abra100pro Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 I just read this statement in the FAQ of the news: There are no changes to our current pricing model planned at this time, with all our apps still available as a one-off purchase. Existing Affinity users will be able to continue to use your apps in perpetuity as they were originally purchased – with plenty of free updates to V2 still to look forward to! My impression of this: Marketing language for saying something while meaning something else. It oozes with what sounds like an excuse for the future to come. I always considered Serif being a worthy, feet-on-the ground company that is not riding the horse named "Maximize". I hope I see the company still that way in the future. loukash, thedivclass, Sam LaGargouille and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityMakesMeWonder Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 1 minute ago, abra100pro said: I just read this statement in the FAQ of the news: There are no changes to our current pricing model planned at this time, with all our apps still available as a one-off purchase. Existing Affinity users will be able to continue to use your apps in perpetuity as they were originally purchased – with plenty of free updates to V2 still to look forward to! My impression of this: Marketing language for saying something while meaning something else. It oozes with what sounds like an excuse for the future to come. I always considered Serif being a worthy, feet-on-the ground company that is not riding the horse named "Maximize". I hope I see the company still that way in the future. No, unfortunately this day is the start for Serif Labs traveling against the end - or in other words - this day is the beginning of the end… RIP Affinity Suite and Serif Labs. Sam LaGargouille 1 Quote Happy amateur that playing around with the Affinity Suite - really love typograhics, photographing, colors & forms, AND, Synthesizers! Macbook Pro 16” M1 2021, iPad Pro 12.9” M1 2021, iPad Pro 10.5” A10X 2017, iMac 27” 5K/i7 late 2015… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 5 minutes ago, abra100pro said: It oozes with what sounds like an excuse for the future to come. We've never known what will come after V2, nor how long V2 will be in development, nor how long it was ever planned to be in development before V3. We have known that V3, whenever it comes, would be a new purchase, just as V2 is/was a new purchase for V1 customers. V2 could still have several years of development left if it lasts as long as V1 did. I would prefer to believe Serif when they tell us that 2.5 is coming with more free updates, and that there are additional free updates beyond 2.5. Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NM_ Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Maximizing revenue is the goal of every commercial enterprise. However, its customer base's acceptance of new business models should never be ignored. Speaking for myself, I am only here because of Adobe's subscription model. Adobe did not receive a penny from me after their announcement of a subscription model. I also do not believe that I am alone here. Serif should weigh its options carrfully before changing its business model, or lose patronage of people like me. For the forseeable future, I will put my support behind open-source options. Serif has a promising suite of applications. The fact that it has been a "promising" suite of applications for so long is also one of its problems. aonyn and rasterweb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobold Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 As soon as they will come with a sub model, I will be out and search for alternatives! 100% sure! 🙂 As simple as that! "planned at this time" says it all about the future plans! monzo and rasterweb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrettm30 Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 22 minutes ago, walt.farrell said: We have known that V3, whenever it comes, would be a new purchase If only we could still know that. The way Serif carefully answered the question regarding the possibility of moving to a subscription model, I do doubt that there ever will be a version 3 for purchase. 13 minutes ago, NM_ said: Serif should weigh its options carrfully before changing its business model I think the point is that Serif already did weigh the choice, that is, whether to sell or not. As I now understand it, since they chose to sell, the business model is not really their choice anymore. By the way, future posters may want to consider the other thread going about this issue: rasterweb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bit Disappointed Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 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. Tia Lapis, debraspicher, NM_ and 2 others 4 1 Quote Experienced Quality Assurance Manager - I strive for excellence in complex professional illustrations through efficient workflows in modern applications, supporting me in achieving my and my colleagues' goals through the most achievable usability and contemporary, easy-to-use user interfaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Neil Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 The simple fact that Canva is subscription based is enough to ring the alarm bells that Affinity WILL BE the same and there is nothing ASH & Co. can do as they have bought out and they simply cannot make this decision. Affinity simply does not have the cash or man power like Canva to take these trio forward and this simply means the only option however with a lot of caveat - It would would have been better to approach Adobe or Corel or even Microsoft than Canva and they fact Canva approached them simply means they were not in a great position - Some of their practice is wrong some of the most fundamental features (RTL Support) were and are not even considered and we are reaching 2.4.1. - Senier engineers have left the company - So Canva was a life save for Affinity (At least) - Don't for one moment think you will not be forced into subscription scheme - I will be amazed if we even see version 3!!!! rasterweb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abra100pro Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 I came to Affinity because of two reasons: It is way more efficient and optimized as bad old Illustrator and InDesign. It is lightning fast and easy to use. It has an intuitive UI I can buy and keep it. @walt.farrell I gladly will buy a version 3 and 4 and... but in my first post I was pointing to a likely future where there will not be a version 3 to buy. Or Affinity being degraded into something Canva-Local-App to support Canva's online subscription services. The way this FAQ is being answered (see my first post above) is so greasy – if Affinity would have made sure, that the model stays the same, they would have posted it proudly and clearly. The fact that they didn't.... well... @garrettm30 This posts makes me sad. Affinity claiming they're not for sale (no matter when that was) and now being sold. While we live in a world of utter maximisation, there is alway the hope of this Robin Hood, out there, that wins because we all win. howdytom and rasterweb 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NM_ Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 @Bit Disappointed Your post makes total sense. Thank you, and I totally agree with you. We'll still get some mileage from what we purchased. Time to move on. Bit Disappointed 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.P. Affinity 26.03.2024 Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 1 hour ago, walt.farrell said: We've never known what will come after V2, nor how long V2 will be in development, nor how long it was ever planned to be in development before V3. We have known that V3, whenever it comes, would be a new purchase, just as V2 is/was a new purchase for V1 customers. V2 could still have several years of development left if it lasts as long as V1 did. I would prefer to believe Serif when they tell us that 2.5 is coming with more free updates, and that there are additional free updates beyond 2.5. My friend you coping too hard. Relax. I understand you wasted so many time for all this comments and etc. But we all understand what is going to happen. Today is the day Affinity died for designers. Its a fact. You say you prefer to believe Serif, but 1.5 years ago they said no one gonna buy them. And here we are. There is no more Serif, btw. Its Canva now. So you are prefering to believe what Canva says. I don't believe them. Canva will kill Affinity in a year or so. That's it. Canva is not an Adobe competitor. Affinity had a chance to be one. Petar Petrenko and Tia Lapis 2 Quote 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dystopia Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 There are a few things that people here completely overlook about Canva. They have a completely free version. Then there is also 'Canva Pro' which is a subscription with 'pro features'. Canva Free has about 80% of the functionality as the subscription... for free. Also, Canva isn't just 'templates.' You can design using Canva from scratch. If anyone thinks that Affinity is going to continue to be offered as a standalone software... well they are just in denial right now. It will 100% be added as web-based 'Apps' within Canva, and most likely require a subscription (or license) to use .. just like all the other apps integrated in Canva are. People was laughing saying that Affinity didn't need to integrate AI almost a year ago, while others said they would be left behind... well that is what has happened now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arun Sarkar Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 2 hours ago, walt.farrell said: I would prefer to believe Serif when they tell us ............ If you are a Plus user & Serif Community Forum user then you should know what they promise regarding Plus Range, Page Plus X9 (After Patch 1), Plus Range to Upgrade Affinity Path etc etc. when they first release Affinity for Mac.... 🤣🤣😂 Quote Thank you for anything & everything. ‘‘কেউ শুধালে বোলো, আমি কাছের তো নই দূরের কেউ৷ সাগর বেলায় ধাক্কা দিয়ে মিলিয়ে যাওয়া প্রবল ঢেউ।’’ - নাদিয়া জামান Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abra100pro Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 The more I think and read about it, the greasier this announcement gets. What a pity. But maybe the days of illustration and design as we know (knew?) it, are about to vanish. monzo and AdamRatai 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaoloT Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 All I can hope is that the current model for the Affinity range remains unchanged. Adding the AI and premium content will be only available as a subscription. So, Canva will have: - Canva Free, a free template-based design suite for the casual user - Canva Affinity, a professional design suite following a traditional development pace, with only major versions paid (a formula that is still a major advantage over Adobe) - Canva Pro, a set of AI features, basic animation and collaboration, available on subscription Canva Affinity may still grow (at an even faster pace than Serif Affinity), with users of Canva Free pushed toward it instead of Adobe. Adobe is the "industry standard" today, but Canva is the "next-industry standard" of tomorrow. It will be an important asset in the company. AI: Canva says that they protect intellectual property. Maybe. But if one doesn't want to go next to any AI devilry, it will suffice to avoid the Pro subscription. I want to believe. Paolo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirk_Vau Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Leaving Adobe and adopting Affinity to my Workflow for years. And now? Hello Corel ... 🤬 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NM_ Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Came across this project posted on a related Reddit thread - looks like it is implemented in Rust and looks promising: https://graphite.rs/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 21 minutes ago, NM_ said: looks promising Have you also looked at the roadmap timeline? Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.I.P. Affinity 26.03.2024 Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 17 minutes ago, loukash said: Have you also looked at the roadmap timeline? PDF export in 2025 Quote 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 13 hours ago, darwinwasright said: PDF export in 2025 The question here being if all those juicy items in the timeline under the "Beta" and "1.0" headers still belong to the "2025" section… Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NM_ Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 13 hours ago, loukash said: Have you also looked at the roadmap timeline? Consider the Affinity Designer user wish list, with the requested functionality not fulfilled for many years. Projects take time and can gain and lose momentum. As FOSS, Graphite appears worthy of support. From what I know, its distinguishing feature is its implementation in Rust, which, at least theoretically, should translate to performance and stability. In its current form, the Affinity Suite will likely remain usable for a few years. There are people still using Adobe CS6 today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abra100pro Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 Having received the email today from Canva I must admit, that the Canva guys do have a better feeling for communication than the Serifs. If Ash would have initially communicated that way (and if it's true!), then we would not have to have felt being left in the rain. So if Canva is serious about their pledges there may be hope. This is a marvellous example of the importance of communication. Patrick Connor 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.