Can we crowd fund a Linux version?

[macdabby]

I know the number of Linux users is small compared to Mac and Windows, but this is one app that is tremendously missed in the Linux market.

I know it's not as easy as just compiling the app on another OS and it will take a lot of work. But I'm curious if we could crowd fund the cost of the port. Id happily contribute much more than the cost of the app.

Posted from my Tuxedo running Debian with gnome.

[Muirén]

That would be a dream come true!

[AffinityMakesMeWonder]

52 minutes ago, macdabby said:

I know the number of Linux users is small compared to Mac and Windows, but this is one app that is tremendously missed in the Linux market.

I know it's not as easy as just compiling the app on another OS and it will take a lot of work. But I'm curious if we could crowd fund the cost of the port. Id happily contribute much more than the cost of the app.

Posted from my Tuxedo running Debian with gnome.

FYI - if Adobe thought Linux is an amazing platform, then would they certainly already have Adobes all apps on the Linux system.

But, there’s no money to be earned for Adobe on Linux, and that is just like Serif Labs thinking about Linux - to much effort, small amount of cash…

Even if the Linux community could crowdfunding Serif Labs to release Affinity Suite on Linux, the big future costs are updates, maintenance of the Affinity apps etc etc…

So, don’t dream to much, you may be deeply disappointed waiting waiting waiting..

[2ddpainter]

Well, being willing/able to wait seems to me to be a general skill that
one should master with Affinity. If i look at all the improvements that
have been requested for years.

[fde101]

Are you also going to crowd fund a few years of the cost of maintaining the port after it is created - of additional tech support resources, the additional testers needed to support testing the Linux version after each release, the additional documentation to write and maintain, the additional work to implement each new feature for each subsequent release which occurs over those years, the cost to develop bug fixes for each subsequent version, ...?

There are ongoing costs, not just initial development costs, involved in supporting an additional platform.  If Serif were to make this port on the basis of crowdfunding, that funding would likely need to cover the cost of several years of salaries for a handful of additional people in addition to the cost of the initial porting work itself, or it still wouldn't make sense for them to consider this, if the decision even has anything to do with the cost in the first place.

[walt.farrell]

13 hours ago, macdabby said:

But I'm curious if we could crowd fund the cost of the port. Id happily contribute much more than the cost of the app.

Serif have said they are not interested in crowd-funding, and would not accept it. I doubt that Canva would, either.

[Snapseed]

On 1/12/2025 at 10:25 PM, macdabby said:

I know the number of Linux users is small compared to Mac and Windows, but this is one app that is tremendously missed in the Linux market.

I know it's not as easy as just compiling the app on another OS and it will take a lot of work. But I'm curious if we could crowd fund the cost of the port. Id happily contribute much more than the cost of the app.

Posted from my Tuxedo running Debian with gnome.

Therein lies the very core of the problem. Linux has a desktop market share of 4% the last time l checked and it is way behind macOS's 14% market share. That is why neither Serif Europe nor Adobe make Linux versions of their software products because it just isn't currently profitable to make those Linux versions.

[Pšenda]

50 minutes ago, Snapseed said:

Linux has a desktop market share of 4%

However, the presence on the desktop market is only one (less important) indicator, because even the aforementioned 4.1% of several billion desktops is already a very interesting number. From the point of view of sales and thus the profitability of application development and maintenance, a much more important indicator is how many of these users really need/want this application, and are willing to really pay for it. And here, in my opinion, is a big problem, because the need + willingness to pay will not sufficiently cover the development costs.

[fde101]

2 hours ago, Pšenda said:

the need + willingness to pay will not sufficiently cover the development costs.

For now perhaps.

As more users abandon Windows and transition to Linux or other solutions, they may wind up switching to other applications simply because these do not work on their platform of choice (at least not without jumping through major hoops).  Serif may wind up feeling the effect of that when the next major version upgrade then comes around.

It probably won't be a measurable impact on 3.0, but time will tell what happens thereafter.

[PaulEC]

On 1/12/2025 at 10:39 PM, Muirén said:

That would be a dream come true!

"A dream to some, a nightmare to others!"

[alpert]

I'm a long time OSX user at work and use Adobe Suite daily. And since last year I start using linux at home and I love it. I use Cachyos with Gnome desktop and I feel right at home coming from OSX. It's fast, reliable and so much comfortable than using windows for sure. Last year linux desktop database almost doubled and you must be blind to not see the upcoming potential; Steam Deck+Steam app on linux= availability of more games on linux system+windows 12 fiasco of Microsoft. 

Yes there is potential and if more software like Affinity at least try once, I believe won't be disappointed. On linux Krita+Inkspace+Kdenlive are nice alternatives but me and many people like me would love to see Affinity there too. 

OSX is freebsd/unix, I don't believe adopting Affinity Suite to Linux is harder than adapting it to Windows. Thanks to flatpaks, installation and dependency problems are over too.. 

Edited January 15 by alpert