No, I was actually suggesting that Affinity would have done market research. But I am wondering whether their research was simply how many potential customers use Linux now, as opposed to say how many users are likely to use Linux in the future, and if it is more cost effective to secure dominance in its ecosystem now than compete for it later.
Microsoft has proven many times that they cannot be trusted with user's privacy and because it has the lions share of the OS user base, it also means it is the predominate target for virus and security issues As for Apple I think they have done very well as opposed to Microsoft, yet Apple charges high premiums to be in their club. Not only that but Apple as far as I have used it, does not like playing with others. This is what I mean by toxic.
Competition drives innovation, so dominating companies tend to innovate less when unchallenged. Moreover innovation is finite, every year that passes Apple and Microsoft innovate less. That is not to say they don't make great strides every now and then, but I believe in the Desktop OS things have slowed down tremendously and this will allow the Linux distro's to catchup in form, functionality, and compatibility..
I think Linux will be a professional designer platform in the future. I hope Affinity is there for that because it is the only software I can't do without keeping me locked in to Windows... and I am tired of Windows, really really tired of setting privacy and security settings, firewalls, and constant harassments of its ad systems.