Affinity V2.0

[CM0]

3 minutes ago, Rondem said:

Affinity products are great. ...

Keep in mind that those who love software the most are often the biggest complainers.  It is ironically a compliment.  They are just heavily invested and want the best outcomes.  Those that truly don't like it are those that usually just silently disappear.

[walt.farrell]

On 10/3/2022 at 7:12 AM, GDPR-751748 said:

Edit: this last feature could also be implemented in v1; it would help any workflow

Even if Serif were to provide some bug fixes for V1 after they release V2, it's extremely unlikely they would release any new features for it.

[PaulEC]

On 10/3/2022 at 11:32 AM, walt.farrell said:

Even if Serif were to provide some bug fixes for V1 after they release V2, it's extremely unlikely they would release any new features for it.

I wouldn't expect Serif to add any new features to the v1 software, but it would be nice, for those who choose to stick with v1, that as many as possible of the long standing bugs were fixed.

[walt.farrell]

On 10/3/2022 at 11:40 AM, GDPR-751748 said:

What are the secrets you know Walt that we don't 😊👀 ?

How software development usually works, perhaps  

Software versions move forward, and the old version is seldom enhanced once the new version is released. Companies may have the resources to fix bugs in older software versions for some period of time, but new features generally are available only in the current version of the software.

And I'll guess that it will work this same way with the Affinity applications. I doubt the team at Serif is big enough for them to develop new features for both V2 and V1, including all the testing and documentation work.

[carl123]

9 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

I doubt the team at Serif is big enough for them to develop new features for both V2 and V1, including all the testing and documentation work.

Indeed.

Why would any company add new features to V1 when the entire marketing/revenue aim is to get you to upgrade to V2 to get the new features

Critical (new) bug fixes for V1 - Yes

Minor bug fixes for V1 - Maybe (but very unlikely)

 

[walt.farrell]

On 10/3/2022 at 12:06 PM, GDPR-751748 said:

We can discuss this of course but I don't consider common shared directories as a new feature. It's such a rational feature that I'm surprised it wasn't already implemented when Serif imagined linking the 3 apps (or parts of them).

Is it implemented today in V1?

No. Therefore it would be a new feature, if it is implemented.

[walt.farrell]

On 10/3/2022 at 12:41 PM, GDPR-751748 said:

Why reject the idea of a 1.11 version that would implement some interesting features for the use of the 3 v1 apps.

I'm not rejecting that, but this entire thread is about V2 wishes. And we seemed to be getting into whether V1 would be improved after V2, whenever that might be. That's what I'm talking about now.

[lenogre]

- I need a new computer.

- Wait, new processors will be arrive

 - Ok, I'm waiting…

Several months later

- I really need a new computer

- Wait again because next year, it will be better !

- Ok I'm waiting

--------------------------------------

- We need to launch affinity 2.0

- Wait, I will add another new tool/function

- Ok, we're waiting

Several months later

- We really need to launch affinity 2.0

- Wait because next year, there will be a bunch of new tools/functions

- Ok, we're waiting

---------------------------------------

Conclusion : I prefer to see Affinity 2.0 now with 2 or 3 new tools/functions rather waiting one year with 5 new tools/functions.

Affinity 1 has been updated step by step. A lot of things have been done between AD 1.2 and AD 1.10.

I know that consumers will say "I will buy 2.0 only if new features are significant" but you must reassure them telling that a lot of things will arrive next months. 

 

 

[debraspicher]

Probably V1 and V2 were likely developed concurrently and if a release window is nearing, then they would have had to stop dedicating resources to V1 to work towards releasing V2. Then there has to be support for it in post-release.

As soon as V2 is released, we all know the inevitable 500 threads that will spawn "Where is X feature" or "Why wasn't this included in V1", etc. Then probably a new beta.

[Dreatern]

7 hours ago, debraspicher said:

Probably V1 and V2 were likely developed concurrently and if a release window is nearing, then they would have had to stop dedicating resources to V1 to work towards releasing V2. Then there has to be support for it in post-release.

As soon as V2 is released, we all know the inevitable 500 threads that will spawn "Where is X feature" or "Why wasn't this included in V1", etc. Then probably a new beta.

If they release V2 with everything that is current in V1 plus the features that have always been requested here on the forums, then it won't be a problem.

It's been many years since V1 was released, If some expected features haven't been released until now after so many years, maybe it's a lack of interest in releasing them or difficulty implementing certain things in the current version or because it must be hard to add more and more without getting paid for it.

For those who have just bought 1.0, it may be scary or weird to talk about a 2.0, but for those who have been using 1.0, 1.X for 5, 8 years and feel stagnant with the lack of features, depending on other software for things like curve/bend/warp text/tool, shape build, knife tool, vector eraser, bitmap trace.... 2.0 with these features is more than welcome. 

I think what everyone wants is to be able to use Affinity software as a main tool, without relying on other software for those missing things. 
If in 8 years none of this has been implemented, what is the chance of getting all these features now without paying for it?

I'm ready to pay for a new version that has everything the current version has, plus everything that users have been requesting for years. From that point on, we will have another cycle of years with another features being added little by little. 
Yes, bugfixes may continue to be released for V1 even after V2 is released.

[CM0]

6 minutes ago, Dreatern said:

Yes, bugfixes may continue to be released for V1 even after V2 is released.

Considering that they couldn't keep up with bugs during V1, it seems a bit unreasonable that after V2 they could then support both.  They have to divide their resources even further to do so.  V1 is a great product for what little people paid for it.  It is not unreasonable to expect them to pay for an upgrade to get the fixes going forward.

[913]

Can we buy V1 after releasing v2

[Patrick Connor]

4 hours ago, 913 said:

Can we buy V1 after releasing v2

No, V1 will not be available after V2 are launched 

[Frozen Death Knight]

1 hour ago, Patrick Connor said:

No, V1 will not be available after V2 are launched 

V1 will still be available through download on your Affinity account after purchasing V2, right? Would be nice in case there ever were hardware/OS compatibility issues and one would have to install older versions.

[Patrick Connor]

3 hours ago, Frozen Death Knight said:

V1 will still be available through download on your Affinity account after purchasing V2, right?

sorry that was not clear, yes clearly your existing purchases are honoured and continued download will be available, there will simply be no new product keys to purchase. Also V1 will not be available to buy on the Microsoft Store or Apple app stores once V2 is available, but will still be available to download for existing customers in "My Apps" (if already bought).

[913]

How far is V2 , 

[debraspicher]

8 hours ago, GDPR-751748 said:

As if there's never a digression in a thread on this forum... but fair enough, you're right, this thread is about v2.

@Serif: I don't know if it's worth starting a new thread about the practicality of v1. I'm afraid the users are all right, the v1 apps will never be improved from a "workability" point of view and everything will be about v2, so the customers (and therefore Serif) have decided. Well, one can only assume, another problem of the lack of communication.

To your point, I do feel quite bad about users who are left with non-working features or bugs. It's likely they could still go back a little bit in the previous updates and grab a fully working version. Still, that's unfortunate. Especially if they're on setups that are having hardware conflicts, etc. That said, V1 had a really good run at 6-7 years of free updates? The cord has to be cut somehow, somewhere and in some way... also consider (this is me speculating now woo hoo...), it may be that there are such major changes in V2, such as "under the hood"/engine changes, that it may make it easier (and less costly) to address V1 concerns than trying to keep re-adapting the old code when they may have already "redone" things in V2 anyway, which make that easier. So no point updating two different engines to do the exact same thing at that point, they're so far apart. If so, could be critical to their business moving forward. That makes sense anyway given they've promised fixes in the past, going so far to say it was imminent in some cases but which never actually came. I had thought that may have been what was going on. It may be they seriously tried to achieve these changes and fixes from different angles programmatically speaking and ran into issues because the core code was hampering their development of newer features while trying to "fix" older stuff. There was hints of this anyway in some of the comments I read, specifically, things like Vertical text (Asian type) being very difficult to implement because of the way text is handled in Affinity programs, which is supposedly proprietary code. So moving on to V2 in that sense is the best way to remedy the situation, is a breath of fresh air (one would hope) for developers, and for most everyone who has waited so long for portions of the roadmap to be fulfilled... again, all thoughts I've had as I have no real knowledge here, but thought could be happening...

I think customers to see updates as purely iterative design changes, as if there is a linear timeline of one block being placed one after another... not so, especially when working with something made completely from scratch that only a handful of eyes have seen and thus know where to look to place the fancy new blocks, etc... One may run into design issues later with scaling that it makes it necessary to redesign the entire thing to make feature additions smoother (and also reduce bugs...) hence there usually being a need to make changes to the entire engine at that point... that's the downside of not relying on third party libraries, but also critical for programs such as these to remain independent imo. However, it also means requiring foresight to know how code will need to be modified/used later... that's not always humanly feasible...

[Twolane]

I paid 75 bucks for three software programs. Do I expect that any piece of software will do everything I want? Ha! Good luck with that if you have ANY experience with the different software programs, from Word to Corel to everything else on the face of the earth. DOOM is long gone for most of us, notwithstanding the current versions. Mind you, DOOM doesn't make graphics or pdfs, so there's that.

Even if I paid 150 bucks for the three programs, I'd still be ahead, whether Serif updates to V2 or leaves me in the dust.

Whiners gonna whine, instead of going out and doing some work with software available at a bargain price, is easy to learn thanks to all the videos, and works on two platforms. (Linux? what's that?) At least you all aren't digging ditches for a living, are you? Not that there's anything wrong with that, either. And if you are digging ditches and then going home to do some graphics work on your laptop before bed, aren't you the lucky one? You could still be waiting for that other set of software to come out with a single-use*** license. Good luck with that, too. Use the Affinity products while you wait. Uh-huh.

*** Oh noes. I meant single-pay.

[Bri-Toon]

Seeing how there is talk about when this next huge update will launch, I am interested to see the competition compared to Belight products like Amadine and Swift Publisher. Amadine has really been advancing this year, so I am curious to see how Designer might compare when Affinity’s update is ready.

[N.P.M.]

15 minutes ago, Bri-Toon said:

Seeing how there is talk about when this next huge update will launch, I am interested to see the competition compared to Belight products like Amadine and Swift Publisher. Amadine has really been advancing this year, so I am curious to see how Designer might compare when Affinity’s update is ready.

There's more to it than just mac apps though.
All 3 for all 3 OS'S
So no comparison
 

[Patrick Connor]

35 minutes ago, N.P.M. said:

There's more to it than just mac apps though.
All 3 for all 3 OS'S
So no comparison

That's irrelevant to many users who only have/need one OS. Features are king. Bang per buck

[Bri-Toon]

1 hour ago, N.P.M. said:

There's more to it than just mac apps though.
All 3 for all 3 OS'S
So no comparison

Well everyone is different. I use Mac and iPad only, and only specific products.

[mrqasq]

The V2 will be a separate installer or a paid update? Will the interface differ significantly, or it will be the same apps, just with UI elements added, corresponding to new features? Also, will V2 apps be delivered to all platforms at the same time? I mean, I've heard there is a publisher coming for iPad. If there will be v2 version of it soon on the table, then I think myself among many others would postpone the decision about buying v1 iPad publisher until v2 comes out. Or will there be some kind of discount for existing users? I don't mind paying even $500 for the complete suite. But why waste money on something that soon will be depreciated..

[Bri-Toon]

49 minutes ago, mrqasq said:

The V2 will be a separate installer or a paid update? Will the interface differ significantly, or it will be the same apps, just with UI elements added, corresponding to new features? Also, will V2 apps be delivered to all platforms at the same time? I mean, I've heard there is a publisher coming for iPad. If there will be v2 version of it soon on the table, then I think myself among many others would postpone the decision about buying v1 iPad publisher until v2 comes out. Or will there be some kind of discount for existing users? I don't mind paying even $500 for the complete suite. But why waste money on something that soon will be depreciated..

That’s a good point about Publisher on iPad. I wonder if we can expect something by the holidays, because that is when things go on sale.

Also, do we know for sure that 2.0 is the actual huge update? Because I remember on the forum a moderator mentioned that there would be a 1.11, 1.12, and so on. Could this perhaps be a rumor only if nothing has been announced? Or did I fly by a post?

[walt.farrell]

55 minutes ago, mrqasq said:

The V2 will be a separate installer or a paid update? Will the interface differ significantly, or it will be the same apps, just with UI elements added, corresponding to new features? Also, will V2 apps be delivered to all platforms at the same time? I mean, I've heard there is a publisher coming for iPad. If there will be v2 version of it soon on the table, then I think myself among many others would postpone the decision about buying v1 iPad publisher until v2 comes out. Or will there be some kind of discount for existing users? I don't mind paying even $500 for the complete suite. But why waste money on something that soon will be depreciated..

You are asking a lot of questions there for which the answers are not known. Serif will announce details when they're ready to do so.

So far, from what they have said: The V2 applications will require a new purchase. But nothing has been said about exactly when they will be available, how much they will cost, what changes will be made from V1, etc.