nblackburn

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

To followup on some of my comments yesterday, we are today enshrining our commitment to the Affinity community in 4 pledges made by the Affinity and Canva teams.
You can read about them here.

We do truly believe the coming together of Affinity and Canva is only going to be a good thing for our customers, staff and the development of our apps. We very much hope you will all continue to be with us on this journey.
All the best,
Ash

Hi All,

I am thrilled to announce that Affinity is joining the Canva family.
This is a moment of great excitement, anticipation, and profound gratitude for all of you who have been part of our story so far. 
We know that those of you who’ve put your faith in Affinity, some since we launched our very first Mac app, will have questions about what this means for the future of our products. Since the inception of Affinity, our mission has been to empower creatives with tools that unleash their full potential, fostering a community where innovation and artistry flourish. We've worked tirelessly to challenge the status quo, delivering professional-grade creative software that is both accessible and affordable. 
None of that changes today.
In Canva, we’ve found a kindred spirit who can help us take Affinity to new levels. Their extra resources will mean we can deliver much more, much faster. Beyond that, we can forge new horizons for Affinity products, opening up a world of possibilities which previously would never have been achievable. 
Canva’s revolutionary approach to design democratisation and commitment to empowering everyone to create aligns perfectly with our core values and vision. This union is a testament to what can be achieved when two companies that share a common goal of making design accessible and enjoyable for everyone come together. 
I want to express my deepest gratitude to our incredible Affinity team. Your passion, dedication, and relentless pursuit of excellence have been the driving force behind our success so far, and I can’t wait to continue this journey with you all. 
To our loyal users and the creative community, your support and feedback have been invaluable. You’ve inspired us to push boundaries and continuously improve, and we’re excited to embark on this new chapter together. 
The future is bright, and I am incredibly excited to continue our story together and create a world where design is within everyone's reach.
With heartfelt thanks,
Ash
For more information...
We have included some FAQs at the bottom of the announcement article here. A video message from me with some more background is on YouTube here.  

Additionally we will be setting up a Q&A session about this acquisition in a few weeks time. More info on how to take part in this will be sent on email and posted on this forum in the coming days.

Yet another excellent product from a small company, bought to be destroyed.

Add me to the OMG PLEASE NO list! 
Like so many others, I switched to Affinity Photo to get away from Adobe's overpriced subscription model.
And I've been an Affinity evangelist converting dozens of people to it since it first came out!
Daymn, double the price would have been fine and better... anyway, do NOT go subscription or most of us will find other options!
Good luck with your clipart mothership!

More like crappy templates for all! Canva's just a huge online and shitty clipart service for non-designers. Canva is delusional if they think they are going to seriously compete with Adobe.

I like your positivity on the matter. While I can truly understand your stand on this, and even want to share in that sentiment, unfortunately, I've been around the block too many time to be a believer first, I need to see it before believing. My cynicism didn't come naturally. It was cultivated over many years by companies that under similar circumstances tried to convince outsiders of something that eventually turned out to be untrue. But by then, who cares - Right? I really hope that Ash is right. But I don't buy it. The reality is, once a company is bought, anything the acquired company says doesn't really carry any weight anymore. So unless deals were made prior to signing (which, if made, they always have an termination date) I don't take anything they say at face value.

I've spent over 25yrs working for software companies and have been around long enough to experience many acquisitions. Point being... every time there was an acquisition, the product line changed - it either disappears or changed direction to the detriment of it's user base and business unit of the acquired. Meanwhile, all along the department heads spent countless hours, days, and weeks denying rumors of changes to the product line or it's internal structure. So being an optimist and having a positive outlook doesn't cut it for me. I'm a realist.
While your thoughts on dual pricing models might seem like a reasonable alternative to users not benefiting from a subscription model, you can't forget that this is a merger primarily of financial interest, not so much what is good for the user base. They might certainly consider different models, possibly even dual pricing models, but ultimately it's what generates the most value (ah-the hell with it, Money - what generates the most money). And if that means foregoing a perpetual pricing model, so be it. 

How many time must you get punched before you start to realize that it hurts. And when you see the signs that a punch is coming, should you duck or believe it's not really going happen? Like I said, I didn't choose to be a cynic, I was made into one. But... I hope you're right. In echoing Ash's words - "Yes, I do!"
Right now Adobe must be laughing their asses off. So much for an alternative.

 

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

It seems like everyone posting here assumes that regardless of the pricing model, the programs will not change in the future. There's much, much more at stake than the price.

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

Has anyone used Canva - I have its absysmal. The reason its so popular is because it's got huge library of templates, that let any marketing bod build a semi decent campaign. Otherwise it's really hard to use and imprecise. Compared to Figma it's hopeless, but that's another story.
I understand a trade sale makes everyone who founded the company relatively rich. I also think you probably deserve it, as building your own market is tough and customers are hard to please. But I see nothing but cynacism in this forum and quite rightly.
We have all been round this cycle with other companies and it all ends up the same way, good products go here to die. The only saving feature is that Canva is hopeless for graphic design so they will not be pulling a Macromedia on you immediately. It's going to be death by a thousand cuts (integrations). I only use Canva because I have to our marketing team love it but I would never by choice as its just hard work compared to anything else. 
The 'This is fine' fluff piece mentions synergy, I can sort of see that and having a few million £ for more for dev may help. For the cloud stuff you are never going to be a Figma but using Canva as a sort of graphics cloud drive might work. I've also thought why my studio presets can't be saved on my Affinity account. I think we would all love to be proved wrong.

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

https://x.com/affinitybyserif/status/1570728566350020608?s=20

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

I have been trained when ever I read "An exciting announcement" that bad news is coming as someone that depends on that thing. The truth is, we have seen this story time and time again and know it very rarely winds up being a good thing.

I just purchased Publisher for PC and StudioLink works amazingly good. I wonder - is it planned to have that sort of integration between just Designer and Photo? I have all 3 apps and I know I can go through menu to choose "edit in Photo" or "edit in Designer" but it would be crazy cool if we had that magic icons and could work between Photo and Designer the same way we can inside of Publisher. Is it planned at all?

Until Sketch acknowledges other platforms than Mac exist, it should never become a standard.

I agree. Applescript would be a very bad choice. Either Javascript (wich is really becoming bigger and bigger, because there are so many developers working on it everyday and the language is becoming better really fast now) or Python (less people are using it, but clean language and being used in other graphics software like Blender), although I prefer Javascript

Yes, for Mac user only. How about Windows user?

Yeah, support, it's really annoying having to go through all this just to get a few bug fixes.
 
Manual updating is outdated.

@kimtorch
Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums
There are plans to add scripting to the Affinity range, but few details have been released yet.

SublimeText uses Python for plugins.
-1 for AppleScript becauses it's platform dependent and as such is a bad idea.