Canva

[VectorVonDoom]

1 hour ago, ADRs said:

maybe it's a sign...

A few people have mentioned that but it's way too buggy for me. Impressive that a one man band can add so much functionality but it's at the expense of quality.

[Bit Disappointed]

Canva has 135 million monthly active users, and dreams of many more. Affinity has 3 million customers who have purchased the programs, which are notably known for NOT wanting to spend a lot of money on software.

You have nothing to threaten with. Canva dreams of growth, and achieves it through the large markets and customer groups. The small loyal Affinity club's maneuvers are less than meaningless, and you can expect that it has been accounted for in the risk assessment as a minor point.

You should worry more about what actually happens with Affinity. If you change your minds, and would like to pay a subscription, but Affinity is phased out or unbearably changed towards the needs of the broad and unqualified masses' graphics, so that you cannot be creative yourselves, then it doesn't matter anyway.

See the whole thing from a higher perspective. Canva is the most irrelevant company that could acquire Serif, and I cannot take the talk about Canva enriching Serif with resources seriously. I cannot see Affinity as a product with significant growth potential in itself, and certainly not as products Canva knows anything about, and suddenly will be experts in. Serif is a sardine in the Atlantic Ocean.

Turn the discussion towards the future of the products as a whole; it's not certain there will be any product to cry over the price of in 5 years.

[Laurents]

3 minutes ago, jp.ptn said:

Maybe I'm just being cynical – justifiably so, with all the enshittification we've been seeing – but this doesn't sound like good news for the users at all.

I'd honestly love Serif to prove me wrong! However, if there's an unreasonable price increase to push users towards subscriptions, or it becomes sub-only, I'm out. If you start pushing flavor-of-the-month tech like AI, especially opt-out, I'm out. If "growth at all costs" becomes the motivation behind the Affinity suite, then I'll lament the loss and move on. I seriously hope that doesn't happen.

I've been here, Its not up to Serif to prove us wrong its Canva and they are a billion dollar + company. In the end they could care less. Ive heard it all before, "nothing will change." They say that to prevent people from leaving, first to their employees, and lastly to users.  When one of my favorite employers was bought out.  I was the first out the door, after the sale and a few months later I talked with my old boss and he said "They lied to me" and he was super frustrated. and boy did they loose a lot of customers. 1200 contracts in the first month alone.

In the end its not serif anymore period. Like @Bit Disappointed said "There's much, much more at stake than the price. "

[Boldlinedesign]

5 minutes ago, VectorVonDoom said:

A few people have mentioned that but it's way too buggy for me. Impressive that a one man band can add so much functionality but it's at the expense of quality.

When was the last time you used Vectorstyler? They just released last week a giant update to version 1.2 with a lot of stability fixes and improvements. There are some bugs but I use the program day in and day out each day and rarely have major issues

[voom]

Quote

• Affinity is joining the Canva family

Families can be quite dysfunctional. This is not good news, and is badly disguised as such. 

[Gaz]

I’m sorry to hear Serif has been acquired by Canva. I guess there must have been financial reasons for it. Another British company sold off. 😏

It’s hard not to be pessimistic, as I’ve seen it so many times. Hopefully there will be a few more years of V2 before the ‘exciting’ news that V3 will offer subscription as an option. “Don’t worry it’s just an option ! perpetual licences will still be available etc…”. Fast forward a few years “We are excited to announce V4 will be subscription only and the super exciting news that Canva has now joined the Adobe Family, which we feel will be a perfect fit for our customers”. Hope I’m wrong, but this feels like playbook stuff. The end of another era ?

[stuck]

2 hours ago, henryanthony said:

LOL! I still have Adobe CS2 on my XP machine! If worse comes to worse...

Why use an XP machine?  I've got CS2 on my Win 10 box.

[big smile]

Genuinely heart broken about this. I know I shouldn't jump to conclusions. But every time one of my favorite independent companies gets acquired by a bigger player, it never ends well. 

I so hope that Affinity continues to offer perpetual licenses at a reasonable price. As much as I love Affinity, it's main selling point is that it offers a perpetual licenses at a reasonable price.

If perpetual licenses become ridiculous expensive (in an attempt to nudge people to subscription), or worse still they switch to subscription only then I will have zero reason to stick with Affinity. 

I think for V2 everything should be fine. It's V3 and beyond that I worry will make a shift to subscription only (or a ridiculous for perpetual to nudge people to subscription).

[Deschdy]

Ich muss sagen, dass die Nachricht mich beunruhigt. Ich liebe Affinity, so wie es ist, und ein grosses Plus für mich war damals, als ich von Adobe zu Affinity wechselte, dass Affinity KEIN Abo-Modell war. Nun bin ich mir nicht mehr sicher, ob das so bleiben wird, denn die Aussage, dass Affinity in Version 2 kein Abo-Modell werden wird, heisst ja nicht, dass dies in Version 3 ebenfalls so bleiben wird. Für mich wäre dies ein Grund, Affinity Good bye zu sagen. Ich hoffe sehr, dass ich mich täusche und dass Affinity das bleibt, was es bis jetzt für mich war, eine grossartige Software, frei und unabhängig, ohne Cloud und ohne Abo-Modell.

[Figmatt]

20 minutes ago, Chills said:

I don't have a problem with the integration. It makes a lot of sense.  Certainly from an engineering point of view.  It also means that for many users, like myself as a magazine editor, I can be using publisher and fix a page by using the other two personas without having to start a new app. However, last night i did run up photo to do some work external to Publisher. So it is three stand alone apps.

Yes, it is understandable from an engineering point of view, but that's not to say it's the best way of engineering it. Far from it. Other "suites" like Office and (shock) Adobe do it a different way to great success.

The ability to create, say, tables can only be done in Publisher but this is an artificial limit. I have a document with a able in that I open in Designer whenever I need to insert one in a document. After pasting it in, it's fully editable. So, yes three standalone apps with artificially limited functionality by choosing which apps get which UI elements.

[thedzko]

5 hours ago, Ash said:

There are genuinely no plans for us to remove the availability of our apps to purchase as a perpetual licence. I will say it is possible in the future there may be an optional way to have them via a Canva subscription plan (which could also include other integrations with Canva / cloud services which you would not get with the perpetual version). But it’s very early days and there isn't a firm plan on that.

I honestly think you'll all be pleased with the outcome of this. With the additional financial backing we have no pressure at all to release a V3 anytime soon, so can be 100% focused on ploughing all our efforts into free V2 updates for the foreseeable future - and we've got some great updates in the works. 

Realise this announcement has come as a surprise and I understand the feeling of uncertainty which is brings, but I do think it's all very positive for the company and our customers. 

I can, in all honesty, see something good coming out of this, as anybody could, even though I despise what this company stands for in terms of cheap-looking/unoptimized software products and their opportunistic and crappy AI tools. As demonstrated by the possibility of integrating Canva's cloud services now:

5 hours ago, Ash said:

(which could also include other integrations with Canva / cloud services which you would not get with the perpetual version)

1. So maybe you guys could use those to create an Affinity-focussed Fonts subscription service, as an alternative to Adobe Fonts without the need of worrying about the costs of contracts, infrastructure and more, which would end-up reflecting in the prices of your software if it is not well managed.
2. And similarly, some Collaboration Tools which could extrapolate the use of the .aff[design, pub, photo] file format.

In the case of the "rushing to V3", we can see something reasonable in not wanting to rush to V3 in order to stay afloat, but I'm not sure if the outcome of not wanting to "bother" your users for a product that could deserve that pricing model every 4–5 years is worth selling yourselves to this uninspiring company whose work have been the same as the one Adobe is moving forward to: we want to be THE ultimate designer that small businesses should depend on.

But, at the same time, not much good can be expected from such a company when we take our blinders off...

Canva's work and philosophy so far has been the antithesis of your achieved goals so far, even if you guys consider that they align, because what you all been showing to all of us is far from just the "creativity for all" mentality.

[Mithferion]

15 minutes ago, Bit Disappointed said:

Turn the discussion towards the future of the products as a whole; it's not certain there will be any product to cry over the price of in 5 years.

To me, that's a given. FreeHand will come to many's mind. 

Best regards! 

[R.I.P. Affinity 26.03.2024]

5 hours ago, Ash said:

but I do think it's all very positive for the company and our customers

I hope the money You got really worth it. Rumors say its 1 billion. Nice. Really happy for you. But I don't see anything good for users. I moved from Adobe 3 years ago. And now You adobed me again.

[Darner]

Just now, darwinwasright said:

I hope the money You got really worth it. Rumors say its 1 billion. Nice. Really happy for you. But I don't see anything good for users. I moved from Adobe 3 years ago. And now You adobed me again.

"Adobed us"😂 🙌🏻

[Danielcz]

3 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

man, there is something weird in that Affinity LOGO maybe its time for a shape change   To me it doesnt even fit to that font.
What does even Affinity logo represents? Is there some idea behind it?

[M-rivers]

Well... it was ok while it lasted. Now I know for sure that much of what I hoped would make it into Designer is never going to happen. One thing for sure, its time to look for an alternative to what was an alternative.

Whenever an acquisition occurs, the standard BS greasing up language comes out. "I'm excited about this", "I'm excited about that". I would prefer a strait up - "This is what's going down, and be happy I'm even telling you. This product isn't going to be developed as originally intended going forward - oh and by the way... It's going to be subscription based starting with V3! Isn't that just great, I'm so excited for the future and I can't wait to get on this wonderful journey!
Oh, and btw... a subscription model is best for our users, because we care. Barf! 🤬 And that's it! end of story. No need to ease the wounds for the sensitive.

Right now they say "No subscription for the foreseeable future". But wait and see, it's standard corp. practice to wait at least a year or two. I'm sure in two years the name Affinity will be gone as well as the perpetual license.

So why then bother with a fire side Q&A about the acquisition? I don't care about the acquisition, and I know you guys don't care either. It's more a standard practice to keep the user base from fleeing in anger over the annoucement. Let's remember, Canva paid a hefty price and they intend on recoup this investment. And so it's important that we the users play along, because without the users, there is no product. That's what this friendly chat is about.

Well... now that I've said my peace. I want to congratulate the heads of these two companies for a spectacular job well done on this deal. I'm sure you all will have a great bonus coming. Hmmm, curious... just one last thing though, after the acquisition, we already know what's going to happen to the apps, but what's going to happen to the little people in the company? You know, what always happens in these cases? Oops sorry, you mean they actually believe that nothing internal will change? Is that what they were told? Sorry didn't mean to let the cat out of the bag.

[brentpruitt]

beyond disappointed…

i recently purchased the affinity suite to rid myself of adobe.

canva is a joke…

a template, cookie-cutter solution for powerpoint presentations.

not for industry professionals.

this is a good 'exit strategy' for affinity shareholders.

not so much for those looking for alternatives to the anti-user business models & corporate monopolies.

affinity has just joined the 'good ol boys' club.

& it is sad to see.

i imagine it's too late for a refund.

[esto]

 

Fun game: pretend you don’t know what this announcement is, then mute the audio and watch this guy closely. What would you guess he’s telling you?
 

He’s lost his job? The family dog’s died? Bad news about grandma, but we’ll remember the good times? The project is going to be past deadline, in fact he’s not even started it, but you can’t have a refund because he’s spent the money already?

The body language is fascinating to watch (is that guilt, sorrow? Why are his eyes red - has he been crying? Why is he so evasive?), and it’s all the antithesis of ‘quite an exciting day’.

[Dee3D]

This is a real shame. I've used Serif products since the 1990s and was pleased to discover Affinity Photo as a good alternative to Photoshop when that brand turned subscription-only. Very sad to see a good UK company that has been around for years, get swallowed up by some overseas company who aren't even a good fit for Affinity's products. Truly disheartening.

[Duskstalker]

looks like affinity V2 will be the next adobe CS6.

i dont know where to go after that. im running a business off of affinity. 21st century sucks, predatory hypercapitalism everywhere.

[SKent]

Sigh. Only piece of software I recommend to everyone and the next version is going to be locked behind subscription or closed down. Thanks. I'm glad we get the fake happy corporate double speak too. Enjoy the money and flipping some other company I guess. 

[Chills]

2 minutes ago, SKent said:

Sigh. Only piece of software I recommend to everyone

It was for me too!

Not sure what to do now.

[jacekl]

 

* created with love in Canva

 

[ACDesignStudio]

Though I haven't felt a need to use Canva, I wish Affinity all the best in this venture. I looked at Canva a few times years ago but chose the route of learning graphic design on my own. I feel more fulfilled creating my own templates and assets. I never had PhotoShop and I first bought Affinity Photo several years ago. I have never been sorry. I love my Affinity V2 Suite and how easily accessible and affordable the apps have been. Thank you, Serif, for all that you have done. I wish you years of continued success! 

[debraspicher]

Dangling the "future update" carrot in front of your users for so long is why Serif is in the position they are in today. Just want to underscore that that this is yet another carrot they are tossing at users with promises of happy endings. Yeah, OK.

I've been done with using broken software that constantly fudges output and can't even be bothered to give me proper viewport of what I'm working on, so I've already been transitioning away back to Adobe.

I saw this in my email and if there is a word that describes the opposite of shocked but with similar intensity, that's where I am. I actually appreciate Serif, for once, delivering on clarity where the priorities actually lie. So yes, with 0 regrets, I now watch this space as a piece of software history and will ignore all toxic moonspeak that the average user will be continue to be subjected to in order to justify a poor history on bug fixes and delivery.

Also, I'm sure someone else has posted this already, but this aged great:

Thank you to staff and I sincerely hope this means good things to you each individually. It's been a pleasure.