DDNN

Just came to drop this and re-disappear.
 

I send money to the software developers for Blender, Krita, and NovelWriter on a monthly basis, as well as three creatives (one writer, one artist, and a Youtuber). And I hate the idea of subscriptions.
So... Say again? 🧐
The majority of Linux users don't leave Windows or Mac to avoid paying for software. They leave it because they can't afford to buy a new computer when their Windows PC starts running slowly and they learn about Linux's minimum resource usage. They leave for privacy and/or security. They leave because they think customizing a desktop without having to hack it is cool. And so many other reasons.

Anyway, please stop spouting your negative ideas about Linux users and stick to the actual facts.

This right here. If Flatpaks were made universal like Java attempted to be and all these companies and developers contributed to the code... 🤌

Linux now has three universal file formats for apps: Flatpaks, Snaps, and Appimages.
They work on pretty much every distribution of the Linux, with Flatpaks being the most likely to be used by larger companies.
Hence, they (software companies) don't have to think about any individual distributions.

Furthermore, there are many people who would switch to Linux but don't because the very same companies don't make apps for the platform. I use Linux as my daily driver but will sometimes boot into Windoze when I have a specific software need that cannot be fully satisfied on Linux. For instance, some of my previous design files and assets are in .afdesign or .afphoto formats, and as such, I have no choice but to boot up Windoze.
This brings up another issue of proprietary file formats and incompatibility, but we're not getting into that. <-- However, just think about how Apple was forced to use a universal port. The world of personal digital devices will be better for it.
Hello .odt .ora .html .svg .obj 👋

All this to say: as much as you think that Linux users and the potential profit is next to nothing, it isn't helped by both potential full-time Linux users and hesitant software companies not being willing to take the first true step.
It'd be nice if people and companies didn't need to be forced to do the right thing and just did so off their own volition.

notably referring to Affinity publisher crashing when searching for fonts in 1.10.5, that the only fix was to literally UNINSTALL A WINDOWS UPDATE ?! like wtf microsoft..
this literally wouldn't have happened with Flatpak btw

honestly not even about being lightweight, i have a 5800x and a rx6700 rn and i've been daily driving linux for a few months now, such a breeze of fresh air over windows, felling in control of your OS and actually being encouraged to understand how it works and why instead of having to to read bug reports and hacky fixes to get stuff working (windows is so poorly documented than literally wine developers made correction to windows official documentation 💀)

I send money to the software developers for Blender, Krita, and NovelWriter on a monthly basis, as well as three creatives (one writer, one artist, and a Youtuber). And I hate the idea of subscriptions.
So... Say again? 🧐
The majority of Linux users don't leave Windows or Mac to avoid paying for software. They leave it because they can't afford to buy a new computer when their Windows PC starts running slowly and they learn about Linux's minimum resource usage. They leave for privacy and/or security. They leave because they think customizing a desktop without having to hack it is cool. And so many other reasons.

Anyway, please stop spouting your negative ideas about Linux users and stick to the actual facts.

I send money to the software developers for Blender, Krita, and NovelWriter on a monthly basis, as well as three creatives (one writer, one artist, and a Youtuber). And I hate the idea of subscriptions.
So... Say again? 🧐
The majority of Linux users don't leave Windows or Mac to avoid paying for software. They leave it because they can't afford to buy a new computer when their Windows PC starts running slowly and they learn about Linux's minimum resource usage. They leave for privacy and/or security. They leave because they think customizing a desktop without having to hack it is cool. And so many other reasons.

Anyway, please stop spouting your negative ideas about Linux users and stick to the actual facts.

I send money to the software developers for Blender, Krita, and NovelWriter on a monthly basis, as well as three creatives (one writer, one artist, and a Youtuber). And I hate the idea of subscriptions.
So... Say again? 🧐
The majority of Linux users don't leave Windows or Mac to avoid paying for software. They leave it because they can't afford to buy a new computer when their Windows PC starts running slowly and they learn about Linux's minimum resource usage. They leave for privacy and/or security. They leave because they think customizing a desktop without having to hack it is cool. And so many other reasons.

Anyway, please stop spouting your negative ideas about Linux users and stick to the actual facts.

I don't know if I'm misunderstanding something about the .msix format, but it seems to be way easier to "hack" (in the "twist it to our needs" sense, for lack of a better word) than traditional .exe installers.
I uncompressed the Affinity Designer 2 .msix file using 7-Zip on a secondary drive, went into the "App" folder and launched Designer.exe as if it was a semi-portable app (by which I mean that the .exe could be anywhere but the profile stays local), registered my trial on it and it worked quite well for basic operations. I didn't test it in depth.
Using Sysinternal's handle64 tool I didn't see any files opened elsewhere in the filesystem besides in C:\Users\USER\.affinity\Common\2.0\ and C:\Users\USER\.affinity\Designer\2.0\ .
I could also use that Designer.exe as an external editing application from DxO PhotoLab and it received and opened the file correctly.
I'm not sure if the issues mentioned by Patrick could be reproduced this way too? If not then this "manual install" could be a workaround in the meantime.
In other news, sadly I couldn't run the app in Linux/Wine this way (the old 1.9/1.10 installers just crashed due to some unsupported .NET 4 icon method, now the .exe can't find the DLLs in its own folder), but maybe a winetricks script could be enough now.

A character design of Vulture from Marvel comics, inspired by playing a lot of Marvel Snap. Also a short breakdown of how the character’s put together below (my movements in the video are a bit sluggish, I shouldn’t stay up so late 😴)


IMG_0662.MOV FullSizeRender.MOV

Linux users could start a poll, somewhere out in the wider web, to reveal how many of them are willing to pay for software, and which specific software, too.
 
That's about the only way they're going to convince anyone not otherwise religiously devoted to its anachronisms to support it through self funded, risky endeavour at their own opportunity cost.
I always get the feeling that Linux users are less likely to want to pay for software things than even Windows users. Which is really saying something. And this kind of polling might reveal that to be true, and that creative software is quite low on the average Linux user's wish lists for things they'd pay for, which might also be the reason this kind of polling isn't done.
 
But that's all conjecture. 
 
Remind me, how does Blender make a profit?
 

Tbh, I am not sure that's the real issue.
As of last month, macOS had a desktop market share of 15.6% whereas Linux's comparable figure was 2.77%, i.e. Linux has a market share 6x smaller than macOS. If macOS had, for example, a general market share of 15.6% and Linux had one of 14.8% then very many more companies would likely produce a Linux version of their softwares.
When it comes to specialist development work, Linux has a reported developer market share of between 30% to 40% so that makes it worthwhile for companies in that area like JetBrains to produce Linux versions of their products.

Please put stereotyped views aside and just think for one moment. If Linux, for example, had a 15% market share then the great majority of those people would almost certainly be standard ordinary computer users just like macOS users.
I believe that developers should be rewarded for their efforts and I am only too happy to pay for software like Softmaker Office, Pixeluvo, Vuescan, Ukuu and the rest.

I feel like this guy just likes to argue, which is sad.
If users want/need the standard .exe or .msi files, that's their choice. Most users would not have expected to get this new format. And some users like the freedom to install the apps to wherever they choose. Also their choice.
Respect it.

I'm just gonna can it here for myself until V3. Will wait for the .exe/.msi files before buying (if I decide to buy, that is).

With respect, the actual figure for general Linux desktop users in November 2022 according to Statcounter was 2.77%.
That said, that figure is not nearly enough for many companies to consider viably porting their software over to Linux unless the existing software is already cross platform Qt-based, for example (the Affinity products are not). Therefore, I fully understand Serif Europe's position on this matter. People also forget that Serif Europe is 100x smaller than the Adobe Corporation and so they just don't have the resources that Adobe do.
So what should us Linux users do then? (me included)
There are three things that can be done:
1. In the case of Affinity Photo, consider using Linux-friendly alternatives like PhotoGimp ( = less sucky Gimp), Photopea, Krita or PhotoLine + Wine (Photoshop versions CS6 and CS2 also work well with Wine). Equivalents are also available for Designer and Publisher. Head over here to find them - https://alternativeto.net/
2. Try out Photo, Designer and Publisher on Linux by using Windows as a guest operating system in a virtual environment (VirtualBox or VMware) as illustrated in forum member Hartmut Doering's post below:
 
3. it is completely pointless to keep on asking Serif Europe staff on these forums to port Photo, Designer and Publisher to Linux because they have made it crystal clear on numerous occasions that this is not going to happen.
It is far more logical for Linux users to instead head over to CodeWeavers' CrossOver forums and ask them to please make it a priority for CrossOver to work well with Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher.
Link - https://www.codeweavers.com/support/forums/general/?t=26

Yeah, I get that. If I was strict on open-source tools I wouldn't be on this forum in the first place, but there are few companies that are fully proprietary that actually listen to their user-base, like Milanote (alternative to OneNote). They actually have a voting system for what users want alongside things they would like to add.

Here's what I mean:
https://poll.milanote.com/tabs/2-planned

Don't get me wrong, i hate adobe and now that i can, i will 100% get an universal license because i genuinely preferred the V1(trial) to every adobe software i tried, but as someone else in a similar topic said, you're not making me able to give you money.
 
edit:
I'd also like to mention that being placed (and placing yourselves) as a "anti-subscription" / "anti-Adobe" alternative but embracing OS like Windows and MacOS, who are both deeply anti-consumer in many ways, is a weird decision.
You're a company, you need to make money and it's understandable.
Yet offering a Linux version would complete your anti-monopoly(by adobe) objectives and that's why so many peoples are asking for a Linux release : it would just make sense with the philosophy you want to promote and embody.

Before I start, let me say that this is not a rant, though it may be interpreted that way. lol. Sorry if it "sounds" that way.
I'm a Linux user here and I hate having to boot Windows to use my Affinity purchases. Yes, at the time of purchase I knew full well that there is no current Linux support, but that doesn't mean that it should never be considered.

Your argument seems to assume that regular people use sophisticated apps like these all the time - they don't.
Regular people just go to their regular jobs and use the preinstalled browser that comes with their regular operation system; which is also usually preinstalled (Windows).
Let me be the first to mention BLENDER. Do you remember that 3D package that came into an industry dominated by other 3D apps that the majority of 3D creatives use? Now, everyone [even non-creatives] is either using or considering it, and guess what? - Full Linux support. The only popular OSes that Blender doesn't fully support [yet] are mobile OSes (iOS and Android-based).

The target market of almost every creative application is NOT regular people. It's creatives and creatives think outside the box - that's why Linux, Blender, Firefox, etc. exist.

That being said, I understand the idea that the cost to port Affinity apps vs the return on investment is a long-term plan they may not be willing to make. But, I'd also say the fact that all of Microsoft's good operating system ideas since Win 7 have come from studying Linux desktop environments (particularly the visual aspects). That says something, to me at least.

I just checked the Starfighter laptop. Although it looks like an awesome machine, I think it's pretty expensive. I currently own a MSI Modern, with the older Ryzen 7 version, 32 GB memory, a 500 GB NVME SSD and a QHD screen which costs me about 700 bucks. So I didn't really look into the Starlabs stuff, why would I pay that much for a laptop ?
 
That said, as a quarter of a century professional UNiX/Linux user I would love to become beta tester for Affinity's suite on Linux. Whether on Ubuntu, Zorin OS or whatever distro flavor. Would love that. So by any chance Affinity, I think you would make a LOT of users happy when you would do this.

Thank you, Guys for your answers. I can see clearly that Serif policies are odd, as they completely ignore some customers and their needs and care only for their business. Unacceptable to me. This time they decided not to support customers who use windows 7. They completely ignore Android (which is the most popular OS in the world (more popular than Windows, generally). They do not support Linux, others companies do. What will they decide tomorrow? Subscriptions? Who knows? But I am afraid, they will dissatisfy us more than once...Therefore I cannot count on them. I will choose GIMP+KRITA+INKSCAPE+SCRIBUS+DARKTABLE+NATRON+RAWTHERAPEE to have peace of mind. Supporting these projects will be well money spent that won't turn against me. I will occasionally buy some other apps that support Linux (or at least work on WINE or Cross Over Linux)

Thanks for your reply. Sad but at least things clear to me. They ignore me, so I have to ignore them and look for alternatives. Corporations are always like that; that is why I prefer free/FOSS software. Time to send my money to Krita and other open source projects...

It seems that Affinity products (v2)are no longer privacy friendly as they are no longer available for Windows 7...Am I right? As a GNU/Linux daily driver user I used Affinmity apps on a virtual machine on my Windows 7. They worked pretty well and that is why I purchased all 3 of them as well as some add-ons. I consider Windows 7 the last user-friendly OS by Microsoft. Windows 10/11 and Apple OSes are all spyware to me that i must avoid. I am very much disappointed with Serif that Affinity is no longer for me. Can you help me in any way? Any plans to port Affinity apps to Linux/Android or at least CrossOver Linux or will you completely ignore such customers like me?