Too quiet …

[carl123]

14 minutes ago, Komatös said:

Those who have high expectations must also be able to cope with major disappointments.

And those with low expectations must also be able to cope with some pleasant and unexpected major surprises 

[Alfred]

2 minutes ago, carl123 said:

unexpected major surprises

Not to be confused with expected major surprises!

[Komatös]

1 hour ago, carl123 said:

And those with low expectations must also be able to cope with some pleasant and unexpected major surprises 

But we can all agree that this is more pleasant than being disappointed.

 

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

Not to be confused with expected major surprises

That's as nicely put as unexpected crashes. When I read something like that, I always wonder whether you can expect an unprovoked crash during normal computer operation. 😂

[Snapseed]

On 5/30/2025 at 6:08 PM, j3rry said:

It has become pretty quiet around Affinity and its products, reminds me a bit of the last time with Aperture... I'm afraid something not so nice is coming our way 
 

I am not sure that is the right way to read things. What has happened is that the Affinity range is now no longer the exciting new upstart challenger and it is now a more mature option to the rival products offered by Adobe and Corel. 

I don't think that the comparison with Aperture works well either. When the creative genius that was Steve Jobs died, the bean counters took over hence the deprecation (like Aperture) and simplification of other assorted Apple softwares. That said, those people who are still missing Aperture might want to look at what Gentlemen Coders are doing right now.

[Granddaddy]

11 hours ago, Komatös said:

In the Middle Ages, the rule was: never be the bearer of bad news, because the bearer of bad news will be killed.

It is written "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news," and yet even bearers of good news have been killed when that good news was not welcomed by the authorities or by the mob.

[j3rry]

Since the situation with Serif is unclear, I have put everything related to Affinity on hold. In the meantime, I am using RT, darktable and GIMP.

Edited June 12 by j3rry
Lr was a failure, should be Rawtherapy

[GRAFKOM]

I'm returning to CorelDraw after 8 years, the money I had prepared for the development of Affinity and many times wanted to give more to improve this program, I'm spending on CorelDraw 2025. Affinity is dead. Even Canva doesn't want to admit that it now owns Affinity.

[Patrick Connor]

[Mithferion]

4 hours ago, j3rry said:

Since the situation with Serif is unclear, I have put everything related to Affinity on hold. In the meantime, I am using LR, darktable and GIMP.

I was going to post the following:

No news means... no news, and nothing more. Que será, será. What will be, will be 

But since you mentioned GIMP I will just say:

If you have faith in the development of that program, considering the pace that it has shown so far, well... you seem to be a really patient person.

Best regards!

[Bryan Rieger]

4 hours ago, GRAFKOM said:

Even Canva doesn't want to admit that it now owns Affinity.

All of the press releases from Canva re: the Affinity acquisition are still there, and I've found nothing to suggest that Canva regrets its' purchase of the company/suite.

While some mergers and acquisitions are made with the intent of quashing competition (ahem, Adobe/Macromedia) there would be no benefit to Canva buying Serif/Affinity simply to kill it a little over a year later, as it's a natural complement to their portfolio and provides them with the means to challenge Adobe across the entire creative tools spectrum.

While the continued radio silence from Canva/Serif regarding the future of the suite is a questionable communications strategy, it's what they're currently going with. An unfortunate side effect of this lack of communication is ongoing rumour and speculation, which only creates fear, uncertainty and doubt within the community. Combine that with two under-whelming and buggy releases (2.5.x, 2.6.x) in the last year, and the confidence of some long-term users in the suite has since declined.

In the meantime I know many of the issues and oddities that impact my workflows and have workarounds for most of them, and while there's LOTS of room for improvement I still find that Designer suits my needs better than the alternatives for the type of work I do. Publisher and Photo on the other hand… totally meh. 😕

[PaulEC]

As far as I can see, the lack of information about how Affinity software may develop in the future does not affect how it works now. I use the Affinity suite because I like it and enjoy using it. Yes, I'd like a few new features, some changes and some bug fixes, but, on balance, I still prefer it to any comparable software. If I don't like v3, when it comes, I'll stick with v2, that's my choice, (just like some people chose to stay with v1). I really don't understand why not knowing how Affinity may develop in the future should impact on using it now!

 

[Affinityconfusesme]

I think that we need to be patient. There was a long wait and long a silence till 2.6 was available because what the team did was complex. I think 2.7 is going to be bigger. It sounds like the size of the team was increased to help accomplish the goal of pledge #2. I called my bank to find out regarding Canva's plan to do an IPO, and they said that none was scheduled. 2.7 will come eventually because EPUB and a blend tool were promised after the acquisition but are not available yet. I just wish that @Patrick Connor could tell what is going on the way that he told us in a that 2.6 was going to be available in october before it was ready. People get upset and guess what is happening and get upset without being told kind of like what happened with macOS quicklook issue( I don't use apple just an example).

[Mithferion]

32 minutes ago, Affinityconfusesme said:

I think that we need to be patient. There was a long wait and long a silence till 2.6 was available because what the team did was complex. I think 2.7 is going to be bigger. It sounds like the size of the team was increased to help accomplish the goal of pledge #2. I called my bank to find out regarding Canva's plan to do an IPO, and they said that none was scheduled. 2.7 will come eventually because EPUB and a blend tool were promised after the acquisition but are not available yet. I just wish that @Patrick Connor could tell what is going on the way that he told us in a that 2.6 was going to be available in october before it was ready. People get upset and guess what is happening and get upset without being told kind of like what happened with macOS quicklook issue( I don't use apple just an example).

I always look back at the pledge made by Affinity and Canva and comparing the statement there with what it's actually here:

Seems to me like they are delivering (not all features in a single release, but it will afect people dependng on their needs). We'll be getting those features you mentioned and much more (wht's included here is a mystery as of today).

Best regards!

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, j3rry said:

Since the situation with Serif is unclear,... and GIMP.

With regard to the "pledge" mentioned here, Serif fulfilled everything it declared in APhoto, i.e. functions/modules using ML. (I personally see the use of external modules as a step in the right direction with great potential - see the many and long requested plugins and scripts)

What else did you expect in the implementation in APhoto (and should have been properly communicated and promised here in your opinion) that the aforementioned Gimp offers/will offer?

[j3rry]

1 hour ago, Pšenda said:

What else did you expect in the implementation in APhoto (and should have been properly communicated and promised here in your opinion) that the aforementioned Gimp offers/will offer?

Like all open source software, Gimp has a public roadmap, something that Serif has abolished despite constant demand and consistently refuses to publish a roadmap.
 

[Ali]

I don't think Serif has ever had a public roadmap. 

[Ldina]

1 minute ago, j3rry said:

Gimp has a public roadmap

Seems like  a strange reason to leave, but I know there are other issues as well. If Affinity software works for you and does what you need, use it...you already bought it. If it doesn't fit your needs, then it makes sense to find something that does. Good luck, whatever you choose to do. 

[Bryan Rieger]

33 minutes ago, Ali said:

I don't think Serif has ever had a public roadmap. 

They used to have a roadmap, but had issues with user expectations and subsequently moved to using the betas as a means of publicly discussing their (short-term) development plans.

[Ali]

Thanks. I wasn't on board at Affinity's inception: I stuck with the Plus range until quite recently, in fact. They certainly had no public roadmap for their legacy software. 

[Alfred]

7 hours ago, Affinityconfusesme said:

EPUB and a blend tool were promised after the acquisition but are not available yet

I don’t remember what, if anything, was promised about ePub before the acquisition, but a Blend Tool was promised in the public roadmap when version 1 was still current. A Knife Tool was also on that roadmap, but it was only added in version 2.

[Pšenda]

6 hours ago, j3rry said:

Like all open source software, Gimp has a public roadmap, something that Serif has abolished despite constant demand and consistently refuses to publish a roadmap.

What does a "roadmap" have to do with the functions and capabilities of a given application? Well, at least for me, what is important is what the application "can do", not what someone somewhere "promises".

P. S. I wish you a happy use of Gimp - its roadmap will certainly be very useful for you when editing photos.

[j3rry]

58 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

What does a "roadmap" have to do with the functions and capabilities of a given application? Well, at least for me, what is important is what the application "can do", not what someone somewhere "promises".

 

I didn't write anything about features and capabilities. I was only concerned with transparency and the future of the Affinity Suite. 

[smadell]

Software roadmaps are tenuous things. Features, improvements, new applications - all these can be promised with the best of intentions, only to fall prey to the ill winds of fate and circumstances out of everyone’s control. That having been said, Affinity issued the most important roadmap of all back in March 2024:

1) Perpetual licenses will always be offered…
2) Affinity is here to stay.

Honestly, guys, everything else is icing on the cake.

[Ali]

The older I get, the more I want to see the glass half full. Honestly, life's too short. I have NEVER doubted that Serif have the best of intentions.

[j3rry]

3 hours ago, Ali said:

The older I get, the more I want to see the glass half full. Honestly, life's too short. I have NEVER doubted that Serif have the best of intentions.

 

The older I get, the more I want to be sure I'm doing the right thing. I've been working only with the iPad and Affinity Photo for two weeks now(vacation in denmark). Apart from a lot of cursing about menus and functions that are not immediately obvious or easy to understand, I have to say that Affinity has not crashed or malfunctioned once. I have now come to the conclusion that I will stick with Affinity.
I apologise for the confusion I caused.

But I will continue to use DxO Photolab, Nik Collection, Darktable, Rawtherapy and Gimp….