MattyWS

The deal is good, £90 for all of their software on all supported platforms is a steal to be fair. Linux sadly isn't one of those platforms, though I would still love for it to be. Anyways, I guess with v2 they've kinda cut off any chance of using affinity on linux for now. Gimp needs more than some love. Gimp needs to either be build from the ground up or be taken on by a decent company like Blender has. Without a decent backing, Gimp is nothing. Progress on updates are extremely slow and the updates that are coming according to the roadmap are minimal, meanwhile Blender is blazing forward taking over the 3D industry with every update they bring. It's a real shame tbh. Krita is great but limited to its own thing, hand painted raster images. Inkscape is not very intuitive, especially compared to the likes of Affinity Designer, but I respect that its a good application once you learn how to use it. In the end like 1stn00b said, darktable is a great photo editor (specifically only photo editor really). It's a shame there's nothing really like Affinity Photo or Photoshop for us on Linux that can be taken seriously. These days I really just use darktable for editing images in batches, substance designer for channel packing and photopea if I need to do any random image manipulating thats not too heavy. The Affinity Suite on linux would just be awesome. There are millions of linux users out there wanting this and even more people who don't realise they want it until it comes.

is that to say that this MSIX will not be installable on linux via wine at all? D: I had high hopes. I purchased the full v2 suite anyway in the hopes it might work on linux, but I do have an ipad/thinking of getting a macbook as well so it's no major loss... but I do daily drive linux so it'd kinda suck if the devs went a route that blocks us entirely

I don't want to explain in too much detail as I don't want anyone to do this and pirate Affinity software but for me to try to get Affinity working on Wine I found that you can download files from the MS store via web browser using the store link, you don't need to log in or pay for anything. which IMO is a massive loophole as once you get hold of the appx file you can literally unzip it and find all the files in there, fully working. You can also find them on your pc locally assuming you purchased it but I couldn't find the local files at first so I tried via browser instead. That said I did buy the serif products on the MS store so I had no problem morally doing this for myself. to try on linux. Getting affinity software in the appx format *does not* work on linux and would be pointless for anyone to try it. Get it from the serif store.

when you buy affinity of the Windows Store, what you get is a download of the application as a .appx file which is basically a zip of the installed folder of the application that just runs. Sadly for Serif this actually means anyone who can bypass the payment system and download the appx file can actually just use affinity on windows without a license and I hope that by my pointing that out, Serif become aware of this and find a way to fix it before too many people pirate it. Of course what this means for me is that I can't "install" affinity through wine as the windows store version doesn't come with an installer, just a folder of the files with the exe for the application. For me to get hold of the affinity photo installer would require me to purchase it from the Serif website instead of the Windows Store. I have no problem doing that when it starts to work well on Wine. After all, I did say in this very topic that I would gladly rebuy Linux versions of Affinity and this would be no different.

Ah, oh well it's ok, an extra £150 to get a full suite is no big deal. I'll just repurchase from the website once it works well enough via wine. Probably my own fault for relying on the windows store too much a few years prior

You mentioned you would rather not use it in this state as it's stressful but at least it's seemingly fully featured. This goes a really long way. I'm glad it seems possible now and this gives me hope that Wine devs can bring this up to standard. I wonder if Serif would allow people with MS Store purchases to transfer their licenses to use the downloadable installation from their store (or maybe we already can?). Either way if I have to buy it again from their website after it works perfectly on Linux I definitely will. ^^

Ah I might have a harder time than you, I got my affinity license from the windows store so I have to fish for the .appx which is effectively a zip file containing the "installed files" with the working exe in there, so no actual installation file for me ; ;

Oh this is a great step in the right direction. I tried and failed to install affinity last night via Wine but I haven't tried bottles before. Did you use the .appx file of affinity photo or did you unzip it and choose the .exe? Edit: hm, I tried bottles and couldn't get affinity photo running at all but then I don't really know what I'm doing with bottles so it's a bit confusing. Time to learn

Once again, predictable trolling and a lack of reading the conversation on your part.

it would be extra curricular for them just like most software that runs on wine. They don't have to do anything, if the community can get it to run then awesome. There was an instance just yesterday with the software World Creator, where I asked the devs if they were still planning on a linux version (because they had said they were), they said they've shelved the idea for now but that their older version worked flawlessly on wine according to their users, but they didn't know about their latest version, so I went and tried the latest version and it didn't work. Fine, I tried the older version and it was flawless. I told the devs this and they said awesome that the older version still works but they just hadn't gotten round to testing the new version for themselves, so I said "yea no worries I don't feel entitled to any kind of support for using this via wine it's ok ^^" with which they replied this; "We will have a look into this and try ourselves in WINE to see if we get it running" And that's where we left off, this was yesterday. The dev seemed happy to help, but he hadn't really done anything to to get the software working and he'll probably try it out later and tinker a bit at his own pace. I welcome it even if I'm not entitled to that level of support on linux. This IMO is a healthy exchange. Until the latest version works I still have the version just down from that and it's all I need. I don't really understand why anyone on these forums are gatekeeping Serif devs and their "time and money" when it's up to Serif devs what they do. Even if no official version is made for linux, if they casually see to it that it may work through Wine then that's awesome, if the community getting working without Serif needing to step in then thats awesome too. It's also just good for software devs to engage with their customers in a nice way IMO. A healthy discussion about getting Affinity working via wine or otherwise should not be a problem, where I'm sure LondonSquirrel will have everyone believe that trying to get Affinity running via wine will cost Serif billions and make them go under lol.

It doesn't matter how big or small you think the linux userbase is, Wine is for people who want to use Windows applications, if the community gets Affinity working via Wine it will cost Serif zero money and people will happily be able to buy Affinity and use it on Linux, Your hatred for linux in this instance is unwarranted, pointless and proves you aren't simply thinking about Serifs money being "wasted" on a platform you clearly don't use, you're apparently just here to hate for the sake of it. Your comments are pointless and I think you know it, stop wasting everyones time.

this is meme worthy logic. The number of Affinity users (Windows) is even less than the number of Windows users. Pack it up Serif there's no point in making software when 100% of the people on the platform wont use it lol

Its great that Affinity Suite is affordable and that they don't charge per month, year, per seat or per update but at the same time IMO Affinity is worth more than they charge. I think charging less than it's worth then excusing themselves for not being able to afford to add features would be kind of self fullfilling. They certainly don't have all the features that photoshop has but they do make questionable decisions with the features they do have. It's not a perfect software solution yet but it can be. I find it strange on their part that they refuse to at least try to compete with photoshop (which they've actually said specifically that they are not competing, maybe to avoid being curb stomped by the giant corporation). They could compete in non-direct ways though, like getting their suite to platforms where Adobe doesn't exist and fixing some fundamental issues that are holding back the software. For example when asked if they could make alpha editing and channel packing easier for literally anyone doing anything other than photography, they simply state "no, we don't cater to those industries (vfx, television, games). it seems mind boggling that they could cater to these with small tweaks. Linux is a far greater ask for sure, but Serif is already stubborn on the little things and adamant that they're not for anything other than a really specific set of industries. Point being that Affinity could be so much more and make so much more money, cater to far more creative industries but they don't. You could say it's because it would cost more to do so, well they should charge more IMO.

I hate to be that guy but wine isn't an emulator, it's literally in the name. Applications running through wine vary from being borked to actually running faster via wine linux than on windows natively. Wine will only really get better and more efficient over time. Protons the same, in some games I play, playing via proton on linux yields better performance with far more FPS, much to my surprise. It's magic to me as I have no idea really how it works but it's just a translation layer, not an emulator (which usually require your hardware specs be far beyond that of the platform you're trying to emulate).

Well this is literally the method used by Valve and all game developers who are making their games compatible via Proton(wine). It makes sense tbh, using a compatibility layer means needing less effort on the developers part to support the linux platform. The same goes for Mac with Rosetta.

I disagree.. every company has to consider the pros and cons of platforms and how much money they need to spend on staffing. We've established Linux is used by a lot of the creative industry as well so I think it's fair to compare other companies that make creative softwares to this company that also makes creative softwares and just because Adobe does or doesn't do something doesn't mean anything more or less for Serif. You say adobe don't develop for linux so why should serif? Well Adobe also specialize in 3D, game development, film production, music etc etc so if Serif are copying them then maybe they should waste money on making software like that too, right? Either they copy Adobe or they don't I don't think you can have it both ways. This may just be a difference in opinion but Serif have said they don't want to be compared to Adobe. I mean if we're going there then why even use Affinity products at all if Adobe exists? Serif *need* to do things differently to Adobe to stand out otherwise they may as well not exist. The numbers of professionals who use Affinity Photo compared to Photoshop are probably on par with the numbers of people who use Windows or Linux. May as well expand into a new platform where Adobe doesn't exist. Anyways this really comes down to opinions in the end. Other companies have thrived while making a Linux version of their software I don't think it will kill Serif, but ultimately it's their choice and heck, Serif already make choices that are extreme opposites of what I'd consider good (no good alpha/channel editing? No real support for channel packing? Basic stuff people need that serif claim no one needs and so they don't want to include it). Nothing I or anyone can do other than voice their wants and needs and it's on the whim of serif to decide to listen or not. I dont think I or anyone else needs to convince the forum users here if Linux is a good idea. You guys are entitled to like Windows or Mac and nothing else but it's still super weird how passionate some people are about hating Linux for no gain.

True it's certainly an unknown variable. Though thats kinda true about every OS and it's really a fault of Serif if thats an issue for them. I don't want Serif to go all subscription model on us though so I guess worst case is Serif have paid upgrades to whole number versions (affinity photo 2 comes out and it's a £50 purchase to get the new version until Affinity photo 3, however you can still use the old versions since you paid for the lifetime license). Or do what most software do and limit the seats on the license so people with 3 macs will have to pay for extra seats if they want to use affinity photo across all their macs...

Agreed, it's very hard to pin down how many linux desktop users there are and it's hard to pin down how much of a profit Serif would get. Though the amount of support is similar to every other platform (though if anything you'd get more bug reports from linux users). Doesn't seem to be an issue for other software developers that have Linux versions so I don't know why it'd be a problem specifically for Serif. In the end it costs money to develop software for any platform so it's up to serif what platforms they develop for, it's not up to me and it's not my problem either way. I'd prefer they made their software platform agnostic but it's Serifs project so eh. It's pretty bizarre that Linux is only really missing a good photo editor, most other kinds of software is pretty much accounted for at least for me, as my job ranges from VFX to 3D art and 2D art which is a wide and vague range that you could probably just call the entire creative industry. Film, Games, Music, Software Development.. but not Photography? Why is that I wonder (genuinely, im not trying to make a point I am really curious why this gap exists).

yes, one way or another you would likely have used linux be it chromeOS, Android, maybe you have cloud storage which is likely linux so it's used in the billions though obviously desktop users would be less. I can probably do some basic maths here just out of curiosity, if 250,000,000 computers are sold each year and about only 2% of those are going to linux users thats 5,000,000 linux users a year. Even if just 1% of that userbase wanted to use affinity photo (not including the rest of the suit) thats 50,000 sales a year, which would be at least £2,500,000 at £50 a sale each year. high numbers for 1% of the linux userbase. Maybe my numbers are wrong as they're really just estimates, which is why I mentioned if only 1% were interested because at least then it'd be fair if I overestimated the userbase. Regardless, still more than a few hundred people like the guy above mentioned. I think it's only fair Linux get some credit as it's used world wide by a lot of people, even if it's only a small percentage of the global PC market.

in all fairness, the number of linux users is in the several billions (that were able to be counted, which is quite difficult to count when linux typically doen't track users). How many of those people need a photo editor I dont know but it'd be unfair to say there's only a few hundred.

the same thing stopping most people from beginning a huge undertaking really, talking for myself at least I'm more than willing to admit programming anything close to something like gimp, let alone photoshop, is beyond my skillset, I do not have money and I'm not business savvy to startup a company but more than anything, I don't have the time for such a project. If I have time and money to start a business though, there are so many ideas I'd love to see through to fruition. Alas, everyone has ideas but like me, not everyone has the money, time or know-how. The most I've ever done (not including the stuff I work on for a living like sea of thieves, star citizen and a few lego games) is publish my own solo game on steam and that took what felt like a *lot* of time and effort for one person, and it's not even a complicated game. heck it's actually extremely basic but even something so basic is a large undertaking. it would be a dream come true if the Blender Institute took on a Gimp fork but that will never happen lol

in a perfect world, people would jump behind Gimp like they did Blender. I don't actually know what made Blender such a success though, whatever it is, Gimp must not have it.

Photoshop in browser is here, it's not as good as affinity and not worth it if you're on windows or mac, however it works on linux as an alternative. https://creativecloud.adobe.com/cc/photoshop

I'm quite the noob when it comes to virtual machines and my pc doesn't work well with them, but are you saying it's possible to pass through GPU to a VM in Boxes? If so I'd love to be able to do this

I I wouldn't say people showing an unwavering interest in something is pestering. Most of us here have accepted Serif doesn't care about Linux, at this point I just see this as a discussion thread about the potential of it. I still don't really understand why people are coming into this thread to be outraged at people that have an interest in a different platform to them though. "How dare you keep showing interest in linux!! How dare you want your favourite software on on the OS you use!!!" - These are senseless comments and, I mean no offense to you here but yours too. Likening people to entitled children throwing a fit for wanting affinity on linux and discussing it? Apart from comments like these, this is mostly a grown up conversation. I use linux as a platform professionally as do many other creatives. There is a discussion to be had about the potential of it IMO. It's cool if you don't think this discussion is worthwhile, you don't need to get involved if you don't care about the topic. :)