Problems with Affinity 2.5.5 and MacOS Sequoia Beta

[whatimissthemost]

23 minutes ago, norbinw said:

There is an update with a fix, so they say. But when, only the devs and the Lord himself knows.. Maybe this week, maybe in November.. AFAIK this is the biggest bug at the moment impacting ALL users with sequoia.

I do believe the staff when they say there is a fix, and that it is in testing stage, but the fact that users need to inquire on their forum a whole month after the public OS release is just insane. Dev betas exist for a reason. This isn't an indie, poorly funded, volunteer maintained, open source hobby project. Even before the Canva acquisition this would've been unacceptable, it looks even worse on the company after the fact. And there was no direct communication from Serif to users regarding this issue at all, this is just insanely unprofessional. Really hope things will improve after this, otherwise this is a really bad indication of where the company and product are headed towards.

[Juhani]

On 10/12/2024 at 9:25 PM, MikeTO said:

Patrick provided an update a few weeks ago that answered this question. Serif is working on multi-page spreads for 2.6 which is a fundamental change and it's taking a while to complete testing.

How does it answer my question exactly? If something is taking more time than expected then obviously the pace of rollout of new features has in fact decelerated. Then again they did mention the multi-page spreads also already in the pledge along with plans to accelerate this rollout. See the inherent conflict in this kind of communication?

[dcarvalho84]

I honestly think that the main big issue here is exactly the communication.

@MEB is the only one that have replied to this topic with the info he have in hands, but i think if we have an ETA, things would be different.

We know that the fix is in tests, just let me put this scenario so that anyone on staff that could have some info could tell if this is something possible or not.

Release a beta as is with the fix on it, so it can "affect" all affinity files just with this purpose, so we can help you test if it's working or not. I think this could be a win-win situation honestly. For us it can´t go worse than it is now...

[norbinw]

What communication? There is no communication between devs and mods. It's always a "soon" /"logged" reply. I've tried to communicate with them on IG, peacefully, again the "we are aware" message. But you've been aware since June/July :))) Honestly I haven't seen anything good since the Canva merge. No faster updates, no bugfixes. In my 4-5 years of using the app, it always stinked like a very poorly managed company. The product is OK, has the potential to be good, but the management is absolute dogpoop!

[Trustedsource]

I've watched this Sequoia / Icon issue roll through our market. The number of silent voices who are simply reversing the migration to Affinity products is worrisome. In terms of Serif failing to respond to such a critical function of an Operating System,  and the workflow visible file icons represent is a strategic debacle I find difficult to understand. I am at the point where I am no longer recommending the Affinity suite. The people I turned on to Affinity products are now looking askance at me, wondering if I led them terribly astray. And the channels of communication concerning this problem are relatively quiet other than "we're working on it." I hope so. And I hope that Serif isn't waiting to bundle a host of "fixes" in order to resolve this one that is crippling the company's reputation to a degree I'm guessing is greater than they know.

[HenkBrwr]

Any news, when updates will come out?, many people rely on this for their work so its a little frustrating to see that there is no information.

[srg]

THEY  seem not to care. May be they are busy working on a little new feature that will be used but 11 people but that makes them look great. Terrible. I still think the fault is all on the new ownership and their plan that nobody knows but everybody imagine. This thing costed me money and reputation.

[BBG3]

It is very frustrating. I deleted all my reviews about Affinity from YouTube and the App Store so as not to mislead people. 😭

[Gianni Becattini]

I am not a graphics expert, but today I use Affinity Publisher (and Photo) very intensively, almost 8-10 hours a day.

I was also one of the fiercest critics of the release of the last versions (two years ago?) because it was not sufficiently tested and created millions of problems for me. Today the situation is much better; not perfect (as for the TOCs not working, a major flaw), but susteinable, and has this forum which provides the best and more efficient service I never had in 50 years of professional management of hardware and software products.

So I am not for crucifying Affinity, just encouraging them to continue their improvement of these wonderful products. If there is something to pay for this improvement, I will pay if the commercial form remains the current one (no annual subscription or I will surely give up).

All this is to say that it is better if they take their time than to release unstable products. But I'm rooting for Affinity to solve these problems soon.

[Trustedsource]

I have used this genre of software my entire career dating back further...well... a crazy long time. Pagemaker (Indesign now)  was Aldus, and Photoshop was unrecognizable in its infancy.  I have seen Adobe (and its applications) suffer from corporate transitions and nearly 100% market share for decades.  It is gut wrenching to see the tools we use and depend on,  begin to cost a fortune, while decaying in both quality and support.  Crucifixion of a company is neither helpful, nor doable.  The folks who suffer most from the evolution (devolution?) of applications when they get to be moneymakers,  are the end users.  I too root for this platform to thrive.  It's in my own selfish best interest that it does so.  This is why I have recommended Affinity products in the past.  They have come far enough to be actual tools.  But this can change as fast as a lightning strike.  When companies become corporate machines. When applications change for change sake,  instead of the *true* evolution of a product. When the vision of a company becomes clouded by greed - all of these things can turn the tables. No longer are the artists master of the paintbrush - the paintbrush begins to be the master of the artists. And all of this boils down to response.  Responding to the end user's vision, needs and requirements.

[Trustedsource]

Again I find myself being somewhat defensive about the icon bug with sequoia. Another colleague in extreme discomfort that she only sees the basic affinity photo icons in the hundreds if not thousands of the photos she has to process and place daily.  I'm not sure if I'm more upset that she is dealing with this problem like the rest of us, or that I have absolutely no idea how to answer her question... "When do you think there will be a fix?"

[BBG3]

2 hours ago, Trustedsource said:

"When do you think there will be a fix?"

Please don't wait.

Maybe in October, November, December, or next year. I think they know users are mad. It seems to be a complex problem for the team.

Save your time and energy by finding a temporary solution. 

[Juhani]

The situation with this bug and the long overdue update that users keep begging the team for has indeed become a bit ridiculous by now. How come Serif is not able or willing to share any indication of even an approximate ETA with its users whose work relies on these tools, especially if the fix is already found as they say? It’s likely there are a set of more serious problems here that they are not willing to share with us and they need even more time to fix those. In this case, would the Serif team be willing to issue a recommendation saying if this particular bug causes your work major problems then the only real solution right now is to downgrade back to Sonoma, either through Time Machine or clean install, or use an alternative tool altogether?

[norbinw]

Oh Jesus Christ don't give them ideas like this. You will make them comfortable with "Do nOt UpDaTE whEn nEW OS coMes out" - because they are late or lazy to investigate issues. They po0p on all of us, it's just the plain truth!! Otherwise they would have warned us before Sequoia update - mail, social media post, forum.. Or would have provided a valid time-frame for the fix to show how they care. They didn't do any of that, so convince me they don't po0p on us! Just accept that they don't give a rat's ass about customers.

[Juhani]

No but for real, if this update is delayed for another month, or even more, then it might actually make sense to take the pain to clean install back to Sonoma, instead of wasting our time hoping and keep checking back here every single day for any kind of updates from the team. Unless of course the update is right around the corner. I hope we as users are worthy of at least this much information by Serif.

[norbinw]

<moderated> How did apple broke this when they announced it way back they are modifying the quick look api?? Also affinity is the only, only & ONLY app not working properly. Affinity already posted they are aware of the issue and are making fixes, but unknown when. So how is this an apple issue again?

With people like you licking Serif's boots, no wonder they got comfortable being lazy and not informing anyone anything. 

[Trustedsource]

•••• "Stop whining and take some responsibility for your own actions."

A laughable response.

[AlainP]

I noticed that since the last few weeks comments from Affinity Staff are getting very rares, not as frequent as before the acquisition. Support almost disappeared.

Regarding  this bug, at least on my computer, Affinity is the only software having problem with documents thumbnails. Sequoia has been out for a while now, and beta versions long before. So.... why is that taking so long?

And your answer @kenmcd .. it's so stupid and useless. 

And there it is... one more penalty point for me.

[Sukavi]

It is not helpful to blame people for upgrading. There are various reasons some of us updated to a new OS version. Some times people with disabilities have to update in order to use some features etc. So, to bash people that upgraded is a bit ignorant.

What I think the issue is, Serif did not take steps to even let customers know there are known issues. They certainly have my email address, and everyone else registered here on the forum. I do not think its a stretch to say they could send out or post a notice that it would not be great idea to upgrade as there are known issues that could impact workflow negatively.  I run a business where I serve customers food I make. Certainly they have the right to complain to me if I serve cold food that should be hot. I also inform every customer that the food is extremely hot so please be careful. I could tell a customer its their fault if they burnt their mouths, as what fool would quickly take a bite of something coming out of an oven right away..but they are not privy to how hot the oven is or how soon it was served.  Ultimately I have the lions share of responsibility.

Serif certainly has a responsibility to their customers. It is at the least ignorant and mean spirited for someone to blame us, the paying customers, for upgrading. I had not seen any notices and assumed there would not be big issues.

To the posters blaming Apple shifting from Serif... Yeah, sorry that doesnt work well because Betas are available and Serif at the very least should have known the issues. They were reported by users as well. So I think its appropriate for customers to be upset. 

I am not interested in getting on any hate train. I am quite frustrated though, and I had to take two days to roll back to Sonoma and iron out the small issues. I am hoping the company continues strong as earlier this year I bought into their suite coming from Adobe. Being with Adobe since mid 90s.  I am rooting for Serif and hoping this is just a blemish and fumble and not an indication of a rough road ahead.
 

 

[Trustedsource]

A thoughtful and well measured post Sukavi.  I covers the waterfront for me - thank you. My biggest frustration is the lack of communication - which you outlined. And while I find finger pointing relatively pointless (pun intended) - there is the reality that mismanagement brings problems and discomfort.  Another reality is that the computers (plural) that I manage are doing many things **other** than running Affinity software.  If only OS upgrades and rollbacks were a simple and uncomplicated matter.  Someone mentioned that those who migrated to Sequoia,  impaired their operating systems without due consideration.  A monumental oversimplification.  I too hope that this will soon be a *"remember when"* event that everyone can and will learn from to avoid such missteps in the future.  Keep posting folks - you never know who might be paying attention - fingers crossed.

[Sukavi]

Thank you @Trustedsource  It's been a really difficult year and I am tired of people mistreating others. The problems are certainly more than annoying, they affect our ability to make money and do our jobs. However,  blaming people for things like upgrading doesn't help the situation and just dumps fuel on a fire. Frankly it also taints my feelings of feeling comfortable adopting this software suite for my work. http://gudkarma.org/ I am doing it all on Affinity software, and while I want to be critical the finger pointing and victim blaming mentality is really discouraging and tiring. 

4 hours ago, Trustedsource said:

A thoughtful and well measured post Sukavi.  I covers the waterfront for me - thank you. My biggest frustration is the lack of communication - which you outlined. And while I find finger pointing relatively pointless (pun intended) - there is the reality that mismanagement brings problems and discomfort.  Another reality is that the computers (plural) that I manage are doing many things **other** than running Affinity software.  If only OS upgrades and rollbacks were a simple and uncomplicated matter.  Someone mentioned that those who migrated to Sequoia,  impaired their operating systems without due consideration.  A monumental oversimplification.  I too hope that this will soon be a *"remember when"* event that everyone can and will learn from to avoid such missteps in the future.  Keep posting folks - you never know who might be paying attention - fingers crossed.

 

[whatimissthemost]

16 hours ago, kenmcd said:

Q. When does it make sense to update to a new operating system right after it is released? 

A. Never.

Why? Rather obvious.

Apple broke this, not Affinity.

You broke your system by upgrading without thinking.

Stop whining and take some responsibility for your own actions.

I hope you're an undercover Serif employee (or not but at least) getting paid to say this, otherwise this is extremely embarrassing bootlicker behaviour... I hope it tastes good.

Your victim blaming logic makes no sense because macOS Sequoia dev beta came out in June, so it's been more than 4 months since Serif knew about this "issue". Serif had AMPLE time to make their software compatible and they did not.

One user noted that this is the only macOS app that suffers from this Thumbnail issue on Sequoia, and another user suggested Serif could have notified us customers through email to at least warn us out of courtesy, but they didn't do so obviously because it would be bad press. I'm surprised this has stayed within Reddit and Affinity forum and hadn't reached The Verge etc but I guess they were counting on it.

You made yourself look goofy by commenting without thinking.

Stop bootlicking billion dollar corporations and make Serif take responsibility for their (lack of) actions. 

[srg]

On 10/20/2024 at 5:59 AM, Juhani said:

The situation with this bug and the long overdue update that users keep begging the team for has indeed become a bit ridiculous by now. How come Serif is not able or willing to share any indication of even an approximate ETA with its users whose work relies on these tools, especially if the fix is already found as they say? It’s likely there are a set of more serious problems here that they are not willing to share with us and they need even more time to fix those. In this case, would the Serif team be willing to issue a recommendation saying if this particular bug causes your work major problems then the only real solution right now is to downgrade back to Sonoma, either through Time Machine or clean install, or use an alternative tool altogether?

the only way to go to a previous OS is via Time machine. An application I stopped using because I consider terrible. my fault I know so now I am stuck with Sequoia and non-showing-thumbnails. A disaster. One question, how many developers quit serif after the acquisition to that Australian company? May be the answer  of the disaster is here...

[porridge5104]

This is outrageous. Fonts issue had been KNOWN before it was submitted on the form beginning of September.

So, it's end of October and there's not been yet ANY update to sort this issue out. We all PAID for this product, so proper support is expected. Your (Affinity) team had more than enough time to address critical issues related to the Affinity suite way before the official Sequoia release hit all supported devices.

So, I am left with my money spent and inability to use fonts I purchased when paying for my license for more than a month now (since the official release of Sequoia, to be fair enough)

Bitterly disappointed.

[norbinw]

I will not go back to a previous OS just because one lousy app developer is late. Use XnView like me, to find something in a document. It's slower and worse than quick look, but better than downgrade. Let's just try to have patience, and in a couple of months, we may have the fix 🥰