's always a way, directly or through utilities)

About the staff (teams) size, well, is just a very small sample (and you could collect these all over the place from years of posts, but is easier for us who actually remember those) just a very recent post from staff (not tagging this person, as I suspect it'd divert their attention : Have read (again, from staff) is also not a nice thing to tag them about chit chat matters) which was all about some petition to do and maintain a technical guide : "A technical user guide would be a nice idea but we don't have the manpower to keep it updated as well as the videos, workbooks and other documentation. " We knew from before, but...Does it sound to you they've got no shortage of people ? To me it sounds as the opposite, it seems is pretty tight....

The problem is : For a business, not even 200 posts of users saying "I would buy a Linux version" is enough by any way of measuring it, is very far from being of enough weight (is naive to think otherwise: They'd need an amazingly larger sample to contradict the platforms expansion/installed average/pro user base solid data. A forum thread of this characteristics is really small in comparison to the numbers handled) for a company to take an entire route, build a new team, embrace all costs, etc. So, is not any solid stats data, and therefor, just as ungrounded, and as much of an assumption. Most opinions on internet lack of solid sources, or, backed by strong statistic data, or having a scientific base, yet tho are allowed to be expressed. I'm certainly not in favor of censorship... We don't. But as old members, we've read quite some posts about these matters, replies from staff. We kind of deduce that the teams aren't big as mostly is hard to find certain type of talent and have them relocated (implies a number of years in very specific areas) . About the skills, that seems to be no problem. For all what we know they'd be able to do it technically. Is not the problem. For what we've read in the replies. They are capable. Financial health, again, from staff replies, we know Serif is not Adobe size (tho Adobe is not making Linux versions of its major apps, I wonder why...), to say the least (Adobe is huge in every aspect one could imagine. And for latest (less known) news, is expanding to other fields that would make it financially a....monster) You have only posted once when posted your petition, but for long time, around here this has been asked and debated, got as well a number of replies from them. As mentioned, is not the ultimate problem. Yet for , again, all we know from staff replies, isn't a walk in the park. Oh, well, in that I totally agree. Yet tho, is logical that they just don't make the Spanish tale of "El cuento de la lechera". They maybe prefer to just adhere to what is here now (not the doubtful sells of tomorrow), when, as even present in that very statement, we actually don't know... Which is very different to knowing for sure, where you must definitely then put most of the eggs (never all) in one basket. Wish I could do that with lottery, or even just stock options, Wall Street stuff and etc... I'd stop doing graphics for people, that's for sure.

Eraser icon, if you press-hold that button in the vertical tool bar, will show you other erasers, the background eraser kind of works fine for a first pass (can be slow in processing, but the result is worth some patience, ie, don't mind the lag, but the results!). You might want to also use several combinations of healing brushes (and its many variants), clone brush, even in some tiny things smudge tool. Depending on what was the course of your actions, the undo brush could come handy. Masks, handling of masks, mostly as you can paint those in quick mask mode, as well as do other operations to it, then go back to normal mode, and advanced selections ( color range based, magic wand, lasso (polygonal, freehand and magnetic), etc) is key in most photo retouch matters, so, also ( even more: specially) in removing backgrounds. There is not a single way to erase a background: it depends on your need and workflows. Even also on your preferences for working.

A great friend of mine lives and works (great developer) in France, her partner's name is Aurélien ...so, it came fast to mind....

My answer is YES. My main point is if right now is the best moment possible for it. (even more, a rushed linux port could do more damage than benefit to it, maybe sabotage the linux line...) Very brief explanation of that, (is a deep matter) is that Affinity line is IMO in a delicate moment (with a ton of work to do in so many fronts, small teams, for all what we can know) when it needs to consolidate first its products. Get a solid name in the pro community, get respect for being stable, bug free and featured enough for a range of professional uses to actually BE on the market. Once there (which I MO might not be that far), is almost organically natural to expand. Again, it is only my point of view from all what I have seen these years from outside (meaning inside as in the company) as well as watching/testing the evolution of the whole line and its apps. Still... I think it is extremely healthy and sane to debate the problems in the way for that (even or specially for those hoping for it).... As well as remark the potential advantages (I've gone into quite detail of many ) . I see it complex. About letting Serif decide... No doubt or fear about that : They will decide on their own no matter what we'll say (despite considering all the opinions), as any business would. Debating and dialog is never a bad path, is indeed the only way... (for practically anything human related).

I'd totally do any stuff of this sort in 3D. And yeah, Blender is surely the best bet. I still model mostly in Wings 3D, then export to Blender. But is mostly a habit and a love for minimalist-efficient interfaces. I also do, and also recommend going straight to 2.8 beta. Is a beta, but is surprisingly stable as a beta. The learning curve will be extremely easier than with the (also wonderful, am still using it) latest stable, 2.79. Also, is best, as 2.8 is the new UI and uses for the future, so best is to start exactly from there. I have done all sort of 3D effects faked in 2D at companies, as was required to do so. In PS and/or Illustrator. And while almost everything is possible (to the extent one can do a hyper realistic painting piece, and I can tell you you can make it almost real, with some years or decades of training) but with some exceptions (ie, other than a product box which is not required to be hyper realistic, you see this in a lot of ads) just launching your 3D app and making something quick is the sane solution. If know anything about 3D, is harder. Now, if you are going to do this often, I'd totally recommend to learn at least some basics. If is a one-off, I'd quite prefer if some friend would make it for me, or, if want something high end, maybe paying for some work hours of a pro, to get you though it and with modifications, etc. For a longer run, if you are fine with using time on it, best if you learn to use Blender, IMO. As commercial packages with an easy UI, Xara is always among the best for a learning curve in the UI, in my opinion. I kind of... prefer to often recommend (but in this case, for this matter, is an overkill) sth like Cinema 4D, as it has both the ease of use of a click and point, icon full UI, but also has a ton of depth, and professional studios in animation, architecture, previz, etc, are using it extensively. Last time I checked was purchase-only, and not crazy pricing (yet high) for what 3D apps are becoming in price or subscription ( ie, Autodesk's...) costs. 2.8 improvements are making us Blender users drool while not salivate savagely. It's incredible how many great improvements, even in main philosophy. And it was great already... Just now quite more accessible for newcomers.

That said, I really liked the other part of your post (I completely agreed till your "So I think developpers are a good target audience for Serif.", which I subscribe, too). The promotion of Affinity, the balanced opinion about OSes : I completely share the feel and opinion of Linux being a great OS (as in a different way, Mac OSX is, too. I really like it), and even necessary in the world. I''ve written quite a bunch of code for the web at some companies, tho am not a developer, yet I know how while at work the fields do overlap constantly. And at my latest company, I really wished my coder mates doing the JS and Ruby were at least basically savvy in that too, at least to handle basic operations, just like I could handle well ROR, GIT, the linux terminal and desktop and other stuff. Gimp was the solution every time, but we also had mac only developers, so, no solution there as somehow those didn't like Gimp while the WIndows and Linux users were somehow fine with it, and the company would not be in the line of purchasing an Adobe license per every seat. Affinity and its price per app back then would have been amazing. I have a mixed opinion about the whole matter, but I guess all what does not fit a very specific agenda is childish...IMO that's part of the problem, here. PD: Usually I don't warn about typos (I'm Spanish, you are probably French, we're all constantly learning English) but I see it repeated, so I thought I'd tell you, as a helping hand : Developer has only one "p". You know, I'd never correct anyone's grammar, typos or vocabulary, as I make a ton of mistakes (in every single post)... but I blame this new habit on Alfred... (don't emoticon-cry , Eℓƒяє∂ , it was a compliment, just Spanish's weird style... )

It is all about freedom of speech. And considering/debating the characteristics and status of the OS (and its current apps ecosystem) for certain uses is totally relevant. The thought of that not being so, totally your personal opinion, which I/we respect. But is an opinion more. Now, calling a large group of people's opinions, each one with different takes at it, childish and trollish, well, that's an insult itself, plain and simple. And that only moderators and you or people in your line of thought are the ones allowed to speak... Well, how could I describe that... If anything, enforcing that, is a moderators' role itself (what can a user/member say or not say) not your privilege... PD: Yep, they listen to their users... the childish and trollish? windows and mac users are mostly their users (BTW, the promotion/advice, that's really nice of you... I have convinced a larger number of people to purchase Affinity's licenses, though...)...They'll surely hear as well the linux users running Affinity apps by dual boot, that's almost for certain. Now, which is the percentage of their user base doing so... Well. That's another thing.

My points were completely calmed: You seem to prefer to read more than there is into people's posts (maybe a victimizing agenda? ). I don't have any special feeling towards an OS, good or bad, believe it or not. I only care about what can I run on an OS, and how can it be configured for my professional activity, full stop. Absolutely nothing more, believe it or not. While I have read from quite some people in several threads around here that they want to stay very far from Windows ( and remember, I count on a wide number of personal friends, very good friends, that virtually breath Linux), as if it had some contagious sickness in it. (I can start quoting here all the sentences from many in a 12 pages thread, and from a bunch of other threads in this community . In my last post, in no way I was referring to this specific thread and posts, btw, indeed, I was NOT thinking about these entire forums. But in what I read in general in social media, forums, articles, etc,etc, etc, today, and also, the vast experience and contact I have had in personal life and jobs, with Linux people) it would become very self evident. I invite you to really read, or at least skim through it, you would realize I am not making up anything at all. I wasn't pointing at you in any moment, but if you have been careful and polite, that does not change others' posts . If you have not read the entire thread, that's fine, is too long, I totally understand that. But I have been here since it started, been reading the posts of this one and so many other threads of which I am right now starting to be not so sure that you have read, if you are so sure that linux users have not spoken like that about MS and Windows. And that'd be just here, while in that last post from mine, I was not talking about "here", and BTW, in no way willing to attack anyone, specially not linux users (some of my best friends don't even want to boot in windows to open a file with a very legacy Windows app, even if there was a really bad negative effect on their life not doing so. And I would have never thought in attacking them for so many things like that. My post above was a veeery calmed "I don't get it but to each his own", but you took it quite wrong, it seems. You really don't realize which is my background, and till what extent, yet. Neither my actual real position about Linux and Linux users, from what I can clearly see. Fine. I could start quoting the so ( I never said you, btw) , so many sentences, so many posts in this long thread, and the many others from Linux users complaining about not seeing a port done, or heck, so, so many places on internet. But would be tiring, and I'm busy today to go to that extent. Indeed, even with the linked evidence, I'm starting to doubt you would admit the existence of those... Read just some pages ago where the Linux Sucks video was posted (hmmm...wait, now not sure if it was in this very thread, there are so many about this... anyway, again, wasn't speaking about this thread, but in general), and what the lecturer, in a room full of Linux users who came to hear, laugh in agreement and clap, thinks about that MS move (heck, check his #1 point, is all about MS. Most of his video is) , and even more, how his audience agrees so much with him. I was NOT talking about this thread's Linux users, specifically, if you read it carefully, it was a generic way of speaking, with no sentiment at all, good or bad, tho you want to make it now specific. About the 90s feeling, yeah, I might have been an intense user SINCE then, not just by then, been a user till almost 2014. I know the deal of linux better than several so proclaimed Linux users here, who dare to tell me that I am not also a Linux user, or that I don't know what's going on. LOL! You would be surprised. I have not it installed now, but that's another thing. About what sense or vibe I can have about Linux users. I told here. Besides I've been using it longer than a lot of the most passionate linux users around, is the fact that I have worked fully with it at two companies, not just using it as my personal machine, but my skills there being critical to get food to the plate, 1 year in one, 8 years in another. Being Linux my bread and butter every day, and dealing with it at levels a lot of users don't handle today. If that wasn't enough, I told as well, how I spent, dunno, probably since 2001 till around 2015 going out every freaking weekend (initially my back then girlfriend was in one of these groups), that meant often Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and with a pair of groups of friends which were ALL Linux users. And very passionate about it, each one from a different professional world, some young students, and others of my age. We could talk all night every Saturday and Friday as we were just computer geeks, there were always jokes towards the ( yep, I was the only one) Windows guy, but always very friendly. So, if we're gonna speak about the 90s sentiment, I'd say it'd help my point, as I've observed quite an opposite direction. Back then, what I could observe, their point was quite gentle, and it was all just a joke, in the worst case. Not what I'm seeing lately.(not among them, my friends. If anything, several use ALSO Windows now) It seems to me that you have a very strong interest in making this a confrontation with me or others, not sure if related with Serif seeming not inclined to be making that port any time soon.. .But look, that's not our call, is theirs. Sure of that ? Well, I don't know, in technology or economy I've learnt not to make predictions. Seen the best at it failing miserably. Time will tell. Where we (and technology) will be in 10 years from now, tho....

I don't think so.... Two reasons: The people complaining more are clearly not terminal-only users. Mostly, they are used doing absolutely everything on Linux (from listening to music, browsing, watching movies, coding, doing Libre Office work, etc....), and not wishing to even boot Windows for anything, that part has been made specially clear. See how they speak about having all to his comfort (last posters are not the first ones to say so, practically all used very similar points), till every detail in their OS of choice. Meaning...everything, every app, every GUI....That doesn't match with just a term (I doubt you could run startx in that MS terminal, but I don't know that MS thingy). These new users are mostly using desktop graphic apps, from what I am seeing. Or at least, wouldn't want a system (or "subsystem") totally negating the use of them. Is not the terminal what they love more of it, this generation, imo. Second reason :The main motivation of many of going Linux way, and even more the case of the ppl that is in Linux since 5 years (imo, less the case of those from early 90s Linux versions), is to run away like heck from MS and Windows, at all costs, clearly. And this has been a constant in this 5 miles long thread. Almost all put a very strong emphasis in that very point, over any other reason. They hate MS doing this "evil" move, so, I have my doubts they'll be happily embrace anything of this...

Seems I have a minute after all, now, replying below... Actually, what I meant is I have experience since when distros were passed around in floppy disks (I think it as late 80s/first 90s), no desktop option, but also many years later. Those multi-boots I had for many years, living with a pair of Windows (heavily tweaking the MBR with DOS utilities), became desktops at some point. Lol, I thought that startx thing was a joke with no future, first time I tested it (geez, the issues with GFX cards those times). At one company, I think was around 2000 ( can't remember now), very Linux focused, I actually was kindda "famous" for putting changing colorful fruit backgrounds in my desktop, they had already that every x seconds/minutes changing a bg, in a place where all were linux super hardcore fans, and thought having the desktop (I'd always start in console, tho, it was not secure otherwise, then) was not PURE linux. I only did that to annoy them, part of my job there was fully system related, despite also making all graphics and some web code : I loved setting up the Apache, configuring some perl scripts, and some e-commerce (testing level only) things there, all done in console. At another company, used Linux desktops till 2014. (till 2013 in-place, 2014 as a remote). All that was (also) desktop based, but it was a developer company, I had to handle the terminal constantly, too. Both things. In 2013 linux distros were very mature already. At home, all that weird curiosity made me dig in things like saving full images of an OS, to fast reinstall and entire Windows (from a DVD or stored images on server in local network, you'd just dump the image while having your coffee...learnt that at a company where worked as tech support...) with all its drivers, documents, apps settings, preferences, etc, just with a tiny utility. Handling complex combinations with partitions , etc. Things like that. Handling several OSes in a machine at least is great for learning, IMO. Not that has an amazing number of advantages, tho...Personally, in life, er... None. That kind of knowledge, if you don't finally focus your career as tech support/system admin (which I didn't/wont, despite taking jobs, without impostor syndrome (is expensive to have any of that)) ...other than having your sister's boyfriend machine out of trouble with his Windows, so that he eventually help u later with his van when packing and moving, lol... About the software or hardware issues, I have none since many years, not only in my OS (Windows, currently), I fix anyone else's around in the neighborhood if I have time and am in the mood (things like removing entirely a virus, remotely from my home, not even using an antivirus... ) ... But there are tons of possible issues in an OS (in Windows, Linux, and OSX) so, I don't dare (or try not to, tho have bad, terrible habits, I admit it...) to diminish the issues other people might be having/suffering from. My own experience by using Gimp at work, and saving the day in the job so many times, actually, might not count, as is just me (then, most of my post is neither valid ) ... But the fact is I have seen stuff been done by certain individuals, very advanced and of high quality, with Gimp... The way I see it, it dismounts entirely the POV saying the tool is not capable. Might not be easy to learn, neither a fast UI. But is very capable, IMO. In usage complexity, I am very firmly convinced (as I use it even way more, at deeper levels... I mean...brings food to my plate, currently ! ) that Blender is more complex to handle. Among other reasons, as is a more complex type of tool (it is way harder to have a full handle of Max/Maya than it is doing so with photoshop, for an easy example). Still, is extremely easy to show the jaw dropping wonders people is making with Blender, a full open source app, not a closed binary from a commercial company. You even linked all Blender films as an example...I think not a single one of that list (in most of the project steps) was made with a binary ported from a commercial closed source app from a company. They are Blender movies. That said, the more, the merrier, I would welcome, like you (for different reasons), any extra option for Linux. I just... think.... these apps (FOSS for graphics) are not getting the recognition (part of a way to solve that moral debt is using them effectively) they deserve...IMO. They are left aside by a too large percentage of users, and... linux related companies/organizations (all of them equally guilty). And I find it specially sad, given how they survived so many years being a free tool for everyone. Even for Windows/Mac users ! ... I don't see the other option (ported binaries from commercial apps, source closed) as bad, if the support to the epic projects was running at a decent level at the same time, which is certainly not. As @IanSG tends to point out with the Synfig case. Very true. Whoever hits first hits twice, that's a fact. But when there's a market big enough for that, to compensate all expenses, and justify the company structure/workflow modification, etc..., or... just safe enough. Even just safe for the company's name (which directly can translate to bankruptcy, very fast), if diverting (even more...) makes that effort, or all together, finally loose all production quality (bug fixing etc) not only in the Linux port. Which is what IMO (super wild guess in absolutely all of that, SrPx (R) ) they might have carefully evaluated.... Agree, but I have other reasons, too. If I think of it deeply... Why do I always model with Wings3D (open source, BSD license last time I check that doc) ? Well, in that case is certainly not what I'd call an inferior tool, not in my own use, and a superior workflow, yeah. In the case of a full blown 3D package (of course I'm referring to Blender), animation (including advanced character animation) system with particles, high end rendering that gets nicely paid, even a video editor (tho I prefer for that external tools , just Like I uv map sometimes also externally, and the low/mid mesh is almost always with Wings3D) , ALL THAT for free... There, is not for superior workflow, I tell you. For all that, I've also used the counterparts in high end (at companies), and darn, do I love working with Max and Vray !! But just put the money per month/year all those pieces (often plugins are needed, and ain't cheap) in the chain of costs... Not for an individual, unless has as fixed clients MS, IBM and Google, or sth, lol... Money is key, for a 80% of the software choice for many (am confident using "many" here) freelancers. Very specially for the self-employed, small business owners, freelancers or whatever. But, I'm digressing from the point. To address it better, when I said that one as a professional (or if sounds more humble, a someone that has the habit of eating regularly ;D ) needs to evaluate which tools are going to be needed, and if those are available for a particular OS, what I meant was, really, make oneself a very simple question: Am I loosing an important number of potential clients by choosing this or that OS, and as an effect, these or those apps ? Yes? . And if so... Does it really worth it for me, all the sacrifice ? It might. Happiness is a strange thing, each one has own's formula. IE, to begin with, a 9 to 5 job is almost always a simpler path, just not always the happiest one. A business perspective/plan is key often to achieve the happy goals, too... So.. if one has a number of clients already (or reasonably expected) for which the works wont ever, or mostly, require those other tools, then the OS choice is totally fine. But is a more serious issue if one would be prioritizing the OS over crucial needs. That was my sole point. People know, though. I really hope no one is going the wrong way in that.

Fast note (will reply surely a bit in length later) just to point out that my use of the expression "fighting egos" , was an "if", in the comparison with other life matters' preferences, not making a general case, is only a possibility, one of the takes at it . It was as a clarification, mentioning that attitude can be seen too in non computer related matters, in some people. But I was very far from making it a general case (some people act like that, IMO tends not to be a majority) , ie, all Linux users. Among other things because I have worked with a ton of Linux users, gone for dinner with them infinite times (in a few days, with one of them, great friend, and a big name, kind of, in the Linux community...) , old timers many of them, and they were sensible and gentle people.

Well, to expand it a little bit with the aim of clarifying that, what I meant is that a lot of the complaints about Windows, I have realized (so many times, not only in these forums, and through entire decades...oh, btw, at same time, telling other people how Linux was not that difficult, and speaking about its advantages....) were based in too many cases in not fully knowing the OS, how to work around certain issues and adapt the OS to the user comfort or needs (very few would know Windows' console commands, editing the registry, using recovery options from outside the GUI, disabling services, handling partitions and the master boot record, etc, etc. Maybe you do: Is not what I have been finding among the ppl complaining about Windows). In most cases I've been able to check, it comes mostly to zero of those who will to get into depths of Windows configuration tricks, deep knowledge of it, while they'll go a long way (even in cases where they finally admit they have got something that is not equivalent to what they had in the other OS) to overcome many problems in Linux, often, as I say, to a much larger extent. I also know as have been a Linux user for very long, pre desktop times, not a casual one. So, my point is mostly every OS can be made comfortable to each one's preferences, if digging enough. Out of the box....Maybe a Mac, but IMO, if you have very specific needs, fiddling is needed even there. Now, not willing to do so in a certain OS... is a different matter, IMHO. Unrelated to the actual OS real capabilities. I have done so, in the past. And the more times you "switch", the more flexible you become. And that's good, imo. When you work at a company where in the morning you can be with two macs and a linux server, in the afternoon working in other stuff with a WIndows PC, and even the next day is different, and every user is tech savvy and has set all machines properly in each OS... you start to realize that all is relative... Have read that before, and have an issue with that POV.,..is not like anyone has removed an app from your system. Not that someone has removed it from your OS. And it definitely didn't had it before. You did chose a system which you knew hadn't that app in the first place, and went all the way for it despite this, and knew as well that there wasn't any other equivalent competing app for that field (I'd argue Gimp is great, Scribus and Inkscape too, but would be left alone in that, here...) About the command center. As I mentioned, in a bunch of places (and even at home) my center of operations have been often multi boot partitions and at companies, that and multiple machines of the 3 OSes. Main reason of stopping doing so at home was as then had to maintain like 5 OSes. More time. Not particularly disliking ANY of the OSes....Even more, what I liked of that, is that I could use apps native only for their OSes, so this way I was getting the best of the best, always... A bit is that this thing disappeared for me as an advantage at the moment where most cross platform apps would always count on a version of the vastly more installed OS, Windows.... That's true... tho... a network connected disk and Samba, or whatever similar today, besides a clever workflow can go pretty far... And today VMs have evolved crazily in that respect, too... I get top productivity in any Windows machine I've configured. And I mean...really top . If there's some day stuff going slower, is me for having slept less, as much....Human factor. While assuming you don't refer to people driving those controversies way beyond the issue itself, and being more the case of a pose and the intent of getting noticed (as if so, then yeah , would be all about certain mindset, fighting egos with which any conversation of any theme ain't gonna be productive, anyway), but people actually deeply and truly worried about those matters, I wouldn't even then compare any of that to the mere use of a tool, be it an OS, a brush or a hammer. Kind of degrades the other matters by large. They are simply not at the same level. An OS should never be more important than the set of professional applications that you need to do your job. Linux has a good collection of serious apps in certain areas now, with FOSS apps or ported binaries. In some fields, not the case. And based on that , a pro makes own decisions, for the need of the moment, not for what it could be, in the future, if we get lucky and some whatever company's chair decides to make a Linux port and/or at the same time, praying that another power that be in the company does not decide to stop maintaining some other existing linux port of an app as well crucial for the pro's workflow. Or hoping is gonna run on Wine at some point in the future. Or etc. But fine, we wont even agree to disagree, here.

I agree with most of your post, @nezumi (like the famous line stabilizing software? ) , just might disagree very slightly in one point : The open source matter. I mean, not all of us (again, I am Windows user but could be called anything) are promoting FOSS for a strict application of the OS concept, neither are GNU fans, penguin huggers (I love penguins, btw) or etc. My POV is that open source has a larger life as code is open, and can be taken/forked by anyone. Companies based on closed source make the projects (and the entire company) much more fragile (one of the reasons why Linux people sometimes don't fully understand the risks of certain bets for Linux for a company: The community is often not considering much the little room for error a company has...) and you can be left without your tool (project terminated for ever by company shutdown or being acquired) in which you base all your workflows, and happens in a snap. I don't believe FOSS is going to take over the commercial world. The rules of the game would have to change wildly (and wild changes are often way less desirable than progressive ones..) ....BUT... for the type of people that can convert a piece of carbon into a diamond, you can give'em just a weak tool, and they will manage, these are a God's send. For people also that are using it for hobby, or specialized freelancing of certain parcels, it's an absolute win as well. So, here's the #1 practical focus. The commercial closed source top dog of each field/app, may just tolerate, as knows wont be likely threaten with serious competition (but beware, stuff happens.. I'm seeing it with AMD and Intel..... years ago I'd have laughed if someone would tell me what's happening today with CPUs....). As you see, no fanatic POV here, is a practical view, and not really taking these tools as a replacement in the professional market... or not in a 100%, just certain uses, and niche type of users (often as talented or more than the other pros). My other POV , #2 (number one in importance) was/is that is a necessity for poorer countries and even poor people -and just ppl that barely make a living, can't afford purchasing software- inside 1st world countries. So, among those thinking -I'm one- that for a number of reasons, it is VITAL that FOSS not only survives, but evolves to at least be almost 95% competitive in the professional fields, even if never the top dog, that'd be enough to solve so much of the life of many who had/have/will have no other freakin' option. Both motivations of why I think the fully open source, non dependent from companies random will of making or not a binary port depending on their mood that year, etc, of why I think open source is a safer bet in the long run (if one is able to deal with the current status of the apps) . As you see, completely far away from a purist take, or fanboyisms, or a "Linux per se" argument. Still, most of the reasons I hear are just "because I hate Windows" .."Privacy..."..."Because I hate MS..." , "because they are a monopoly...." , "because I don't "feel..." (wtf?) "...free inside Windows..." , "because I don't want to have to boot in Windows", " because I haven't looked back since..." ...I mean... all are legitimate, but I believe the two I mention, which aren't my ideas, btw, a lot of ppl think in that like me, have quite more "weight" , in my book... Of course, they should have, they are my opinions, lol... But u know what I mean... All those other ones are often just a fixed mindset (when not just a stubborn tantrum) or about how comfortable is one with the OS, a something that you can improve and modify in your own by tweaking the OS (when am told the reasons why one left Windows, I realize a bunch don't know that OS well...), no matter which OS.... While the two reasons I mentioned (not because I said them) in favor of FOSS are kind of considering a bit more serious tings... (IMO).