AnnH

Hello! I've been away from the forums for a while, but decided to drop in tonight. I stumbled across this post, and I just wanted to say congratulations on closing the deal, and that I really admire you and your team. You guys have been pure class from day one, and have taught me a lot about what it means to be a professional and a creative. In that regard, I still have a long long way to go. However, I am certain that I have learned so much more than just how to use your software.
As for the acquisition, when I saw the video announcement and felt the air I could only imagine what a difficult decision it must have been. I admit that like many others I had a moment of despair, but it was relatively brief. I have been using your software for a few years now, but I feel like I am just now hitting my stride. You see, you guys have made it possible for all kinds of people to chase their dreams; or at the very least find a respite from the world in their hobby of choice. At any rate, it gives people hope and some kind of potential to work towards. Entire communities have sprung up around Affinity as a result. This in turn creates a powerful sense of belonging. People don't want to lose these things.  They don't want to lose that hope and sense of belonging. I think this is what a lot of people are feeling at the moment, but are unable to articulate. They're reacting in anger because they are subconsciously afraid their hopes and dreams will die. 
I am confident, that with time, people will see that you have held to your pledges regarding mission, practices, and pricing. They will see your software offerings continue to improve and excel. The negativity will pass. I suspect you have already considered much of what I have said here, but I felt compelled to chime in. There doesn't seem to be enough encouragement to go around these days. Please keep going. Don't give in to the neigh sayers or the pitchfork mob, and don't let it affect the way you conduct yourselves. Please continue to work confidently and proudly with your heads held high. Thank you for everything thus far. 
Cheers, and best wishes on the next leg of your journey. 🍻

Nice one @Ash. Exciting times. I love the idea that Affinity is probably going to be used in schools now.
Onwards and upwards.

Thank you Ash and Patrick O'Connor for taking the time to explain. This is much appreciated. I am a satisfied Serif user since around 2009 because Serif apps let me do what I like to do. They never failed me, and will not fail me in the future.
From the very first moment I saw this announcement, I was positive about the new union. I use both Affinity and Canva Pro and both complement each other. Canva has a huge library of images and drawings, the Affinity suite has the professional tools to modify them. Canva lacks the tools Affinity has. So the combination can only be positive.
In many circumstances, subscriptions are needed to cover the costs. I use Softmaker Office, WPS Office, Cyberlink and others. If chosing a perpetual licence, there is no AI feature. AI features come with all three programs with a subscription. So a user has to decide if the AI feature is worth the subscription. I can testify that none of the companies with which I have a subscription, are abusing their power. They are all an important part of our daily operations.
To be honest, something I criticise is the update model of Serif. I paid in 2016 for my Designer and Photo licences and it was up until november 2022 that I had to pay again for V2. I asked myself several times during those 6 years free updates, how can they survive? In my opinion, they should make at least the .5 and .0 updates paid. In that way, they should have a more stable cash flow. I am surely willing to pay for a 1.1, 1.2,1.3,... update if that secure the future of the Affinity apps.
For our company, it is not the cost of the application which is important but also how secure its future is. We put a lot of our eggs in the Affinity basket, so it is important that the basket keeps full. The communication of Serif, assures my partner and myself that the future of Serif/Affinity is secure and stable. We never lost trust in Serif/Affinity and will will remain loyal Serif users. I can understand that many users are pessimistic and that your opinion will be different than ours. We have to respect that. However, also respect the fact that as professional users, we make our own decisions, which are in favour of Serif/Canva. Thank you for your understanding. Chris

Good luck everyone! I'm presuming that, despite shock all round, this is good news for the business, customers, and importantly, employees. And please don't forget the volunteers, like many of the people on this forum. Personally, I've created over 900 videos on YouTube in my InAffinity channel and learned a huge amount about photo editing in the process. Affinity Photo (and I presume the other apps) is a brilliant product and I am in awe of how you have created this.
Well done also on the four commitments. Wisely thought out and should help calm nerves all round.
I can empathise significantly. I was a sofware engineer in small and large companies, UK and global. I moved to marketing and general business and eventually managing mergers and acquisitions in Agilent Technologies (the $10B spin-off from HP of its original businesses), where I was the Workplace Services (facilities, security, H&S, etc) global M&A manager. The most critical element of this, amidst all the IT, HR, Finance, WPS, etc, was cultural integration. One thing we found was that when acquired, people in a company will go along with many changes for the first 100 day, but will want to settle down soon after that.
Canva sounds like a good fit with Serif but there will be differences and how these are handled is so important. Australian and UK cultures have a lot of overlap, but they are not the same. Key will be leadership, which is often misunderstood. The first layer of understanding for this is followership. Without followers, you may be a manager but you are not a leader. Leaders also need to understand psychology, a subject I studied while writing the many pages on the changingminds.org website.
I could ramble further, but you've probably had enough by now and I have a photo competition to judge and potatoes to plant.
Best wishes to all the wonderful Serif, Affinity and Canva people
.. Dave ..
 

Exactly! It is also hard to find that particular step you're looking for in a video tutorial when it's so quick just to look back at the written instructions. And then not all of us have consistent high speed internet available meaning we just can't use the videos or have to wait while it loads and have to watch it at lower quality which isn't as sharp and you can't quite see what they've just clicked on. Thanks so much for these!

Thank you for this great selection of palettes!

By the way, I got 5 or 6 years of free updates in the V1.0 versions, I do not mind if I have to pay full price again. I like the Affinity suit so much and I am relying on it. For me it is far more important that Affinity's future is secured.
 

Thank you! These are great!

I thought it looked like fun, and as I have never used the mirror tool it was a tutorial for me.

Thank you!

Thank you for these! I haven't been tempted by LUTs-until now.

Thank you for these! I haven't been tempted by LUTs-until now.

Thank you, these look good!

I would love 11mbps, much of the month I'm at the 2-3mbps range. With our plan I get 15gb high speed per month, that sounds like a lot but its gotten so the internet eats the data so fast its gone in about 10 days, and that's with very little watching youtube tutorials. I'm thankful that some programs, like Affinity, lets you download their updates onto a flash drive from your download page and then do the update offline at home. But it seems like all tutorials assume that you have unlimited high speed internet.

Exactly! It is also hard to find that particular step you're looking for in a video tutorial when it's so quick just to look back at the written instructions. And then not all of us have consistent high speed internet available meaning we just can't use the videos or have to wait while it loads and have to watch it at lower quality which isn't as sharp and you can't quite see what they've just clicked on. Thanks so much for these!

Thanks Dan, I got them downloaded!
Ann

They look great but how do you download them? If I click on either of the links on your site I get to a strange page that wants me to buy somethin to make it download faster. If I click on the slow download time it takes me to another page wanting me to buy something else.

Which can be very entertaining, usually unintentionally!

I think video tutorials are actually more audio than you might think.

Been there. It would be a big help if all the tutorials weren't video, I find it's the most difficult way to learn. Other programs have many written-often with still pictures-tutorials that clearly show the steps in the process. An example would be what Rick Peterson does with Photoshop Elements tutorials on his website. He does do the video but underneath has it written out. Topaz does a lot of written ones as well.

They look great but how do you download them? If I click on either of the links on your site I get to a strange page that wants me to buy somethin to make it download faster. If I click on the slow download time it takes me to another page wanting me to buy something else.

Fairly soon (ideally in one or two weeks) I will be releasing a 90+ page freely downloadable book with photos to follow along with in pdf format which covers the 5 basic steps I consider essential to consider when tackling a new photo. It is the first chapters of a larger book I am writing which I suppose is the broad equivalent of my Solid Foundations course at Udemy. I will post on this forum when it is ready.
 
Cheers,
Simon Foster