Bring back the roadmap or at least a dev blog please

[Ammoniteii]

I fully understand why the roadmap was removed, but currently all affinity users are completely in the dark, this means they need to maintain subscriptions to adobe / others in order to use the tools they want, and they have to do so not knowing when / if Serif will ever implement feature X/Y

Essentially the roadmap should only be Key tools / features and should be a "this is what we are working on next" and it will be released when it is ready - rather than this feature will be released in version 1.x.x 

this could be done in the form of a dev blog of sorts - (common in the opensource community e.g godot dev blog)

To check in with the teams showing the community what serif is hard at work doing - because we know you are, we just have no clue what on - the only current way to see anything is to daily spam and check the beta thread - but even then that doesn't tell us about what's going on on the dev side for each app, I realise this is not open source, and there is proprietary and sensitive information that you may not want to share, but a little bit of info a teaser and a rough explanation of a concept might be cool. a lot of the things that Serif is doing already exists in a similar way - but maybe not as cool,

so for example lets say you were adding a filter type (before we knew what live filters were) you don't have to explain / show off the live side of the filter just, this week we are talking to Tim , he is part of the Photo Team and recently has been working on various ways to implement gaussian blur  - cue some maths and a rough explanation of what he has been up to maybe with an animated gif / video of examples.

I personally really like the Affinity Suite for a lot of reasons - but there are gripes about certain missing features / odd behaviours, if you check the forums there a LOT of threads about the same issues, with a lot of community support for implementation. e.g vector transform / perspective or DXF import / export.

without the implementation of plugins so people can program workarounds / or 3rd party solutions external from the affinity workflow I think a Roadmap (non encompassing and without hard promises) or a Dev blog showing what features are being developed internally (even if just a tease) would help the community to get behind the team more rather than just complaining it may also serve the purpose of allowing users to make decisions about what adobe licence to purchase length wise, if you know a tool is being developed and is "almost ready to go"  then perhaps that renewal of the Creative cloud can be skipped this month. it also would allow for some live feedback and comments to do with ui / implementation of said tool prior to being included in a beta.

just my opinion

[Mithferion]

The closest to what you are asking for are the Public Betas of the new 1.X versions that are going to be released. And even when that happens, some features have not meet the official release date (for example, the Construction Mode, which never made a comeback before 1.7 came out, if I remember correctly).

So we can imagine that it happens behind closed doors more than we realize. So, even if we have a deeper insight, that might cause even more frustration than the current model.

Best regards!

[Ammoniteii]

Hey Mithferion yes i'm aware of the Betas and mention it in my post, but I see 2 problems with this approach only.

firstly the betas are not a point of public information but rather public testing, the only way to keep up with what the team is doing is by watching the beta thread every day, i cant even think in the back of my mind, oh well at least i know that feature x is currently in development, so i will just wait until its ready or does appear in a beta.

the second is a lot of users will not watch the beta thread or test the beta until they hear a feature is there, meaning that many many users have no idea what's happening even when its in beta, and as most betas are fixes and minor improvements (very welcome ones) its not like people expect a new feature, or new information with each iteration, again discouraging them from paying attention to the threads. 

i'm proposing either a prioritised roadmap - but with no finite date - i.e

next we will be working on speed improvements

then we will be working on improved colour spaces

then we will add a knife tool 

etc etc 

(to be clear this does not have to be a complete feature list covering 1.x -2.0, but rather a few tidbits to keep the community going, which may clean up duplicate thread requests in the forum for XYZ tool(

or a blog post maybe once a month or so, talking about what serif are working on (roughly, again i understand they may not want to be too detailed to keep competition guessing) 

any other features added to an edition are a bonus, but it would give the community something to chew on - there are many examples of things with roadmaps that work perfectly fine, the fact serif removed it was to do with community demands and disappointment from what i understand, so i'm proposing a solution for both the community and serif.

ideally they could hold a poll to find out what the most important features are to the community for each app - however that's not how software developments works in many cases as feature x may require a refactoring of code that brakes other things or requires another dependency to be in place first. so what I'm proposing is just a way for the community to see a key feature that is currently being worked on , either in a prioritised list - or as a series of blog posts.

[Mithferion]

Hi, Ammoniteii.

I'm also on the side of wanting to know what's coming next. My only concern is that it's going to happen the same thing as before: know what they are working on and then seeing some of that taken back for any reason imaginable (like the Construction Mode). Maybe what they could do is to write articles on their Spotlight website, something like "See what's coming next" so that people don't come to the Beta Forums.

But then again, there's still risk of some of that not making it to the final Release (like the Construction Mode).

Best regards!

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Mithferion said:

…there's still risk of some of that not making it to the final Release (like the Construction Mode).

There's lots of ways to manage areas that become rescoped, reprioritized, or even cancelled altogether.

Unity with their visual scripting tooling is a good example of this. They had been working on their own solution for a couple of years, and then decided to purchase an extension provider and directly integrate their solution into Unity itself. It was a change of scope and priorities, but the end result enabled them (and their users) to begin working with a proven solution much faster than would have happened otherwise. Their roadmap covers all sorts of areas of the product, with status updates consisting of released, in progress, planned, and under consideration.

Cavalry also has a roadmap that provides some indication of priorities with status updates ranging from resolved, in progress, R&D, and not started. It's entirely possible that something in progress could be moved to R&D if new ideas or challenges present themselves. Items could also be deferred or cancelled if they no longer fit with the product direction. These things aren't set in stone, but are a tool to enable developers to signal intent and priorities to their users, therefore allowing their users to make more informed decisions about where to place their own priorities and investments.

[Ammoniteii]

1 hour ago, Bryan Rieger said:

There's lots of ways to manage areas that become rescoped, reprioritized, or even cancelled altogether.

Unity with their visual scripting tooling is a good example of this. They had been working on their own solution for a couple of years, and then decided to purchase an extension provider and directly integrate their solution into Unity itself. It was a change of scope and priorities, but the end result enabled them (and their users) to begin working with a proven solution much faster than would have happened otherwise. Their roadmap covers all sorts of areas of the product, with status updates consisting of released, in progress, planned, and under consideration.

Cavalry also has a roadmap that provides some indication of priorities with status updates ranging from resolved, in progress, R&D, and not started. It's entirely possible that something in progress could be moved to R&D if new ideas or challenges present themselves. Items could also be deferred or cancelled if they no longer fit with the product direction. These things aren't set in stone, but are a tool to enable developers to signal intent and priorities to their users, therefore allowing their users to make more informed decisions about where to place their own priorities and investments.

these are good examples - but even something Far simpler would be useful - for example, lets say serif are currently working on x number of tools "10" tools internally for designer, many of these may be no where near ready for deployment or external testing, lets use Mithferion's example of the construction mode that disappeared. 

in a blog post or in a roadmap serif could mention say just 3 of these tools 3 Export priority's and 3 interface improvements / options - based on their internal major priority's 

EXAMPLE ONLY

Current Tool Priority's

Construction mode

Knife Tool

True vector brushes (now with optional rasterization rather than default)

Current Export Priority's

Better Pdf Tools

True vector export for remaining formats (now with optional rasterization rather than default) 

DXF import / export

Current Interface Priority's

dimensions and measuring options 

Studio / suite mode for Affinity Photo / Designer (if you own all three apps switch between them like in publisher) 

save tool settings on document reload (example inpainting brush not staying on current / below when document reopened)

EXAMPLE ENDS

something as simple as this for each app would throw a bone to the users, should reduce thread spamming and re creation based around the same subjects - some threads are 4+ years old and people still add +1 or start a new thread about the same subject matter because they simply dont know other threads exist (what one person calls tool X - another calls tool Y.

notice there are no dates / version numbers tied to a list like this, just these are the things we are currently prioritising, of course you can add more and surprise people, or even do an update with only one thing in it, but at least the community knows that feature x is being worked on, just hold your horses and chill out about this tool, it would give indication to what is being done, providing some certainty and having less spammy threads in the forum. 

if you chose the blog format you could go into much further detail, and delve into why affinity's "construction mode" is cool / innovative without giving too much away. 

[Mithferion]

20 hours ago, Bryan Rieger said:

Cavalry also has a roadmap that provides some indication of priorities with status updates ranging from resolved, in progress, R&D, and not started. It's entirely possible that something in progress could be moved to R&D if new ideas or challenges present themselves. Items could also be deferred or cancelled if they no longer fit with the product direction. These things aren't set in stone, but are a tool to enable developers to signal intent and priorities to their users, therefore allowing their users to make more informed decisions about where to place their own priorities and investments.

I like this Roadmap example. It's simple and not tiresome in the slightest (some might feel overwhelmed with tons of details).

 

19 hours ago, Ammoniteii said:

something as simple as this for each app would throw a bone to the users, should reduce thread spamming and re creation based around the same subjects - some threads are 4+ years old and people still add +1 or start a new thread about the same subject matter because they simply dont know other threads exist (what one person calls tool X - another calls tool Y.

The number of threads may or may not decrease, and even if repetitive Topics lead to nowhere, people is free to express what they think.

In summary, I like your ideas and I thank the both of you for the examples, it's just that I'm not sure how will it be received by the Community considering how things have been delayed or not done before. For example: the 2 years of delay fot the Publisher Beta to arrive, the Construction Mode that has been mentioned before, the Extensibility capabilities that could have seen the light in 2020, the DAM application that at some was mentioned as WIP but it seems that it has been put on Hold, etc.

I love the Software, I love some of the things added in recent versions, I appreciate the efforts they do, to rework internals of the programs or to improve performance and the renewed Expand Stroke / Boolean Operations but due to some things that were not going according the expectations, some feel that they work on things that are not benefitial for the majority of their Customer base or that the number of new features decrease from a release to another.

Best regards!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Mithferion said:

…I'm not sure how will it be received by the Community considering how things have been delayed or not done before 

…but due to some things that were not going according the expectations, some feel that they work on things that are not beneficial for the majority of their Customer base or that the number of new features decrease from a release to another.

Probably no worse than the constant (often long-standing) comments/requests on the forums today. In all reality, it could provide a more accurate and positive vision for the future of the Affinity products. Without such a vision communicated, we will all no doubt continue to endlessly speculate on what the future of the Affinity products may or may not include.

For me, I'm most interested to see if Serif still intends to be "the new industry standard in the world of design" or simply the reimagining of their old con/prosumer products for the user base they are most familiar with?

[retrograde]

I agree with a lot of what you are all saying.

I've been using Designer professionally since 2014 and would love to hear from the team more than we do on stuff they are working on or ideas they are thinking about for the future of these applications. I'm not talking about firm dates on upcoming features. That sort of stuff can wait until they are good and ready to share, no, just a little bit more behind the scenes contact with their user base would be nice from time to time. I would think that would be part of community building, an integral part of any company offering a product or service. I think they could be doing a better job at these sorts of things. Spotlight is great and the Affinity Youtube channel is starting to get some love but it would be nice to get a sense of where this ship is heading once in a while.

Having said that, I for one really hope some of the long standing requests/issues/features mentioned (by Serif and others) going back years now are either being addressed or at least discussed behind the closed doors at Serif HQ. I'm assuming they are cooking up some good stuff (2.0?), I hope I'm not wrong. Some of us have been in the waiting room a long time.

Edit: the below link is a great example of the sort of thing I am talking about. It's a link to Blenders latest roadmap from October 2021. 

https://code.blender.org/2021/10/blender-3-x-roadmap/

Edited November 3, 2021 by retrograde
added Blender roadmap example link

[Tobias Kern]

Hi,

big yes for a public roadmap!

Why? Because it's a emotional thing, to have something to look forward to!

Excamples:

Vectorworks:
https://www.vectorworks.net/en-US/public-roadmap

Twinmotion
https://portal.productboard.com/epicgames/3-twinmotion-public-roadmap/tabs/6-released

 

Greetings from Germany
Tobi

[Pšenda]

You want exactly what it was once, but what Serif preferred to leave after a bad experience with a certain group of users.

 

[Ecifircas]

Development seems to have slowed in the last few months. Is this a Christmas break or is 2.0 coming?

[dsnaps12]

A roadmap like others have posted would be nice or at least we started working on features X, Y and Z and the beta will be soon. Anyways it is definitely time for some major updates since it seems like the last few months went to speed improvements etc.

[Catshill]

6 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

A roadmap will likely cause problems for those here asking for a roadmap.  Let's imagine a road map is published stating Affinity is working on A, B, and C features. 

The forums will have posts like this:

• Thanks, I always wanted features A and C. Good to see they are coming.
• Thanks, feature B is gggrrrrrreat!
• Why are you working on A, B, and C. Everyone (the mythical 'everyone') wants features D, E, F, and G.
• I have workarounds for features A and B. What I really need is feature Q.
• Looking forward to feature C, but can you make it exactly the same as how AI does it?
• I can't believe you are prioritising B, and C. What about M, N, O, and P???? Come on Affinity.

It will please only those who want exactly the features being announced, and everyone else will be disappointed.

I totally agree with your analysis.

The beta program was the way I would keep an eye on upcoming developments even though I didn’t actually install betas, but compared with previous years that seems to have slowed down too. 

[Pšenda]

8 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

The forums will have posts like this:

One real example:

 

[Alfred]

3 hours ago, Catshill said:

I totally agree with your analysis.

I can’t see any difference between

9 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

• Why are you working on A, B, and C. Everyone (the mythical 'everyone') wants features D, E, F, and G.

and

9 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

• I can't believe you are prioritising B, and C. What about M, N, O, and P???? Come on Affinity.

but apart from that very minor quibble I totally agree, too.

[Pšenda]

On 1/12/2022 at 10:41 AM, Alfred said:

I can’t see any difference between

In the first case, it is the case that some users want / require functions A, B, C, while another part of users wants / requires functions D, E, F and G. For the first part of users, the implementation of functions D, E, F and G unnecessary, because they never use them. And conversely.
In the second case, all users want / require functions A, B, C, M, N, O and P, but one part of users wants / requires that functions A, B, C be implemented before M, N, O and P, because the mentioned functions are more important for them and their work, while the other part of users wants / demands that the functions M, N, O and P be implemented before A, B, C.

[Ammoniteii]

The original post, and other early posts talk about alternatives - this is not about going back to the original state that serif got cold feet over -there are already many duplicate threads begging for feature xyz - at least with a roadmap of serifs intentions - or of a dev-blog of sorts - the community would understand the direction of some tools / plans. 

simply stating - we had this people would act the same is not the point. the community is in the dark

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Ammoniteii said:

at least with a roadmap of serifs intentions - or of a dev-blog of sorts - the community would understand the direction of some tools / plans. 

Saying anything until a feature is ready to be released as a beta is risky. If Serif were to say that they are beginning work on X then everyone who wants X would get their hopes up. And Serif might run into problems implementing X, and have to delay it. Or feature Y might get released first because it turned out to be simpler.

In either case:

• People who wanted Z might start complaining.
• People who really wanted X would be disappointed when it didn't appear.

That's basically what happened with the original approach, and it's why Serif doesn't tell us much any more.

Sometimes one of the Developers will make a comment on Twitter, and even those don't always come true (and people are disappointed). Or even for an official publicity piece, such as the one they did for the Publisher Workbook, they  may show something that is coming (the feature that allows combining separate book files (different from Add Pages From Document), for example) that never seems to arrive.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

…they may show something that is coming that never seems to arrive.

It appears that whether they talk about it or not, nothing ever seems to arrive.

[walt.farrell]

5 minutes ago, Bryan Rieger said:

It appears that whether they talk about it or not, nothing ever seems to arrive.

Affinity Publisher 1.9:
 

Quote

New Features

• Data Merge (learn more)
• Support PDF Passthrough to ensure perfect representation of original PDF when exporting, without the need to have embedded fonts installed
• Package feature to collate your document alongside all used image and font resources into a folder (learn more)
• Studio Presets for the UI layout to save your favourite workspace setups for different tasks, explained here Studio panel combinations  (also learn more)
• Content sync of store purchases (requires registration)
  This feature is explained in more detail here Sync your Affinity Store resources with your Affinity 1.9 apps
• Windows hardware (GPU) acceleration (for users running Windows 10 (April 2020 update or later) with a Direct3D feature level 12.0 capable card)
• Flattened bitmap representation used for all PSD files 
• Path text improvements (learn more)
• Initial text baseline advance (learn more)
• Configurable bleed and margin guide colours (learn more)
• OpenAsset support for drag/drop from browser content
• PDF bookmarks (learn more)
• Convert pixel layer to image node (learn more)
• Divide blend mode 

Affinity Publisher 1.10: Lots of fixes, but no new features. This is to be expected as 1.10 is still basically a bug-fix release for 1.9 and is only 1.10 for technical reasons. Some improvements:
 

Quote

• Improved performance with ...
• Smaller PDF export file sizes when multiple copies of the same passthrough PDFs are present.
• Better output of placed PDFs set to Passthrough exported as PDF formats that do not support Passthrough.
• Added support for most emoji 
• Improved IME text editing for Japanese and Simplified Chinese languages.
• Added ‘Limit Initial Zoom to 100%’ preferences option (Windows)
• Implemented OpenType character variant samples and parameter names.
• Fixed issues with documents that have large numbers of embedded documents failing to load
  (The maximum number of allowed open file handles was being exceeded leading to erroneous 'Future Version Error')
• Import keyboard shortcuts from IDML files.
• Resource Manager:
  • New Relink option for missing resources.
  • New File Type column.
  • EPS files can be linked.

==

Affinithy Designer 1.9:

Quote

New Features:

• Powerful contour tool to create abstract objects or increase the width of single open curves (learn more)
• Select Same to efficiently match attributes such as fill colour, stroke colour, stroke weight, transparency, blend mode or shape type (learn more)
• Select Object to select all objects of a certain type within your document to make editing even easier (learn more)
• Windows hardware (GPU) acceleration (for users running Windows 10 (April 2020 update or later) with a Direct3D feature level 12.0 capable card)
• Studio presets for the UI layout to save your favourite workspace setups for different tasks, explained here Studio panel combinations (also learn more)
• Linked images and Resource Manager (learn more)
• PDF passthrough option added
• Save As Package feature to collate your document alongside all used image and font resources into a folder (learn more)
• Divide blend mode added
• Placed scale for all placed files, which allows scaling to be reset to 100% (learn more)
• Added hierarchical antialiasing control - accessed from the Blend Ranges dialog in the Layers Panel
• Curves numeric field controls
• Blend modes for mask layers
• Added export preview to export dialog (for raster types)
• Create brushes from current pixel selection (learn more)
• Content sync of store purchases (requires registration).
  This feature is explained in more detail here Sync your Affinity Store resources with your Affinity 1.9 apps

Affinity Designer 1.10: (See comments above, too, about 1.10 basically being a continuation of bug-fixing as part of 1.9 release cycle.)
 

Quote

• Improved performance with: ....
• New Selection options Parent, Top, & Bottom
• Improved IME text editing for Japanese and Simplified Chinese languages.
• Improved SVG import/export.
• Fixed issues with documents that have large numbers of embedded documents failing to load.
  (The maximum number of allowed open file handles was being exceeded leading to erroneous 'Future Version Error')
• Added support for most emoji.
• Added ‘Limit Initial Zoom to 100%’ preferences option.
• Resource Manager:
  • New "Relink" option for missing resources.
  • Added "File Type" column.
  • EPS files can be linked.

Affinity Photo 1.9:
 

Quote

New Features:

• Live liquify layers (learn more)
• Linked layers (learn more)
• Pattern layers (learn more)
• Stacking for astrophotography (see tutorials here)
• Divide blend mode (learn more)
• Path text added (learn more)
• Windows hardware (GPU) acceleration (for users running Windows 10 (April 2020 update or later) with a Direct3D feature level 12.0 capable card) (learn more)
• Studio Presets for the UI layout to save your favourite workspace setups for different tasks, explained here Studio panel combinations (also learn more)
• Create brushes from current pixel selection (learn more)
• Linked images and Resource Manager (learn more)
• Use filters on masks
• Edit spare channels as layers
• Added per-layer antialiasing controls in the advanced blending menu
• Added export preview panel (for raster types)
• Support PDF passthrough to ensure perfect representation of original PDF when exporting, without the need to have embedded fonts installed
• Benchmarking option to measure speed of your device
• Content sync of store purchases (requires registration)
  This feature is explained in more detail here Sync your Affinity Store resources with your Affinity 1.9 apps

Affinity Photo 1.10: (See comments above, too, please.) Lots of bug fixes, and some improvements:
 

Quote

• Improved GPU rendering
• Improved Serif Labs RAW engine
• Improved IME text editing for Japanese and Simplified Chinese languages
• Improved Lens Correction for Canon, Tamron and Sigma lenses
• Improved PDF import/export
• Astrophotography
  • Edit stacked image names for better organisation
  • Stack images for different filters simultaneously using file groups (auto-alignment avoids resampling)
  • Open FITS files directly in Photo Persona (control over demosaicing)
  • Support for FUJIFILM X-Trans sensor images
• Improved performance with:
  • Panorama stitching
  • Multiple placed Info page samplers
  • Adjustment layers when hardware acceleration is disabled
  • Heavily layered documents (faster rendering during panning and text reflow)
  • Placed images
  • Embedded documents
  • Low-memory situations (including Windows OpenCL preventing fall-back from hardware to software)
  • Converting documents between ICC profiles / pixel formats
  • Documents which contain flattened, opaque layers (usually the result of merge visible)
• Raw CR3 support (for Canon EOS 850D)
• Median Blur mode for Frequency Separation filter
• Added hardware acceleration to Gradient Map adjustment
• Added support for most emoji  
• Added ability to Load ACM lens profiles
• Added additional file drag drop options when holding Alt key
• Fixed crop tool issue where all presets were landscape
• Resource Manager:
  • New Relink option for missing resources
  • New File Type column
  • EPS files can be linked
• Various stability improvements and assorted other fixes.
• Help and localisation improvement.

 

[wonderings]

No idea why this is important for some people. Buy the software for what it can do and the way it does it today, not in hopes of new features down the road. I would never buy software with the idea that the features I need will eventually come out. 

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, wonderings said:

No idea why this is important for some people. Buy the software for what it can do and the way it does it today, not in hopes of new features down the road. I would never buy software with the idea that the features I need will eventually come out. 

It's important because many folks purchase the software and invest their time (by far the greater investment) in learning these apps only to realize many of features they assumed (based on past experiences/expectations with other similar apps, Serif marketing, etc) would be present only to find these features either incomplete or missing entirely.

Should people test every aspect of a piece of software they intend to purchase to ensure it meets their needs before buying? Probably.
Does everybody actually do that? Not chance, most of us make assumptions based on past experience, reviews, word of mouth and marketing.

Caveat emptor.

The frustration of many users isn't necessarily wanting countless new features, it's more with delivering on the original ideas/promises that were put forth 7+ years ago. Unfortunately, I don't think user expectations were managed terribly well early on, and the continued silence in regards to many of these issues only raises more questions and slowly erodes user confidence over time.

Just my 2¢. YMMV.

PS. I think there is one other aspect to the frustration many of us experience with the Affinity apps, when you really realize just how good these apps already are, and how revolutionary they could be. Once you get used to using them, you don't really want to go back to using the 800lb industry standard gorilla. Unfortunately, you often don't have a choice simply because of these long-standing issues and feature gaps.

[wonderings]

35 minutes ago, Bryan Rieger said:

It's important because many folks purchase the software and invest their time (by far the greater investment) in learning these apps only to realize many of features they assumed (based on past experiences/expectations with other similar apps, Serif marketing, etc) would be present only to find these features either incomplete or missing entirely.

Should people test every aspect of a piece of software they intend to purchase to ensure it meets their needs before buying? Probably.
Does everybody actually do that? Not chance, most of us make assumptions based on past experience, reviews, word of mouth and marketing.

Caveat emptor.

The frustration of many users isn't necessarily wanting countless new features, it's more with delivering on the original ideas/promises that were put forth 7+ years ago. Unfortunately, I don't think user expectations were managed terribly well early on, and the continued silence in regards to many of these issues only raises more questions and slowly erodes user confidence over time.

Just my 2¢. YMMV.

PS. I think there is one other aspect to the frustration many of us experience with the Affinity apps, when you really realize just how good these apps already are, and how revolutionary they could be. Once you get used to using them, you don't really want to go back to using the 800lb industry standard gorilla. Unfortunately, you often don't have a choice simply because of these long-standing issues and feature gaps.

No piece of software at the time of purchase are you promised new features and additions, well rarely so and those I would expect, but that is not what is being talked about here. You can expect fixes to issues and glitches, but again to go in with hopes of something greater than what is out already is a little out there. With Affinity you are given a generous demo period and even more generous demo period every now and then with 90 days. If you were serious about the software you would start using it, start putting it through the paces of your daily work load and I think would quickly come to see where it excels and where its short comings are for you the user. Serif does not owe anyone because they assumed something based on similar apps from other makers, again the idea is so out there now sure how anyone would get anything done always expecting things like this. 

People should definitely test those features that they need and use regularly, that is exactly why the demo is there. Anyone making a living with their software will know what they want to check to compare to Adobe, I can't even imagine moving a work flow from Adobe to Affinity based on assumptions of how you think the software should work or on what it should be able to do. The Affinity apps are also very affordable so the cost of entering is cheap and if you really didn't do your homework you are not out thousands of dollars or locked into a year long contract. 

Not sure I would call anything Affinity is doing revolutionary, they are doing good work and bringing out feature rich apps for people who don't need to collaborate with the mainstream pro world with a great price.