Affinity 2 beta testing failures stopped users cold in first five seconds

[Granddaddy]

The chaotic rollout of Affinity 2 speaks once again to the lack of systematic, user-focused, real-world beta testing of Affinity products.

1.) Did beta testing really miss the fact that many users, perhaps especially in business environments, would not be able to install Affinity 2 programs on machines they've been using with Affinity 1 for years?

2.) Did beta testing really miss the fact that widely-used image management software like Faststone Image Viewer and XnView MP could no longer be used to launch Affinity 2 unless users wrote their own .bat files or obtained a helper program to serve as an intermediary program launcher?

Everyday users (mostly non-technical types) discovered these two problems in the first seconds after downloading and running the Affinity 2 installers. Did not one beta tester report these problems?

Just these two foundational issues have generated many new forum topics and more are appearing today. Some of the topics now have hundreds of posts. How many users have time to wade through hundreds of posts in hopes of finding a solution?

Affinity users have spent days working on the software to make it usable. Many are trying to determine whether or not to continue to use Affinity 2 software. They worry about the future of their businesses. If they choose to continue, how is it possible to incorporate Affinity 2 software into familiar workflows used for years with Affinity 1?

It appears that Affinity support personnel were taken by surprise by the deluge of questions and complaints concerning the unusability of Affinity 2 software. 

I admire the Affinity support personnel who have worked patiently, courteously, and it seems frantically, to respond to users about these problems and to develop workarounds that will make Affinity 2 functional.

==============
I understand from Mark's posts this morning that a second installer alternative that eliminates these two install and launch problems will be available soon, or to quote Mark "we hope it won't be long." An MSI installer will be made available that enables users to avoid the dysfunction caused by the MSIX installer currently in use.

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/171506-installing-affinity-photo-2-in-windows-11-from-the-serif-msix-file/&do=findComment&comment=988773

All this frustration, turmoil, disillusionment, anger, and time-wasting could have been avoided by implementing a proper beta testing program. Affinity 2 now calls to mind a Dilbert cartoon, with sales hype taking precedence over user requirements and preferences. 

==============
I have commented previously about the inadequate beta testing of Affinity software. Things are missed in Affinity beta testing that the average, non-technical user discovers immediately. Testing now seems worse than ever as the most obvious installation and startup failures are not being caught. Perhaps it is just cheaper to do it this way--limited testing followed by mopping up after users complain.

Examples of surprises with previous releases:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/87151-lost-keyboard-shortcuts-170-split/#comment-462884

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/87186-file-sizes-in-photo-for-windows-170-split/#comment-473255

[tudor]

6 minutes ago, Granddaddy said:

All this frustration, turmoil, disillusionment, anger, and time-wasting could have been avoided by implementing a proper beta testing program.

Amen to that. They kept total silence for almost a year, no more updates, no nothing. I almost believed that the secrecy and the lack of a beta-testing program were meant to protect some breakthrough new features from v2 (that didn't come, unfortunately).

[ChopperNova]

But, but... Serif Techs determined that 99.9% of the people would be able to install without issues. Remember, they determined it and independently came to the same accurate-within-a-tenth-of-a-percent statistic that MS did in their marketing materials. 🙄

Seriously, there's some fundamental disconnect between Serif and their customers that is incredibly frustrating.

While their products aren't feature-for-feature replacements for Adobe's, they could be a credible alternative for many, even professionals. But they have no clue how professionals (or advanced "creatives", etc) actually work, and worse, DON'T CARE. I mean, one of the official reasons given for their exclusive use of MSIX was that it integrates better with Microsoft Photos. That's the one "workflow" they expected you to use, (had the installer worked, that is.)

They solved the MSIX fiasco, but they really need to engage with real world use cases. Not just with proper betas to kill bugs, but to improve the usability of their products within the customers' workflow.

[deeds]

One of the busiest threads over the past 12 months was about whether or not Affinity had been abandoned.

 

Perhaps the mistake made was attempting to bring all 3 of their products out at the same time, updated as a "Suite" so that they could maximise revenue by appealing to those wanting to buy the suite package, thereby spreading their programming team far too thinly over the three products at once, for a very long time, for very few significant gains, one of which is a completely unnecessary effort to remake the UI systems.

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, deeds said:

Perhaps the mistake made was attempting to bring all 3 of their products out at the same time,

They have to all come out at the same time, on all 3 systems. Otherwise the interoperability of the suite is broken.

[deeds]

2 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

They have to all come out at the same time, on all 3 systems. Otherwise the interoperability of the suite is broken.

And that's, perhaps, their mistake.

If users were asked: would you prefer staggered, significantly updated releases of your pet products, or a somewhat unimpressive suite release?

How many do you think care that Affinity is, or is not, a complete suite?

 

Especially given that Designer and Photo are both able to be either Vector or Bitmap focused, in their own ways, they inherently somewhat are the one or the other.

 

And Publisher simple isn't good enough as a professional publishing tool to require the other two as a suite to feed it pro content. 

 

 

 

[Tia Lapis]

The world doesn't consist out of pro users. There are lots of semi pro and hobby users, too. Not every decision can be made for the few pro users. Would be economical suicide.

[Aongus Collins]

Credit where credit's due: Serif addressed the MSIX issue within 3 working days. And apologised for their offices being closed over the intervening weekend

As a pro user, I never put a 0.0 version on a production system. It goes on a spare until I get a chance to test. So far V2 of Affinity is very stable for my workflow, so long as hardware acceleration is disabled.

[NewInBoston]

2 minutes ago, Aongus Collins said:

Credit where credit's due: Serif addressed the MSIX issue within 3 working days. And apologised for their offices being closed over the intervening weekend

As a pro user, I never put a 0.0 version on a production system. It goes on a spare until I get a chance to test. So far V2 of Affinity is very stable for my workflow, so long as hardware acceleration is disabled.

V2 has a very bright future. It seems the entire core of the software needed to fork to v2 to clear the way for 2.0 roadmap and shed eliminate whatever technical barriers existed in v1.

Considering the complexity of StudioLink, something even Adobe can’t replicate without rewriting 20+ years of legacy code stacked on legacy code across all of their apps, this release is pretty smooth.

Forums are never a reliable indicator of overall satisfaction because happy users are busy working. 

 

 

 

[deeds]

47 minutes ago, Tia Lapis said:

The world doesn't consist out of pro users. There are lots of semi pro and hobby users, too. Not every decision can be made for the few pro users. Would be economical suicide.

You've completely misunderstood.

 

If there's no need for the affiliated apps for pro users, there's no need for the affiliated apps for any users.

 

In other words, there's no reason NOT to do staggered, specialised, optimal updates to each product as and when the team can, rather than spreading the team across all systems and all apps all at once. 

[deeds]

2 minutes ago, NewInBoston said:

V2 has a very bright future. It seems the entire core of the software needed to fork to v2 to clear the way for 2.0 roadmap and shed eliminate whatever technical barriers existed in v1.

Considering the complexity of StudioLink, something even Adobe can’t replicate without rewriting 20+ years of legacy code stacked on legacy code across all of their apps, this release is pretty smooth.

Forums are never a reliable indicator of overall satisfaction because happy users are busy working. 

 

 

 

This sounds like hopium.

[NewInBoston]

3 minutes ago, deeds said:

This sounds like hopium.

It’s so weird how some people are able to enjoy things, isn’t it? 

Maybe take a break from the forums for a bit, touch some grass, go for a walk. 

[RichardMH]

Out of interest, what do Xnview say about your problem?

[deeds]

21 minutes ago, NewInBoston said:

It’s so weird how some people are able to enjoy things, isn’t it? 

Maybe take a break from the forums for a bit, touch some grass, go for a walk. 

Now building a straw man attached to an implicit ad-hom. 

[debraspicher]

20 minutes ago, deeds said:

Now building a straw man attached to an implicit ad-hom. 

Grow up. This is yet another childish response. You have called multiple people too young to understand something being said with almost no prompt. People are allowed to disagree with you without you smothering them with your backbiting commentary. This behavior has become so annoying and relentless from the so-called "pros" on this forum.

[debraspicher]

FWIW, I agree with the main points in the OP. Maybe a tad overdramatic in portions, but particularly on the subject of betas I agree wholeheartedly. By time we get a beta the major decisions are made. We're always told they are working on something, but by time we get the feature, it's sort of like they stopped where they stopped and we are just looking into bugs. Expand Stroke comes to mind as it is in an unfinished state as far as I'm concerned if it only works in certain situations and not others.

The other portion I would like to quote (but I am on mobile), is where I will paraphrase but it was described perfectly. It always seemed like sales or marketing is running the show. That is the feeling I have held from the betas and how criticism is tackled. We can't see what they are working on, obvs, so can only go based on what is revealed here. Because so little is revealed, we don't know how deep our feedback penetrates. Wishful thinking would say we should have a more open beta which is more pre-development than post-development. I feel like staff puts a lot of energy into what they do, at least from what I have seen over the years through the forum.

Post V2 launch is the most responsive and forward I have seen staff here though and that says something.

[RichardMH]

PS If you do write to Xnview perhaps ask why you can open a file in Affinity with a right click in Explorer but need a workaround for Xnview?

[deeds]

1 hour ago, debraspicher said:

Grow up. This is yet another childish response. You have called multiple people too young to understand something being said with almost no prompt. People are allowed to disagree with you without you smothering them with your backbiting commentary. This behavior has become so annoying and relentless from the so-called "pros" on this forum.

 

1 hour ago, debraspicher said:

Grow up. This is yet another childish response. You have called multiple people too young to understand something being said with almost no prompt. People are allowed to disagree with you without you smothering them with your backbiting commentary. This behavior has become so annoying and relentless from the so-called "pros" on this forum.

treated as he treated. 

 

 

[rawii22]

2 hours ago, deeds said:

This sounds like hopium.

As for this, @NewInBoston's point is correct. Adobe is super entrenched in their ways. If you've used Adobe you probably know what I mean. If you're a pro in the industry and if you've used Affinity happily for any period of time, you should want to support this company. Adobe does not need more people selling their souls back to them. Affinity has consistently proven a concerted desire to do better since day one. Each update has always been better and faster.

If people are creating one of the biggest storms of rage only now for the first time in Affinity history, it must because they're so used to Affinity doing things properly, implying that the first mistake they ever make is inevitably going to be seen as the worst thing that has ever happened and worth hating them for.

30 minutes ago, deeds said:

 

treated as he treated. 

 

 

Also this is a little dramatic. One injustice is never solved with another injustice.

2 hours ago, deeds said:

You've completely misunderstood.

 

If there's no need for the affiliated apps for pro users, there's no need for the affiliated apps for any users.

 

In other words, there's no reason NOT to do staggered, specialised, optimal updates to each product as and when the team can, rather than spreading the team across all systems and all apps all at once. 

"If there's no need for the affiliated apps for pro users, there's no need for the affiliated apps for any users."

Also thought this line was pretty funny, seeing as Affinity had to slowly and begrudgingly gain the trust of professionals for the last 8 years, and now professionals literally want to claim it all for themselves.... It's because of this that companies like Adobe move to subscriptions, because they KNOW that all the serious pros will pay literally ANYTHING for actually design functional software.

You're welcome Affinity!

[deeds]

Far too much effort has been expended obfuscating and distracting from the OP's points, which are very good, they have made excellent points (use a Trump voice in your head). 

I, for one, agree with the OP. I'm not at all sure how all this transpired in this manner, but am sure that a listening to real beta testing testers of real usages and roadmaps oriented around missing highly requested features AND consideration of all users and significant use cases would dramatically improve these products.

 

If this doesn't happen for a version 2 rebuild, which it mostly clearly hasn't, I'm not sure it ever will. 

Anyone want to try counter the OP's post, as a whole?

 

[Andy05]

6 hours ago, NewInBoston said:

Forums are never a reliable indicator of overall satisfaction because happy users are busy working. 

Amen to that! I used to administrate and moderate some public MMO game fora with hundreds of thousands of members each for more than a decade.

Unfortunately, most forum users think a forum would represent the overall opinion among all users. But with just a tiny bit of common sense one would figure out that this can't be right.

Persons who are annoyed about something far quicker want to vent out their frustration in places like a public forum than the vast majority of users, who will never find their ways into the forum and/or comment something "Yeah, the apps just do what they should - working fine for me".

[deeds]

3 hours ago, rawii22 said:

Also this is a little dramatic. One injustice is never solved with another injustice.

 

is this deliberately irony?

[deeds]

47 minutes ago, Andy05 said:

Unfortunately, most forum users think a forum would represent the overall opinion among all users. 

 

Do they, and is it?

[Granddaddy]

16 hours ago, RichardMH said:

PS If you do write to Xnview perhaps ask why you can open a file in Affinity with a right click in Explorer but need a workaround for Xnview?

I've not written to XnView, but I've written to Faststone a few times asking them to support APhoto files like XnView MP does (display the thumbnail retrieved from the .afphoto file). They haven't responded. I'll write again soon pointing out the many Faststone users in these forums who have contributed to Affinity's decision to provide an MSI installation package. The programs are free for personal and educational use so there is little financial incentive for Faststone to provide additional functions. Who knows what else the developers are doing? I can't find much about the company, if it really is a company and not just a dedicated programmer working from home.

 

[RichardMH]

I send images to Photo from Capture One and it somehow accesses the default apps list and Affinity Photo is just there. I've written to FastRawViewer and he's looking at it and will probably have something in a future update. There's a few other things I use where its complicated.