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Oval, "hopefully" is not a guarantee or promise of anything. As for "image" they have been very forthright in explaining why the delays have been occurring & continue to keep us informed about that. What other commercial software developer does that?

 

We have not criticized the word “hopefully“. Some people were really surprised by the renewed delay. Serif generated hopes for 2017; but only because one person had the courage to ask, they had to destroy them. The iPad apps that are announced for 2017 probably retard APu/the suite. This topic is about (the launch of) Affiity Publisher, not about other software developers.

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If Serif (a company that during decades has provided ALL of us with free software (old but great versions I could get with computer magazines (printed), later on direct downloads) and extremely cheap current versions too. Some more gratitude would be expected, more flexibility with what to me is just an error of estimation, as much, and way common and frequent for any developer (and YES, comparison with other developers is a MUST, you don't live in a world without context, specially as your other option is to purchase or rent from those other developers we can't even mention) ) would be just the single and only company to postpone a release, yeah, that might be "bad image" , though many pros, we really do prefer a delay but a good release, than anything rushed.  But the "facts"  are indeed that every software company on earth, big or small, has had delays in many or all of their products. So, to say that a delay gives them bad image, please take no offense in this, as is never my intention to offend anyone, but is laughable.  EA, Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, a huge etc they have always delayed crazily their releases, and even worse! Their releases are often cosmetic,  after more than 2 years. Releases in here are very significant even in very small fraction of time. And those companies have way, way less room for excuses, as they can literally push the pedal whenever they want to, if they want to. Heck, Duke Nukem anyone ? That took dunno if more than a decade... Game releases (despite the fact that today a lot of studios have an army of at least 100 pros inside (I've worked in only medium/small ones, but know close friends working in huge ones, know the internals very well)) are often every five years. Adobe has taken decades to get you the suite it is now. With the same features you are expecting to have it freaking ALL in a very short period from a much smaller company.

 

Can be said that they were probably too optimistic in their first estimations? Maybe. Do you have a right to complaint infinitely about it? Nope, I certainly don't think so. And it is rude, IMO. My main point is : When a developer makes a brilliant prototype, the team might think all can be achieved in a certain amount of time. But then, features start to give problems, or -most probably- porting to a native platform brings a can of worms that was not expected. Add on top of it that maybe in the way to that, by own initiative to make the product even better, or more competitive in today's market, some feature, which you will enjoy in its day, probably added after reading feedback here, is added, indeed, several or a lot,  and it all delays more the project. Or even a bunch of features desired to be there by the investors, as those have -usually- more than a say in any development. 

 

There are so many factors you people do seem to be ignoring, not considering, when going so fast in a complaint, that it leads me to think that you don't really know how things work in applications development (or don't care), and/or are not doing a fair comparison with many other software developers, their usual delays, the fact that this is a very small company with only a few (this is one of the few things we know for sure) very highly qualified professionals (but they probably can't do a freaking miracle).  And as has been said. Is not a clever attitude. You would only generate negativity in them related to this, and who knows if also to general users' feedback. Which will only play against all of us, and very specially APub.  They are not legally, by any stretch, obliged to bring you the application you want (neither to the platform you want ! )  : Is their company , plans, road map. Bring that to court if you will, lol.   And also your neighbor's for his car color. Green is an ugly color for a car, you feel offended.

 

It also makes me wonder if many of the complainers are very used to typical releases time frames, delays, estimations and such (or have  used just a few applications, mostly from a single company/brand, and that's it). As Everything on earth has been delayed, and with way worse delays. (Just ask 3D Max users, or even Adobe's, MS, etc. And when releasing, often with such buggy applications that work flow is affected very seriously. Edit: To be honest, that was years ago, exactly the same time frame were Affiinity is now, similar number of years in the market. Now they are very stable. (BTW, I don't have crashes with AD and AP, but it can be just me))

Instead of that behavior, you could just be patient, and accept this : If a publishing application is not produced by your favorite company in the time frame you desire, then just purchase Corel Draw, Xara, or download Scribus, and make the best of it. Indeed, spend with the trials and that open source some intense hours trying to discover if it would fit your needs. I for one will prefer to purchase Apub, and meanwhile use Scribus for projects were I need it, but that's me.

 

Looks to me as if you would prefer to keep paying the renting from CC. Burning money to never own a permanent license. InDesign is there, waiting for you, go for it ! Nothing stops you from doing that, either. I'll stay here, thanks...So, this is another pov: You have a lot of choices, is not like this was your only path for having a publishing application. And after this thread, maybe we now will never have it (thank you ! ). I for one would not be motivated, as a developer...Not being legally forced to anything, after this sweet, warm, polite treatment, I would definitely direct my development to other more friendly users base, that's for sure. I am a freelancer, and I certainly don't put up with certain type of clients, for example...Don't need to, at all.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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This topic is about (the launch of) Affiity Publisher, not about other software developers.

Then why talk about corporate image, competing software, etc.?

 

I really don't understand what the complainers (for want of a better term) want. The developers have freely admitted that their earlier time frames were overly optimistic. Time machines only exist in fiction, so it is not as if they can go back in time & change that. Absent time machines & crystal balls they can't see into the future either, so what good does insisting that they commit to a firm release date do? There are no magic wands either, so it is not as if they can wave one & make all the problems that have forced the delays disappear.

 

So, short of fiction & magic, what exactly do you suggest they do that they have not already done?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Then why talk about corporate image, competing software, etc.?

 

 

So, short of fiction & magic, what exactly do you suggest they do that they have not already done?

 

Seems you did not understood the context (people used strong words or lost hopes) and we did not start discussing other apps here. You could have criticized people for asking and answering here long before.

 

That was already written. For example Serif should correct reported errors, not ignore them. Be quicker in communication than the questions of (possible) clients. A better quality management. That would result in a better image.

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Why should I as a Mac user be thankful for ignoring my platform for ages?

 

And what I want? That Serif hold to their own promise: first finish the suite, then add other platforms. Currently Cocoa resources are pulled away from A Publisher to finish the iOS version. 3 years is no delay but a sign that your project management is badly broken.

Mac mini M1 / Ryzen 5600H & RTX3050 mobile / iPad Pro 1st - all with latest non beta release of Affinity

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That was already written. For example Serif should correct reported errors, not ignore them. Be quicker in communication than the questions of (possible) clients. A better quality management. That would result in a better image.

 

It kind of looks like -from posts I have read from the staff- that they are really over-booked. Staff formed by very few persons. The person making the site is also coding other stuff and surely doing another loads of tasks. Add to it that there are tons of features requests, and besides that ton of bugs, also many new ones come from adding a lot of features. Even just attending these super active forums is removing very valuable time from developers, I am sure.... (specially got crazy levels in recent beta times, I'm sure they needed to use here a lot of time which might have been dedicated better for development. but they preferred to be gentle and supportive. )

 

Indeed, as "bad image" is not a concept you can decontextualize, that is, you totally need to compare to the other market competitors, like any thing, site, service, product or company in the market, then definitely how they handle it, even if they were a large army of devs, can't be considered as bad, in any way. The behaviors in every of the aspects mentioned are way worse in many respected, dominant companies. This being, in my very long experience using many graphic production applications (at work and at home) the kindest and more tolerant company I ever dealt with. To "correct a reported error" is not something requiring the push of a button. Is a very long task of many hours, usually days or weeks, requiring isolating a developer for that task. And considering that can even end up in not solving the issue (very valuable time lost, so, often devs go for a safer bet, when time is so tight), a company with very few people has to measure that a lot. Plus, I am 100% sure they consider and track every single bug, just are fixing them in order of priority (ie, critical bugs previous to anything) , and when there's very few staff, that list takes quite a longer time to run, and reach your special favorite bug to be fixed.

 

If, considering all this, you still complain, then you clearly are expecting that they should -there is no other way for that- contract more people, run turns (I hope you don't expect the coders to stop having a normal life, see their families, etc. So, the options is contracting more) , etc. But... What if they can't do that ? (9 out of ten companies with these characteristics can't ) In my experience, a contract was often signed with investors, and any change in the staff number was really hard to make, as any other increase of money over already a big sum, was very hard to make and get from the investors. So, they, like most middle size or small company, are pretty tied to go putting as much work as they can. Trust me, I have been in the other side (web coder, but also tech support, designer, graphic guy, etc), is really frustrating to leaving even your last breath and your last sweat and tears over exhausting working days of 14 to 18 hours and still get in the social media or email, or etc, people complaining over a lot of things, as if you weren't doing all you can, already.

 

 

Why should I as a Mac user be thankful for ignoring my platform for ages?

 

And what I want? That Serif hold to their own promise: first finish the suite, then add other platforms. Currently Cocoa resources are pulled away from A Publisher to finish the iOS version. 3 years is no delay but a sign that your project management is badly broken.

 

Nah. Bills do not pay by themselves. In a company it's often reached a point where it is bankruptcy or change the course and port to other platform, ie, Windows. Doing so, they might be able to come back later to the other platform and continue evolving it. Some might prefer the company closing ? Because the port to Windows looks to me totally a matter of getting enough sells to maintain the company. (in cases I know, this sort of port was even forced in the investors' contracts)

 

 

And anyway, if you are so angry about it, your solution is extremely easy. is just a few clicks : http://www.coreldraw.com . It is 700 euros, though. Good luck !

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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To "correct a reported error" is not something requiring the push of a button. Is a very long task of many hours, usually days or weeks, requiring isolating a developer for that task. And considering that can even end up in not solving the issue (very valuable time lost, so, often devs go for a safer bet, when time is so tight), a company with very few people has to measure that a lot. 

 

Ignoring that it was about communication errors, is not as good idea. To correct that wrong future Affinity Photo for Windows launch and wrong translations would take only seconds, for example and would result in more credibility.

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One reason more to be kind to them, hehe.

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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Why should I as a Mac user be thankful for ignoring my platform for ages?

 

And what I want? That Serif hold to their own promise: first finish the suite, then add other platforms. Currently Cocoa resources are pulled away from A Publisher to finish the iOS version. 3 years is no delay but a sign that your project management is badly broken.

 

It is up to you being thankful or not. You will not change anything. They have their plans and will stick to them firmly because they think "they know what they are doing" (Sledge Hammer). It would be much better for them, and for us, too if they find somebody expirienced proffesional person to explain them what to add into and how to organize the apps.

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

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(this is _not_ off topic, is very relevant, speaking about "bad image" --> )  I am reading CC prices are going to be raised in March in the UK, around 11 to 18 % (first rumors were around a 60%! But seems the former one is more accurate) . And that A. blames it to Brexit (No, I doubt that's the case. I feared this since the very first launch of a renting model ). I wonder if that will propagate to other countries... I fear it will...

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
Ryzen 9 3900X, 32 GB RAM,  RTX 3060 12GB, Wacom Intuos XL, Wacom L. Eizo ColorEdge CS 2420 monitor. Windows 10 Pro.
(Laptop) HP Omen 16-b1010ns 12700H, 32GB DDR5, nVidia RTX 3060 6GB + Huion Kamvas 22 pen display, Windows 11 Pro.

 

 

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(this is _not_ off topic, is very relevant, speaking about "bad image" --> )  I am reading CC prices are going to be raised in March in the UK, around 11 to 18 % (first rumors were around a 60%! But seems the former one is more accurate) . And that A. blames it to Brexit

 

Before the recent UK price increases in the Mac App Store, a Tier 50 app such as the Affinity apps was 49.99 USD / 39.99 GBP / 49,99 EUR. The new UK price (apparently blamed on Brexit) is 48.99 GBP, an increase of 22.5%.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Before the recent UK price increases in the Mac App Store, a Tier 50 app such as the Affinity apps was 49.99 USD / 39.99 GBP / 49,99 EUR. The new UK price (apparently blamed on Brexit) is 48.99 GBP, an increase of 22.5%.

 

Where did you read about this?

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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Where did you read about this?

 

Pretty much anywhere that reported the increase put the blame squarely on Brexit.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Pretty much anywhere that reported the increase put the blame squarely on Brexit.

 

 

I see. That is unfortunate. Good thing the price increase wasn't too high though.

The website is still a work in progress. The "Comics" and "Shop" sections are not yet ready. Feel free to connect with me and let me know what you like or what can be improved. You can contact me here, on my contact page, YouTube channel, or Twitter account. Thanks and have a great day!

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It was predictable ... that's part of the new CC model ... first you get your customers to switch to a new payment model by offering the SW for a bargain price and once they depend on the new software you start increasing the prices ... classical blackmailing ... and it's just the beginning ;-)

CRM.png.a048d588572393102ac3cc403bfa8af7.png

 i7-12700KF, 3.60 GHz, 32GB RAM, SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, Wacom Intuos 4 Tablet, Windows 11 Pro - AP, AD and APublisher V1 and V2
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I see. That is unfortunate. Good thing the price increase wasn't too high though.

 

I'm afraid I don't regard an increase of 22.5% as "not too high"! At the time of writing, 49.99 USD is 40.21 GBP (and even 49,99 EUR is only 42.66 GBP).

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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(this is _not_ off topic, is very relevant, speaking about "bad image" --> )  I am reading CC prices are going to be raised in March in the UK, around 11 to 18 % (first rumors were around a 60%! But seems the former one is more accurate) . And that A. blames it to Brexit (No, I doubt that's the case. I feared this since the very first launch of a renting model ). I wonder if that will propagate to other countries... I fear it will...

 

It is just an excuse to raise the prices.

All the latest releases of Designer, Photo and Publisher (retail and beta) on MacOS and Windows.
15” Dell Inspiron 7559 i7 Windows 10 x64 Pro Intel Core i7-6700HQ (3.50 GHz, 6M) 16 GB Dual Channel DDR3L 1600 MHz (8GBx2) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M 4 GB GDDR5 500 GB SSD + 1 TB HDD UHD (3840 x 2160) Truelife LED - Backlit Touch Display
32” LG 32UN650-W display 3840 x 2160 UHD, IPS, HDR10 Color Gamut: DCI-P3 95%, Color Calibrated 2 x HDMI, 1 x DisplayPort
13.3” MacBook Pro (2017) Ventura 13.6 Intel Core i7 (3.50 GHz Dual Core) 16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB 500 GB SSD Retina Display (3360 x 2100)

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Adobe doesn't need an "excuse", it doesn't need it to be OK with us, and it doesn't need our permission.

 

Sure, and thats why designer needs alternative.

With photo and designer Affinity serif sure raised hope.

And of course its a huge task.

And perhaps there is a pricing question:

For AI alone, in Switzerland, one pays around 360$ / year against less than 60$ for i think over two years for Affinity designer.

Who is ready to contribute a bit more to speed up the development?

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