Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Where is Affinity V2 upgrade path?


Recommended Posts

Even though I have all 3 Affinity V1 programs (and two licences for Affinity Photo!) I see no upgrade path to V2?   What happened to brand loyalty or are we all set for a an escalator of V2, V3, V3, V4 when 99% of each program is the same as previous version?   I notices SERIF has STOPPED development on the V1 suite many months ago when updates ceased so I was expecting new version but DID EXPECT NO  UPGRADE PATH? 

I think we should be told.

Is not a series of V1, V2, V3, V4 the same as Adobes continuously licensing but presented in a different manner?  You underestimate the intelligence of your customers.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, ipdouglas said:

You underestimate the intelligence of your customers.

I think they overestimated the intelligence of (some of) their customers

 

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They gave a general discount for everyone (owners of V1 and new customers) at the same time, because upgrades (discounts) from the app store etc. brought some difficulties with it, so be happy because you can get the full suite for all platforms for € 119,99 that's peanuts considering the fact that I have used V1 for many many years. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, don't understand the gripes about pricing. I own the Mac, Windows and iPad versions of Designer and Photo and with Publisher I only had the Mac version of it.

I was thinking before November 9th, wow, that is 7 installers in all for the apps that I have and did not look forward to how much that would all cost to upgrade.

Then I wake up on November 9th, check for news, and see the pricing. Universal License for $99.99 that gives me 9 installers, each app for each platform? Sold!!!

How is that not the ultimate upgrade price? I bought Designer version 1, when it was on sale, so the Mac, Windows desktops apps cost me something like $35-40 a piece and I bought the iPad app for $15. You add those 3 purchases and the price comes out to $90-95.

With this Universal License I am able to get that upgrade cost to version 2 of Designer down to $33. With Photo down to $33. With Publisher down to $33.

Version 1 of the Affinity line that I had cost me something like $230, but now with this Universal License I have version 2 for $100. And it gave me two things that I did not have, Publisher for Windows and Publisher for iPad.

I guess for some people they can't see the forest for the trees. This Universal License is one of the best deals I have ever seen, it is almost like I have to pinch myself, still in disbelief. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do agree with All Media Lab. We could use Affinity since 2016 (2020 for Publisher I think) for so many years with a single payment. Lets say you paid for Affinity in January this year. Now compare that with an Adobe subscription. Here is what you pay monthly:

Illustrator: 24,19 USD
InDesign: 20,99 USD
Photoshop: 20,99 USD

Which makes a total of 66,17 USD a month. I took these 3 applications because the universal license also cover these.

Now you have to pay 119 Euro (a dolar is more than one euro on this moment) for the universal licence with the discount. Without discount it will 199 euro for a program which you can keep using, even when the next (v3) version will come out.

When you make use of the discount, after less than 2 months you are winning compared with Adobe.

Another advantage of Serif/Affinity is that the development team is listening to their users. Try that kind of support with Adobe and I can tell you, you run back to Affinity. In the past I had Adobe subscriptions for InDesign. Even when Affinity doesn't have all functionality of Adobe, I will not return back to Adobe for sure.

For those who find this upgrade too little, think twice. Look at the Ragtime.de website how much you pay for the 64bit update for Ragtime 7 (from version 6.6.6). Normal price 737 EURO, discounted price until 16 december 637 EURO. For those who do not know Ragtime, it is a DTP application for businesses, comparable with Affinity Publisher. Despite being a Ragtime users since 1994, I do not recommend switching to Ragtime, Publisher is a better choice easier to learn and more visually pleasing.

I also wished more for this upgrade. However, I understand that not all my wishes can come true in this release. I really would wish a blend tool which will not be for this version. But I am not moaning or disappointed for the lack of a blend tool. Instead, I already explored the other new tools which I am very satisfied with. And if 99% of Affinity is the same, then I interprete that as a compliment to Serif! Because it means that we only have to learn that other 1% which is a hugh time saver.

To conclude my reply, even 199 euro would have been acceptable for me because then after 3 months I win compared with Adobe. I am using Designer and Photo since 2016, make your calculation over all those 6 years compared with Adobe and you see how much I already gained!

For some people, there is really no shame and I mean it! Serif did a great job and we should at least give them our appreciation for  their efforts to bring us new tools, features and creativity.

Thank you Serif for the excellent applications you delivered!

Chris

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a v1 Affinity photo owner for two years, the 40% discount seems like a good deal, I've had two years use with v1, plenty of updates, so no issue upgrading. But when I realised that the 40% was for everyone, it's just human nature to think 'but, I want a better deal than the new customers!'. Not better than 40%, I just think new customers should get less, e.g. 25% or similar.

But I appreciate that offering personalised discounts can sometimes be complicated. I run a sound design company and our products are available through various resellers via various obscure bundles and combo deals etc, so when we do release a new upgraded edition it's sometimes easier to just run with a universal launch offer for everyone. 

We also have to deal with the 'but I only just purchased v1' complaints, so will normally have a cut off point that we consider to be a 'recent' purchase (e.g. xx days). If you fall in that category you would get v2 for free (or if it's a more expensive product, then for the difference in price). So if a 'recent purchase' is considered within 60 days, start advertising the imminent v2 release with a 'buy v1 now and get v2 for free when it is released' promo 60 days before the v2 release. We'd also continue to offer tech support for V1 owners. From what I can see, Affinity tech support is primarily provided by customers on this forum, so perhaps not as relevant. 

But basically no matter what you do you are always going to get complaints. We've had people who purchased a v1 eighteen months previously, who got multiple free updates along the way, who still complain about 'being forced' to pay for the new improved (and completely redeveloped from scratch) v2 version at a 50% discount. Can't please everyone, but ultimately you can't let the complainers stop you from pushing forward with improvements and new features. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The truth is that good business practice is to honor loyal users. So Serif should gave additional discount for existing users. But the fact is that Affinity v2 welcome pricing is appealing comparing to competition products. So there is no disaster but still Serif could be more kind to existing users - even giving them small additional discount. From the other side, it is hard to maintain such additional discount from technical point of view. So let's entertain using new features and improved tools, instead of screaming on Serif.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/10/2022 at 10:45 AM, ipdouglas said:

Even though I have all 3 Affinity V1 programs (and two licences for Affinity Photo!) I see no upgrade path to V2?   What happened to brand loyalty or are we all set for a an escalator of V2, V3, V3, V4 when 99% of each program is the same as previous version?   I notices SERIF has STOPPED development on the V1 suite many months ago when updates ceased so I was expecting new version but DID EXPECT NO  UPGRADE PATH? 

I think we should be told.

Is not a series of V1, V2, V3, V4 the same as Adobes continuously licensing but presented in a different manner?  You underestimate the intelligence of your customers.

 

At a cost of £37 for V2, exactly how much cheaper do you want it to be for V1 owners?  An extra 10% off to save a whole £3?

I have had several years of use of V1 with constant updates so am more than happy to have to pay around the same for V2 as I paid for V1 years ago. Affinity Photo is an absolute bargain in software terms.

Just for reference Photoshop Elements is on Amazon for £86 for V2023, with no upgrade pricing as usual.

Personally. thank you Serif.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was indeed very pleasantly surprised with the pricing. Thank you @Patrick Connor
120 € instead of my expectation of around 300 for all apps which would have been my upgrade path.

 

Advertising designer - Austria —  Photo - Publisher - Designer — CS6 d&wP — Mac Pro 5,1 (4,1 2009) 48GB 2x X5690 - RX580 - 970EVO - OS X 10.14.6 - NEC2690wuxi2 - CD20"—  iPad Pro 12.9" gen1 128 GB - Pencil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

As a hobbyist, I was careful to buy lifetime licences for software. I didn't realise this just meant for the lifetime of the current version, which with some software appears to be about 2 years. Clip Studio Paint are doing exactly the same thing with their new version. I don't mind paying occasionally for good software, but I do mind being conned into thinking "lifetime" licences meant longer. The appeal of free open-source software such as Krita, and Blender is drawing me in. I'm not adverse to paying an upgrade price from a previous version, but for software I use on-occasion, I won't be taking the current offer. When I get around to possibly needing to use Affinity again, the price will probably have gone up again, so it looks like I will remain an occasional V1 user. Loyalty lost!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, mpctutor said:

Out of interest, what happens for v1 owners after this 40% deal finishes 14th December? Is there any discounted upgrade path at all, or will you be limited to just buying v2 as if you were a new customer? 

We're screwed, apparently.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have a problem with the pricing and I thought the discounted cost of V2 was a good price for the 3 programs over 3 systems - I have Mac and Windows machines and am eyeing up an iPad, so I will use all of the licensed products, all for one low price - for as long as I keep V2. As far as I can see, and having read Ash's post regarding this, V2 is a different product to V1:

'It’s worth saying too that V2 does include many under-the-hood changes to our underlying technology, and we have also been investing in several new areas of research recently. Some of these haven’t manifested themselves into new features yet, but overall V2 does give us a better platform to develop on moving forward and I’m sure you will be pleased with the updates V2 will receive.'

Developing these products cost's money, and the income stream for Serif is the sale of the programs they create. And don't forget there are product enhancements yet to come that will not have an additional fee, as well as bug fixes. I think it is unfair to expect free or low price upgrades forever, it would not be a good business model for one. You don't get free upgrades to your car, if you have one, each year. You don't get free upgrades to your TV, if you have one.

I dare say that there will be a similar offer for V3 when it comes.

Having said all that, I think that Serif could have handled customers expectations better, by announcing their pricing plan well before the release. That would have given customers a chance to have their say, and having said it, make the choice whether or not to upgrade after considering Serif's reasons for their decision.

As it is, I think there was a little naivety on the part of Serif in expecting no pushback to the pricing model, evidenced by Ash's comment:

'It’s been really hard to see some of the comments about us not looking after our existing customers – we’re pretty devasted that anyone feels like that to be honest.'

from which they will no doubt take on-board and learn from it that not all customers have the same affection for the company as others do.

Mac Pro (Mid 2010) 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon - 16GB RAM - ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB - Asus ProArt  24" 1920 x 1200

iMac 2017 Quad-Core Intel 2.4GHz Cor i5 - 21.5'' Retina 4K - 8Gb RAM - 1TB Fusion drive - Radion Pro 560 4GB - Ventura 13.0.1

Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Series 7559 - i7 6700HQ - 16Mb RAM - 128Gb SSD 1Tb HD - Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 960M 4Gb GDDR5 RAM - 4K

Asus N56V i7 3630QM 2.40GHz; 8Mb RAM; 1Tb HD; 64 bit. Nvidia GT 650M 2Gb: 1920 x 1080 - 2nd Monitor: Asus ProArt  24": 1920 x 1200

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think a reasonable person would expect a free upgrade to v2, most expect to pay to upgrade to any major release. But IMO it is unusual to only offer v1 owners a limited (4 week?) discounted upgrade period. Typically a discounted upgrade is left 'on the table' so you can upgrade at a time that suits you.

Perhaps they are open to working something out if you contact them directly with proof of v1 license? I mean, what happens if you aren't on the mailing list and were unaware of this one-time only upgrade offer?

Anyway, just thinking out loud and offering some feedback. I upgraded to v2 yesterday :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.