Canva

[VectorVonDoom]

2 minutes ago, Bryan Rieger said:

Can we please stop being so condescending and dismissive of others. I'm not a fan Canva, but I know many individuals, business, non-profit orgs, and large brands who absolutely love it, as it enables them to create effective communications/media without having to hire (and wait for) a professional, which they often can't afford anyway. As for large brands, it enables their marketing departments to move at pace assembling their own brand assets and scheduling the publishing of social media campaigns in a much faster, and more coordinated manner than was available before.

It's weird that some people don't understand that not everyone is artistic even more weird when you see some of the efforts posted online, you would think they would understand!

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

40 minutes ago, Mithferion said:

Hi, Ash.

As promised yesterday, I will share if this sounds good to me, and it sounds OK. Here is why:

• Pledge 1: The perpetual Licensing model is what attracted people in the first place, but I feel like if some kind of subscription appears, it will be seen as a Red Flag if offered from you. If Canva is the one adding the Affinity Suite with their current Pricing Plans, well, that'd be seen like an addition. Still, I've read some comments that the Canva Team has changed pricing policies and this will still keep us watching closely.

• Pledge 2: Keeping Affinity as it is also key: installed locally with no need of being connected to the Internet (except when activating the Product). Now, regarding the development and the speed in which new versions are delivered: we will see if more money brings that but I'm not sure that we'll see Features coming twice as fast or double of them in the same period of 3 moths (roughly) when new releases come out, as an example. 

• Pledge 3: I like this one. Hope it works great

• Pledge 4: This is a complex one, because as you know, people have been really vocal about demanding Features in the forums, so there are features (as the one you mention on Pledge 2) that you are aware that people want for yesterday. I will take y time to fill the form you provided as well.

We'll see if these pledges even last in the coming years.

Best regards!

Pledge 3 - why is this so good just now? Serif could have been giving away software to schools much earlier - it doesn't cost money for them to distribute software digital, if we compare how it was back in history with diskettes CD's and fat manuals...

Also, giving away software for free to kids that doesn't have the money, isn't a lost, it's just a win-win situation and has nothing to do with the ugly Canva dystopia...

[monzo]

13 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said:

Do a search. I am not your personal Google.

No, but you suggested you had knowledge of information relating to a fix if there are potential issues with future online activations, so my question wasn’t unreasonable, considering the concerns we have on protecting our purchases.

 I did actually search before asking you, and didn’t come up with any relevant results, so for now I’m assuming it isn’t going to be possible.

[Strangechilde]

Wow, it's getting hard to keep up with this thread!

Thank you Ash, and thank you to the rest of the team, for this. It really does help.

We're all still sad and worried, though, and at the heart of it, for me, as for some others here, is that it's Canva. I would really like some assurance that, in continuing to use the software we love in the way we want to use it, we will be able to keep Canva entirely at arm's length. Hopefully arm holding a ten foot bargepole duct taped to a riot shield at the business end.

I love Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. I do not like Canva, and I don't trust it.

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

44 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said:

That scenario has been raised in the past (not specifically about Canva). I invite you to search the forum for the discussions and possible courses of action. There is no need to repeat it all again here.

So you refuse to link us to this topic - in an thread that is the most populated thread in the Caffinity forum...

Such a nice bloke...

[jonwright]

I get that people may be concerned about the news, but many of the comments here are completely ludicrous and hyperbolic. Some of them read like a spoof.

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

45 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said:

Do you think Serif made decisions made on not being profitable?

I disagree. Macromedia was shut down to remove a (near, relatively peer) competitor from the market. Canva wants to compete with Adobe, not with Affinity.

You're talking just like you're involved in this tragic affair - are you a Quisling?

You are TOO optimistic to be believed on...

[monzo]

5 minutes ago, LondonSquirrel said:

I wrote it had been discussed in the past in these forums, with some possible solutions. That is true.

I'm not suggesting you're making it up, but I don't see how it would be possible to bypass online activation if required, that is handled by another company's servers, unless the software itself is either hacked, or an update removes that requirement. I've tried searching the forum again, and the only posts that come up relate concerns over the current take-over.

Some clarity from whoever is running this thing now would be helpful.

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

26 minutes ago, Flynnsworth said:

Like many I was shocked at yesterday’s announcement. These pledges are reassuring and dare I say it, they give me a tiny bit of optimism for what might be possible with greater funding and different skillsets.

More than anything, I hope the Affinity suite stays lean and fast. I’m all for carefully implemented new features, but I hope we don’t get Adobe style bloat.

Congratulations on the merger. I will reserve judgement for now, but there’s a huge opportunity for ‘Canva’ to prove us all wrong and to empower a community that Adobe lost many years ago.

This is just Ashleys damage control over yesterday show that was a mess..

And, don't be too optimistic - can't see any benefits of this in the future...

[dystopia]

15 minutes ago, AffinityMakesMeSad said:

Also, giving away software for free to kids that doesn't have the money, isn't a lost, it's just a win-win situation and has nothing to do with the ugly Canva dystopia...

You do realize that Canva gives away software for free, right? The subscription is only for Canva Pro. However anyone can use the regular Canva 100% completely free.

So, it actually took Canva acquiring Affinity for kids with no money to be able to get another win-win by having access to Affinity (which is something they never would have otherwise).

[Chills]

1 minute ago, monzo said:

I'm not suggesting you're making it up, but I don't see how it would be possible to bypass online activation if required, that is handled by another company's servers, unless the software itself is either hacked, or an update removes that requirement. I've tried searching the forum again, and the only posts that come up relate concerns over the current take-over.

Some clarity from whoever is running this thing now would be helpful.

There was the case that a few months into the Adobe CC that the licence servers went tits up and lots of users could not  start their CC Apps.  I think it only happened once or twice in the first 3-6 months.  Not heard anything since but then I don't use any Adobe CC stuff. 

The problem is a lot of people got burned by adobe promises and are very sceptical now looking at Canva.  Ash's  latest post seem to assuage fears there is a feeling of "we have heard it all before..." 

 

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

19 minutes ago, mehdy said:

Here we go 

 

This is how it will end - ONE subscription only will be offered - it will unlock Canva and Canva Suite (former Affinity Suite)...

 

[dystopia]

2 minutes ago, AffinityMakesMeSad said:

 

This is how it will end - ONE subscription only will be offered - it will unlock Canva and Canva Suite (former Affinity Suite)...

 

This makes sense for Canva. It also keeps Canva users subscribed to Canva, whereas in the past many people got started with Canva and then either moved to Adobe or Affinity as their skills advanced.

[monzo]

2 minutes ago, Chills said:

There was the case that a few months into the Adobe CC that the licence servers went tits up and lots of users could not  start their CC Apps.  I think it only happened once or twice in the first 3-6 months.  Not heard anything since but then I don't use any Adobe CC stuff. 

The problem is a lot of people got burned by adobe promises and are very sceptical now looking at Canva.  Ash's  latest post seem to assuage fears there is a feeling of "we have heard it all before..." 

 

At the moment I can download and access my products via the Affinity website - the questions remain as to how this will change - will we now all have to move to a new Canva admin system? Will Affinity be bundled in with the requirement for a Canva account? Who will be maintaining/running the App Store/iOS accounts? Etc.

So many questions, so little clarity.

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

6 minutes ago, dystopia said:

You do realize that Canva gives away software for free, right? The subscription is only for Canva Pro. However anyone can use the regular Canva 100% completely free.

So, it actually took Canva acquiring Affinity for kids with no money to be able to get another win-win by having access to Affinity (which is something they never would have otherwise).

NOTHING is free - we aren't stupid here...

[Chills]

6 minutes ago, dystopia said:

This makes sense for Canva. It also keeps Canva users subscribed to Canva, whereas in the past many people got started with Canva and then either moved to Adobe or Affinity as their skills advanced.

That makes some sense.

 

[dystopia]

Just now, BofG said:

Are you affiliated with Canva?

Seems a bit odd that you joined when the news broke and have only posted positive marketing messages.

I don't go on forums besides Reddit usually.

I have a Canva Pro subscription. I do occassional social media client work with it, and it has earned me 100 times the subscription price.

However, I have bought both Affinity Photo and Pixelmator Pro recently, and was actually in the process of trying to decide whether to move to Affinity or Pixelmator, with the plans to cancel my Canva Pro yearly subscription when it expires in a few months.

Then the news broke yesterday I am now more confused than ever.

[lphilpot]

9 minutes ago, dystopia said:

You do realize that Canva gives away software for free, right? The subscription is only for Canva Pro. However anyone can use the regular Canva 100% completely free.

So, it actually took Canva acquiring Affinity for kids with no money to be able to get another win-win by having access to Affinity (which is something they never would have otherwise).

...and usually free versions aren't worth using. You have to pay anyway. As someone already pointed out, TANSTAAFL. That's one of the big points here -- Affinity is at serious risk of being dumbed down for general consumption, rather than being enhanced for professional (level) usage. There are plenty of free tools already.

But despite the damage control follow-up announcement, I'll believe it when I see it. That's just SOP during takeovers -- Promise nothing will change, then pull the rug out. I hope I'm wrong, but Serif's trust level right now is near absolute zero.

[MarvinR]

Ash and the folks at Affinity have always done right by me in the past and I take him at his word. They brought us this far and I believe they will bring us more in the future. I don’t like the fact that some people are belittling the honesty and integrity of anyone based on absolutely nothing other than a crazy personal view. Let things work out and then make a decision that suits you. 

[mehdy]

Affinity & Canva this makes me realise how the situation goes, Let's see what happens in the next few updates remaining on V2.

[Thomas Bohn]

To be very honest, at the moment there would be only one way to convince me, that Serif and Affinity is in good hands but this is unrealistic at this point. So, a pledge is pretty much just that a pledge. I'm not very optimistic.

[R_G]

Just wanted to offer my thanks for these recently presented pledges, which (to me at least) offered both clarification and assurance regarding the future of the Affinity suite of products.

I for one greatly appreciate you making this announcement, as it does a lot to alleviate the fears I think many of us might have had about this new situation.

So thanks again and looking forward to the Affinity suite and its upcoming development! 🙂

All the best,

R_G

[lphilpot]

2 minutes ago, mehdy said:

Affinity & Canva this makes me realise how the situation goes, Let's see what happens in the next few updates remaining on V2.

Any time marketing-speak like "empower everyone", "vast range of templates", "anyone can take an idea and create something beautiful" and such gets thrown around, run the other way. It's just code for, "we're dumbing down the product". Anything worth using is worth learning. I'm not advocating needless complexity but, e.g., you can't write an operating system with batch files (to reference another area).

[GerritD]

I am a long term user of Canva (Free) and never, not even once did I get the feeling that Canva is restricting me so much that I either have to pay or move to another resource. The "free" bits have always been free and instead of being taken away and made harder to find over time, it's always been very accessible and a pleasurer to use. based on that, I am excited about this Canva acquisition. I have just recently purchased Affinity photo and see lot's of potential. So far, I am enjoying the software although improvement is most certainly needed. That all being said, I am excited to see what new updates we get and how things improve in the near future. And when talks starts of Subscriptions, as long as it's cheaper than the alternative, it might be worth it, not just to get amazing updates but also to keep the company going. I am not totally against something like that. We all have the option to stay or go I guess. Totally prefer the Pay for major version model, but it might not be the best model to use when trying to pay staff and keep the lights on. 🤍 all the best for the two teams

[R C-R]

The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!! 

Oh wait. No, it's not. There is as yet no good reason to believe we are being forced into a subscription model for the Affinity apps, certainly not one good enough for all the hysteria this topic & others have generated.