RDW

Installation on a new computer (or perhaps a computer with a substantial hardware change like a new HD or motherboard?) is really the issue. Once activation stops, any copy of the affected software is living on borrowed time, usable for only as long as your current hardware is. The 'perpetual' licence becomes worthless at this point, because nobody should be relying on software that could be made permanently defunct by a simple hardware failure.

One of the things I really liked about Affinity 1 was that it used the traditional method to authorise an installation, a simple licence key. This changed with Affinity 2, which was the main reason I did not immediately upgrade (and have not yet done so). Now online activation is required, which means that (a) we have to ask Affinity's permission every time we install, (b) the computer must be online at the time, and (c) we have to trust that the activation servers will remain available indefinitely. Previous experience with other software companies (including Affinity's main competitor) has led me to believe that 'indefinitely' tends to mean 'around a decade after the product was last sold', which of course also means that 'perpetual' licenses tend not to be that perpetual. Now Affinity has been acquired by a much larger company, and while we have an encouraging set of pledges about its future, this is ultimately no longer in the hands of the original developers. Canva itself, of course, may one day be acquired by a competitor. If things should change, we have no guarantee that activation of Affinity 2's 'perpetual' licence will still be possible. The one thing that would encourage me to upgrade, especially in the light of the Canva acquisition, would be the provision of installers that do not require online activation, just as we had for Affinity 1. Will Affinity consider this? That would future-proof us from any further corporate developments that might affect the status of the software. By trusting us, you'd be helping us to trust you.

Any software that requires online activation, as it seems v2 does (unless anyone knows differently?) will only be installable as long as the activation servers are kept running, or the company provides an alternative solution. Earlier editions of Adobe's CS are now effectively worthless, because they can no longer be activated even if you have the boxed product. Once any machine you have the software on dies, you are permanently locked out of the package you paid for. Adobe did provide activation-free versions of CS2 and CS3 for a while, but these are no longer available, and they're not bothering for CS4. The industry standard definition of 'perpetual' for products that require online activation seems to be 'about a decade', so perhaps they are best thought of as long-term subscriptions. Affinity v1, on the other hand, really can be re-installed for as long as you have a compatible machine, because all it requires is a product key.

One of my favourite features of v1 is that there is no requirement for online activation - a simple licence key is all that is required. Is this method of activation available for v2, especially for computers with no internet connection? This may affect my purchasing decision.

Does that mean 5 non-commercial / 2 commercial? Also, is it possible to de-register a PC and transfer the licence to a new machine without affecting the total count, e.g. if a PC is trashed and replaced?