Canva

[R C-R]

2 minutes ago, Chills said:

So what they, in all good faith, plan to do today may be changed due to something Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, Coral, or even Monotype for that matter,  does next month.

Of course, it could go the other way, too. Canva is a very aggressive company with deep pockets, & a demonstrated ability to grow very quickly by discovering & exploiting underserved market segments.

[William Overington]

28 minutes ago, R C-R said:

That's how I interpret it too. In particular, I do not think shaping means making a commitment to sharing any of the ongoing development work with the user community.

Yet if Canva Affinity chose to do that, then that would be a significant change. A press release about it might well get lots of good publicity and that might help the business. It would put Canva Affinity into a leading league of its own and Canva Affinity could lead with innovation and development in the industry sector.

William

 

[R C-R]

5 minutes ago, William Overington said:

Yet if Canva Affinity chose to do that, then that would be a significant change.

Doing that would incur the same problems that prompted Serif to quit sharing road maps with users years ago. That has not changed.

[William Overington]

Just now, R C-R said:

Doing that would incur the same problems that prompted Serif to quit sharing road maps with users years ago. That has not changed.

What problems please? I either never knew of that sharing or I have forgotten.

William

 

[R C-R]

2 minutes ago, William Overington said:

What problems please?

Do a forum search on "road map" & see for yourself.

[SrPx]

One key aspect, for me, is that it would seem that a lot of people think that there is or must be a level of "certainty" about the future of X or Y software in general, while that has really never been the case, with any brand or vendor. The situation with the 4 pledges is just like what we have had in  the past with most companies, whether they made pledges or not, or roadmaps, or etc. As history later on demonstrated constantly, stuff happens even with the industry standards.  People probably want more certainty (or a false sensation of security) than it could be real, in the modern scenarios with tech. For many things currently going on in the IT world, art, and other areas, we might need to remember that all is always changing and requiring adaptation from us.  Several of my paid main tools stopped to be produced anymore (and not to be forked, as most were proprietary software), both in 2D and 3D. This will keep happening just like when a hammer in your garage breaks and you have to replace it with a new one (that's really how I see it now. 30 years ago it was different, yep). But following the analogy, while the old hammer keeps working, I'm gonna use it as long as it lasts. Not figuratively speaking, some of my physical tools never needed a single replacement. So, there's that.

[William Overington]

13 hours ago, R C-R said:

Do a forum search on "road map" & see for yourself.

Well, I did the search but have not found out.

William

 

[walt.farrell]

14 hours ago, William Overington said:

Well, no matter how willing they are to be guided by our ideas and feedback, they cannot be guided by our ideas and feedback if we don't provide them with any ideas and feedback.

 

Serif has had the Feedback section of these forums for years now, William. And many users have contributed their ideas there over the years. I think they just expect us to keep doing that, using the existing mechanisms they already have provided.

[William Overington]

I was playing the My Mix video sequence on YouTube while eating breakfast.

An advert for Affinity played.

"Hey Hey" music and fast moving images, not at all like the ambience when I am using Affinity products.

Perhaps there could be an advert of someone gently painting a landscape while music like this is playing.

 

William

 

[Alfred]

6 minutes ago, William Overington said:

Perhaps there could be an advert of someone gently painting a landscape while music like this is playing.

Why not someone gently painting a picture of a trout?

[William Overington]

2 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Why not someone gently painting a picture of a trout?

Because such pictures are usually of a trout removed from its habitat and harmed. 

If you have in mind a picture of the trout swimming in clear water then fine.

William

 

[William Overington]

17 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Serif has had the Feedback section of these forums for years now, William. And many users have contributed their ideas there over the years. I think they just expect us to keep doing that, using the existing mechanisms they already have provided.

Well, there could be a new ambience to how things are done, seizing the opportunity that the new ownership could bring. Or that opportunity could be grumbled away.

William

 

[Alfred]

11 minutes ago, William Overington said:

Perhaps there could be an advert of someone gently painting a landscape while music like this is playing

 

4 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Why not someone gently painting a picture of a trout?

I always associate the ’Trout’ quintet with the iconic performance where the cellist was Jacqueline du Pré, but it’s interesting to hear another version where the cellist is Jane Salmon.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, William Overington said:

Well, I did the search but have not found out.

You seem not to have looked very hard. See for example https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/120067-19x-future-development-plan-road-map/#comment-654005

but there are many others.

 

[dominik]

2 hours ago, William Overington said:

Perhaps there could be an advert of someone gently painting a landscape while music like this is playing.

 

This is going way off-topic of this thread and posting music videos does not help (or contribute) either on the topic. Please stay more focused. Thank you.

d.

[Alfred]

38 minutes ago, dominik said:

This is going way off-topic of this thread and posting music videos does not help (or contribute) either on the topic. Please stay more focused. Thank you.

d.

Well, there is at least a connection between Canva and painting on a canvas!

[dominik]

8 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Well, there is at least a connection between Canva and painting on a canvas!

I think one way to deal with this topic is to take it with humour 😃. Thanks for looking at the bright side. Damn, I'm going off-topic myself.

d.

[William Overington]

2 hours ago, dominik said:

This is going way off-topic of this thread and posting music videos does not help (or contribute) either on the topic. Please stay more focused. Thank you.

d.

Pledge 4 wants ideas and feedback.

So I posted feedback about the advertising of Affinity products.

So in the middle of gentle music is this advertising video.

Do those pictures actually represent use of an Affinity product?

William

 

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, William Overington said:

Pledge 4 wants ideas and feedback.

We have been through this many times now. That pledge is about users helping to shape the future of Affinity's development. It has nothing to do with their advertising or marketing strategy. But if you really think it is something they would find useful (as has been mentioned many times now!) the place for that is in the (duh!) feedback forums, not here!

1 hour ago, William Overington said:

Do those pictures actually represent use of an Affinity product?

Can you not see the toolbars, studio panels, etc. in the video?

[William Overington]

16 minutes ago, R C-R said:

We have been through this many times now. That pledge is about users helping to shape the future of Affinity's development. It has nothing to do with their advertising or marketing strategy. But if you really think it is something they would find useful (as has been mentioned many times now!) the place for that is in the (duh!) feedback forums, not here

Pledge 4 uses the word "future". it does not use the word "development".

19 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Can you not see the toolbars, studio panels, etc. in the video?

Well, seeing your comment, I ran the video again, and yes, I can just about make them out, knowing what they are already from using the software. But I had not noticed them before, all I noticed was the rapidly moving images.

William

 

[R C-R]

Just now, William Overington said:

Pledge 4 uses the word "future". it does not use the word "development".

Nevertheless, it has been explained many times that they are simply saying they will take into account user feedback when shaping the future of the Affinity product. That has nothing to do with how or where it is advertised.

Regardless, it is irrelevant to the fact that you have posted your feedback in the wrong forum.

[albertkinng]

Now that I've read the announcement with a clear mind, I’m hopeful that these apps will continue to improve and remain an essential aspect of my daily life, just as they have been for all these years. If they opt to align with Canva instead of being positioned as professional tools, then we may need to seek out an alternative. Hopefully, there will always be a contingent of developers advocating for the option to purchase an app outright rather than being forced to rent it. Let's remain optimistic for Serif. Perhaps they will surprise us with amazing features that will be so impressive, we'll be proud of choosing them from the very beginning.

[R C-R]

6 minutes ago, albertkinng said:

If they opt to align with Canva instead of being positioned as professional tools...

Could you explain a bit more about what you mean by "align with Canva"? Do you maybe mean adding some of the features the Canva online platform includes to Affinity, removing any of the things already present in the Affinities, switching to a 'freemium' plan like Canva offers for its online stuff, or something else?

[PaoloT]

9 hours ago, William Overington said:

Because such pictures are usually of a trout removed from its habitat and harmed.

Schubert's Lied, on which the quintet is based, is an exhortation to avoid being caught!

Paolo

 

[Affinity Rat]

In the past software was developed with the focus on providing a service to the customer, without ulterior motives, companies benefited merely by selling a product.

Now software is developed to provide some use but the companies have ulterior motivation, not just sell a product but, force users into a relationship that that keeps on giving to the company. They accomplish this in numerous ways, including captive audience for advertising, regular payments ie subscriptions, locking users into cloud storage plans. 

Gone are the days when purchasing software is something that users can benefit from for an extended period of time, without maintaining connections in one form or another to the developer. Now, vendors have business models where they reap the benefits whenever the product is accessed, or in some cases whenever the computer is turned on.

All the big software companies do this, why would Canva be different?

Serif was a cute non-invasive company striving to deliver a great product.

Affinity products will now probably slowly evolve to follow pack.