Please offer .exe or .msi for V2 instead of .MSIX

[TARmeZAN]

I had the same frustration. I like to have custom control over how my applications are installed on my machine (as I have 4 hard drives with individual purposes).
Also, the upgrades in V2 weren't as grand as they were made out to be, so I uninstalled and asked for a refund, which they honored.
V1 is great for my purposes, and I'll only move up to V2 when the features are worth it, and the install is customizable.

[Komatös]

I don't understand this discussion since the beginning, why do you need, unless you don't have enough space on the system HDD/ssd, to store the programs on another HDD/SSD? This makes no sense at all! 
Because if Windows has to be reinstalled, most programs have to be reinstalled as well, there the mouse doesn't bite off a thread.

With macOS, iOS and Linux you also have no choice! There the paths are predetermined! And with macOS and iOS programs also run in an isolated layer, which is nothing other than the sandbox at MS.

[DDNN]

On 12/24/2022 at 3:36 AM, Komatös said:

I don't understand this discussion since the beginning, why do you need, unless you don't have enough space on the system HDD/ssd, to store the programs on another HDD/SSD? This makes no sense at all! 
Because if Windows has to be reinstalled, most programs have to be reinstalled as well, there the mouse doesn't bite off a thread.

With macOS, iOS and Linux you also have no choice! There the paths are predetermined! And with macOS and iOS programs also run in an isolated layer, which is nothing other than the sandbox at MS.

Hi @Komatös. I have a slightly unrelated question for you: which web browser do you use? (if you don't mind answering)

[DDNN]

Wow, wow, wow... It is a lucky thing I had chosen to wait before purchasing. I did notice this new .MISX format but I didn't realise just how workflow-impeding it would be when working with other apps. Some of us really do need to have a .EXE or .MSI installer, myself included.

[AdamStanislav]

On 12/24/2022 at 2:36 AM, Komatös said:

unless you don't have enough space on the system HDD/ssd

Given how many PC makers decide to make the system drive very small, that is exactly the problem: There is not enough space to install on the system drive.

And it actually makes sense that the system drive should be used just for the system because if the system has to compete with every single application in accessing the same disc, then everything will inevitably slow down. But if the OS has a drive of its own, it can run as fast as the hardware permits.

So, for a software to force itself to install on the system drive is a cardinal sin of computing. And not just under Windows, though the Windows lack of the Unix-style user-friendly mounting of drives to different paths contributes to the sin.

[Komatös]

6 hours ago, DDNN said:

Hi @Komatös. I have a slightly unrelated question for you: which web browser do you use? (if you don't mind answering)

I use mostly Vivaldi and sometimes Firefox.

 

3 hours ago, AdamStanislav said:

Given how many PC makers decide to make the system drive very small, that is exactly the problem: There is not enough space to install on the system drive.

The working speed of a PC is not influenced by the number of installed programs, but by the number of simultaneously executed processes.
CPU speed and the amount and clock rates of RAM memory are decisive here. In some cases, the GPU is also an accelerating tool.
And I often see desktops cluttered with program links and directories. That delays the display of the desktop including UI when starting and using Windows.

And with ready PCs that have Windows 10/11 installed, you could delete the recovery partition and allocate the freed up space to the Windows partition. And with ready PCs, you should first uninstall all the crapware after the initial setup anyway. This also includes the unnecessary test versions of antimalware. With Defender, Microsoft has an antimalware solution that makes the purchase of third-party solutions unnecessary.

[AdamStanislav]

7 hours ago, Komatös said:

The working speed of a PC is not influenced by the number of installed programs

I didn’t say it was. I said many computer makers give you a small system drive and a large drive D, so it is important to be able to choose where to install your software. For example, I am typing this on a really good computer whose drive C formatted capacity is 117 GB, while its drive D has the formatted capacity of 911 GB. So I install most important software (including v.1 of Affinity software) to drive D, and less important software to one of several external drives, each of at least 4 TB (slightly less formatted).

You asked why anyone would install software on a drive other than the system drive, and I explained why I do on this computer. My other computer also came with just one small system SSD, which I replaced with a 2 TB SSD (since it is SSD and not a hard drive, it is OK to have the system and the software on it because there is no time wasted by physically moving over the platters as it is with an HD). That happens to be the computer I installed Affinity Suite 2.0 to, so in my case it did not matter they used the .msix type of installer. But I fully understand why it matters to others.

Come to think of it, I actually was annoyed by it installing it to a directory/folder that Windows 11 absolutely refuses me to access (because Microsoft thinks we all are stupid and don’t know what we are doing, even though I personally have been computing since before Microsoft was born, actually even since before Unix was created, and of course many others are fully competent computer admins and users). And because I cannot access it, I cannot create shortcuts for the Affinity suite on my desktop. And that is just pathetic.

[Bartman66]

Yes, please offer an msi version. My workflow is based around. Custom dashboard which need to find the exes file. As sitvit with MSIX and protected install location, it does not work.  

[DDNN]

I feel like this guy just likes to argue, which is sad.

If users want/need the standard .exe or .msi files, that's their choice. Most users would not have expected to get this new format. And some users like the freedom to install the apps to wherever they choose. Also their choice.

Respect it.

[Ruzgfpegk]

I don't know if I'm misunderstanding something about the .msix format, but it seems to be way easier to "hack" (in the "twist it to our needs" sense, for lack of a better word) than traditional .exe installers.

I uncompressed the Affinity Designer 2 .msix file using 7-Zip on a secondary drive, went into the "App" folder and launched Designer.exe as if it was a semi-portable app (by which I mean that the .exe could be anywhere but the profile stays local), registered my trial on it and it worked quite well for basic operations. I didn't test it in depth.

Using Sysinternal's handle64 tool I didn't see any files opened elsewhere in the filesystem besides in C:\Users\USER\.affinity\Common\2.0\ and C:\Users\USER\.affinity\Designer\2.0\ .

I could also use that Designer.exe as an external editing application from DxO PhotoLab and it received and opened the file correctly.

I'm not sure if the issues mentioned by Patrick could be reproduced this way too? If not then this "manual install" could be a workaround in the meantime.

In other news, sadly I couldn't run the app in Linux/Wine this way (the old 1.9/1.10 installers just crashed due to some unsupported .NET 4 icon method, now the .exe can't find the DLLs in its own folder), but maybe a winetricks script could be enough now.

[Patrick Connor]

@Ruzgfpegk

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums (finally)

I have approved your (first) post as this is not the first time this work around has been suggested but, as I've said before, this is not a supported method of use for the software and will give a number of functionality problems immediately and going forward. I strongly recommend using the EXE/msi installers as soon as they are available.

 

[Patrick Connor]

 The Unsandboxed (MSI/EXE) Windows installs are now available to all. Sorry this took longer than we expected.

More information here