No backwards compatibility??

[Brian_J]

2 minutes ago, MrDoodlezz said:

If that is not confirmation of the scheme, I don't know what is! 😠

They have completely lost any connection to V1 and are relying on just anyone upgrading without a second thought, it appears.

If they had been serious about their »… or you can just keep using V1« statement, something as simple as a warning message would have been on board with V2 from the start, damn it! I'm sorry, but this kind of attitude from them really pisses me off.

I have no affiliation with Serif, so I can't speak to their motives, but I doubt they are scheming to trick users into upgrading. The people at Serif are normal humans, like you and me... they have accomplishments and they make mistakes. Hopefully they have processes in place to learn from their mistakes and incorporate that learning into process improvement. There are things about v2 that I'm not pleased with, but a lot of things I am happy about as well. I have to believe that within Serif, the goal of maximizing profit leaves room for caring about us customers (which isn't how I feel about many larger companies).

I get that there are things about v2 that piss you off. If Serif has the internal systems in place to learn from all the v2 feedback, then I think they have a bright future. 

[Mr. Doodlezz]

8 minutes ago, Brian_J said:

I have no affiliation with Serif, so I can't speak to their motives, but I doubt they are scheming to trick users into upgrading. The people at Serif are normal humans, like you and me... they have accomplishments and they make mistakes. Hopefully they have processes in place to learn from their mistakes and incorporate that learning into process improvement. There are things about v2 that I'm not pleased with, but a lot of things I am happy about as well. I have to believe that within Serif, the goal of maximizing profit leaves room for caring about us customers (which isn't how I feel about many larger companies).

I get that there are things about v2 that piss you off. If Serif has the internal systems in place to learn from all the v2 feedback, then I think they have a bright future. 

Of course it could be a mistake, but I am extremely sceptical this time.
This kind of notification about the lack of compatibility with earlier versions of the apps was literally there in the earlier minor upgrades and betas!

So what made them remove it, just not integrate it or forget it?

With such a big announcement and release plus additional costs, I think every screw should actually be in place.
Also because this upgrade was in the works for how many months/years?

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, MrDoodlezz said:

Of course it could be a mistake, but I am extremely sceptical this time.
This kind of notification about the lack of compatibility with earlier versions of the apps was literally there in the earlier minor upgrades and betas!

So what made them remove it, just not integrate it or forget it?

In earlier times, it was there specifically and only for the case of a Beta release opening a file that was last saved by a Retail release.

This situation is about one Retail release opening a file saved by a different Retail release. Similar cases, but different, as there is no Beta version involved. I think they truly forgot it.

[dmcgrafyx]

Ldina, you have made many great points! I too stopped at CS6 of Adobe and have just used it since. Plus have tried some open source along the way. I was really happy to find Affinity. Now however, not being backward compatible is a deal breaker. On my iMac I can only run V1. On my MacBook V2 is no problem but I need to do between the two and if V2 won't at least do a save to a V1 file for that purpose or a format that will, what's the point of upgrading! I suppose depending on what you are doing, you could save or export a print ready PDF to include everything possible but you'll still lose something. I kinda tried that with a file I created in InDesign and then opened the PDF in Publisher V1. I could modify/edit everything but layers were lost. It wasn't a big deal fortunately and worked out.

I would think it's in Affinity's best interest to rectify or come up with a viable solution. Don't become another Adobe!

[awakenedbyowls]

No backward compatibility seems to be a bad move - however unavoidable perhaps from some exclusive new features that aren't compatible with V1?

I did buy Designer and Photo on V1 on a discount but one of the bugs I was highlighting for a fairly long time has now been fixed - only in order to get the bug fix I have to fork out for V2 - and so what else other than that am I getting for this? Years of updates and bug fixes? But they devs didn't fix all the bugs in V1, and now V2 still appears to be intermittently unstable and lots of reports of bugs coming through

Sorry but I'm struggling to find the incentive to upgrade at the time, other than if I don't buy now the price will go up - the old version still does everything I need

[dmcgrafyx]

16 minutes ago, awakenedbyowls said:

No backward compatibility seems to be a bad move - however unavoidable perhaps from some exclusive new features that aren't compatible with V1?

I did buy Designer and Photo on V1 on a discount but one of the bugs I was highlighting for a fairly long time has now been fixed - only in order to get the bug fix I have to fork out for V2 - and so what else other than that am I getting for this? Years of updates and bug fixes? But they devs didn't fix all the bugs in V1, and now V2 still appears to be intermittently unstable and lots of reports of bugs coming through

Sorry but I'm struggling to find the incentive to upgrade at the time, other than if I don't buy now the price will go up - the old version still does everything I need

Another good reason not to take the leap to V2, bugs. Unfortunately, developers get itchy to release a new version before they should. V1 should have reached its pinnacle bug free and then V2 should have come out. That's how to impress your current users and draw in even more. Many years ago I worked for a huge German based software company here in the states. Whenever, they released a new update or version, here in the US we would hold back before releasing it here. It was always buggy and the German base would tell us that in Europe they wanted the newest, bugs and all. You could not do that here. US customers wanted it to work without any problems. I don't know what the mindset it at Affinity but besides the reasons I stated in my post along with unstable software, I'll stick with V1 for now and hope they at least clean it up.

[awakenedbyowls]

Agree with you on "Who would want to buy V2.0 of something that wasn't perfect in V1.X?" 

OTOH what if iPadOS V1.X becomes unstable following another Apple Update - will Serif fix it? And if they fix that will they also fix the Copy+Paste not working bug as well, or do we have to buy V2 and inherit other bugs because it's still kinda beta

Thinking about just going for the iPadOS version(s) for now because it's a good price - and you get what you pay for I suppose - but then what if I decide I want the Windows versions too on a future deal like this then I'll already have forked out for the iPad versions - all too complicated - simplest way forward is just stick with 1.X for now maybe (pending any stability breaking Apple updates)

[Brian_J]

@awakenedbyowls Serif advised they will support v1 for security updates and issues due to changes in the OS. I don’t remember exactly how they worded it or where I read it… you may want to check the Affinity FAQ page to see if it’s stated there. 

[mdd]

Unbelievably frustrated to discover the lack of backwards compatibility.

Version 2 is horrendous. Crashing every few minutes! Cannot work now in V1.

Unreal! 

like omg???? 

[Mr. Doodlezz]

On 1/7/2023 at 4:01 PM, Red Sands said:

I'm quite sad that I can't buy v1 anymore, as I can't exchange files from my ipad with v1 users anymore, which is a problem for me/us.

Do you actually mean buy or download? If you have bought the app, it should – if I understood Affinity correctly – still be displayed in your purchase history.
Just like the desktop software in the App Store or on the Affinity website itself.

On 1/7/2023 at 3:09 PM, mdd said:

Unbelievably frustrated to discover the lack of backwards compatibility.

Version 2 is horrendous. Crashing every few minutes! Cannot work now in V1.

Unreal! 

like omg???? 

This problem is indeed very frustrating, but at least there now is now a warning dialogue. It is beyond my grasp not to integrate such a dialogue right from the start in a version jump with a lack of backwards compatibility and especially a time-limited demo. 😑

[Pan Przemysław]

Oh wow, I just realized the backward (in)compatibility issue. I designed a menu for a friend's restaurant and recommended that they buy a license of Designer to make edits to the ever-changing menu. They bought the license and we have been co-editing the afdesign files for the last six months. And then I upgraded to Affinity 2 and my files are no longer compatible with my client's program. They are willing to upgrade, but still..

[pruus]

If you want to use the newest tools, then you have to upgrade. A workaround is to export a project as PDF, this will give some relief. But upgrading is a one way, you can’t go back. Or Affinity must build in a save as. But that’s a business choice. The new versions have some very powerful tools, which make upgrading for me,also upgrading a computer last year, no problem. 

[walt.farrell]

36 minutes ago, Pan Przemysław said:

I upgraded to Affinity 2 and my files are no longer compatible with my client's program

You can run V1, create a new document, then copy using V2 and paste using V1.

[Old Bruce]

18 hours ago, Pan Przemysław said:

Oh wow, I just realized the backward (in)compatibility issue. I designed a menu for a friend's restaurant and recommended that they buy a license of Designer to make edits to the ever-changing menu. They bought the license and we have been co-editing the afdesign files for the last six months. And then I upgraded to Affinity 2 and my files are no longer compatible with my client's program. They are willing to upgrade, but still..

I am assuming you have both V1 and V2 applications up and running. If you work in V2 and wish to send a V1 copy to your client...

First off, use Artboards. This will keep the Document paper sizes.

Second, in your V2 application select all the artboards and copy them. 

Third, in your V1 application choose File > New from Clipboard.

[angelhdz12]

On 1/7/2023 at 10:09 AM, mdd said:

Unbelievably frustrated to discover the lack of backwards compatibility.

Version 2 is horrendous. Crashing every few minutes! Cannot work now in V1.

Unreal! 

like omg???? 

Try disabling hardware acceleration in the settings.

[angelhdz12]

I found about Affinity by Googling when Designer was still not available for Windows.
I bought the suite, and got my cousin and sister to buy their licenses as well.
Even got my non techy father to start using Affinity Photo.
Promote it in every opportunity I have to other people and friends.

I then bought v2.

Last night, my sister was creating a mockup of her new house, to decide the paint colors (her time is very limited), 
so I created the parts masks quickly so she could easily paint the parts in her v1, sent the affinity file via email, then in the living room where the laptop was connected to the TV with Affinity v1, we tried to open the file and got the backward incompatibility error, so I had to disconnect my laptop, take it to the living room, 
connected it to the TV, and then do the thing with my v2.



Not even the clipboard worked, everything got pasted as images from v2 to v1, and i tried finding a setting like "clipboard copy as image" to disabled it or "copy special"  or whatever...

All I had was a picture, some vector shapes, and Recolor & Curves adjustment filters... 





Not cool man, not cool...  💔😔