Affinity Publisher

[Alfred]

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

 

Affinity apps are currently 49.99 USD or 48.00 CHF. Version 1.x will continue to function indefinitely if you decide that you don't want to buy version 2.

[Bri-Toon]

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).

 

Well sure, it's bad news none the less. So with it's free updates, I guess for anyone who already purchased it got lucky.

 

It is just an excuse to raise the prices.

 

Agreed considering Adobe's reputation on the revenue section.

[R C-R]

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

The Affinity team has made it clear, both in these forums & in the most resent Affinity news email (if you signed up for them), that the problem is not money; it is recruiting qualified programmers with the necessary expertise to work on the development of Publisher, the DAM app, & the iPad versions. They started the search for qualified applicants about a year ago; this is not something they just recently decided to do.

[Terry44]

Not sure where the Adobe pricing complaints are coming from, they have had it in writing since 2010 when Creative Cloud started that pricing was not a fixed thing and could change at any time. It seems that pricing changes being talked about are not company specific but fees governments are changing or adding for various taxes and is a country by country situation.  If these taxes were not changing would the actual cost of the service still be going up?

 

I no longer have an Adobe account so I don't know.

 

Affinity Publisher from what I understand is a new concept and wouldn't be released to beta until both Photo and Designer were out and into second generation. I came by that understanding based on conversations with staff within the forums.  Designer was the first product to be released, then Photo and once those are well on their way into development then Publisher. It's a generalization I came to based on the conversations in the forums that 2.0 would be seen in Designer and Photo before Publisher beta. Though it was made clear that they haven't started on it yet other than some mocking up.

The best situation for the company in my opinion is to keep quite and just release info as developments occur and not future project timelines. 

[Tia Lapis]

Did Serif make a specific, binding personal promise to you about delivery time?

 

No, thought not...

 

Well they promised to first complete the suite before going to other platforms. But now publisher is delayed again BECAUSE resources are shifted to the iOS versions. So the promise was clearly a lie.

[Petar Petrenko]

Well they promised to first complete the suite before going to other platforms. But now publisher is delayed again BECAUSE resources are shifted to the iOS versions. So the promise was clearly a lie.

 

And you work with them, you are in their office, so you know for sure? Wow.

If you think they lie, why don't you simply leave this forum and forget Affinity so the rest of us can breathe freely?

[R C-R]

Well they promised to first complete the suite before going to other platforms. But now publisher is delayed again BECAUSE resources are shifted to the iOS versions. So the promise was clearly a lie.

Where exactly did you see that they promised this? Are you sure there were no qualifiers in what you saw, like maybe a "hopefully" or a "we plan to" that you overlooked or forgot about?

 

As for Pub being delayed because resources were shifted to the iOS version(s), are you aware that according to an article in the iBook Affinity Review #1 the Affinity line grew out of a research project at Serif by Andy Somerfield “to create a memory management system capable of high-end photo editing on an iPad with only 80MB memory available to the App.”?

 

The article goes on to say

The memory system was very successful and demonstrated what we could achieve given a clean slate, enough time and a clear objective. The project then grew to include other technologies such as raster pipelines, threading architectures, asynchronous command processors and serialization. By now the team had grown to include Matt Priestley for all things vector, Justin Teo for raster processing, Dave Harris for text engine, Ben Idoine on serialization and Andy Tang for OSX UI.

 

 

So in reality, it would be more accurate to say resources were shifted from iOS to OS X development, which eventually resulted in the commercial release of Affinity Designer & later Affinity Photo.

[Oval]

the Affinity line grew out of a research project at Serif […] So in reality, it would be more accurate to say resources were shifted from iOS to OS X development

 

They wanted Macs, an award and earn money … Fact is that they never announced that “research project“ as something to purchase but the third app of the suite (no iOS app):

 

“Create precise layouts and a versatile range of professional publications with Affinity Publisher, even evolve designs that originated in Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo. Accurate typography, artwork, placement and colour will shine out from every layout, every page, every magazine, book, and digital publication, every logo and brochure. Due in 2015, this publishing thoroughbred will share the precision, speed, quality, and designer-led finesse found in other Affinity titles.”

“After completing the full suite on the Mac […] we will look into other platforms.”

in 2016 “launch in 2017”

from 2015 until February 2017: “Publisher coming soon“

 

Serif suddenly announced that iOS apps will be launched (“Photo and Designer for iPad […] coming in 2017”) before Affinity Publisher … without a conciliatory statement to the purchasers and bug reporters that wait for the needed and announced third part.

[Raymondo]

Can I just say with regard to the pricing issue, I would have happily paid £90/100 each for both Designer and Photo as The software is well worth it for such professional software. I'm not quite sure where some peoples heads are as professional software for under £50 is not only cheap, it's ridiculously cheap!! I for one won't grumble if the price increases 25/30 percent. I have had my moments with the software but the more I'm using them the more I realise how professionally good they are.

[Bri-Toon]

Can I just say with regard to the pricing issue, I would have happily paid £90/100 each for both Designer and Photo as The software is well worth it for such professional software. I'm not quite sure where some peoples heads are as professional software for under £50 is not only cheap, it's ridiculously cheap!! I for one won't grumble if the price increases 25/30 percent. I have had my moments with the software but the more I'm using them the more I realise how professionally good they are.

 

The thing I love the most is that they care, and having a trustworthy company makes all the difference. People complain about the postpones of Publisher, which I understand can be upsetting, but at the same time, the price and free updates to programs that can do a heck of a lot for the price is extremely fair.

[Oval]

People complain about the postpones of Publisher

 

The big problem is not the delay but how Serif communicates the launch. For example Serif does not change “with Affinity Publisher coming soon” in news/notes to editors.

[Bri-Toon]

The big problem is not the delay but how Serif communicates the launch. For example Serif does not change “with Affinity Publisher coming soon” in news/notes to editors.

 

Well I'm not saying the company is perfect, but anyone can see that they are super busy, but trust me, I can understand the frustration. You obviously have plans, and you're waiting to put them into action.

[Oval]

You obviously have plans

 

That’s not the point there. It’s about corporate image and some texts that could be easily corrected. Serif seems to have problems with the infinite improbability drive and the launch of apps; another example: The website still states “[…] Affinity Designer for Windows, we’ll be bringing Affinity Photo to that platform too”.

[SrPx]

Affinity apps are currently 49.99 USD or 48.00 CHF. Version 1.x will continue to function indefinitely if you decide that you don't want to buy version 2.

 

Exactly.  And it is very different to purchase than to rent. You purchase Affinity's licenses and you can disconnect from inet even for years. Have the machine for work not connected, for example. And that piece of software with Windows (several versions) will always work. My family has a pair of computers working with very arcane software and systems (even while have also other computers, more modern, in another house), and they're super happy, don't need more for the task. A rented software has not these advantages and they can change renting prices at any point they wish. No blame on them, is a business model. I just think a lot of customers are not up to that, (and another lot are, too). IMO this has provided with a lot of new customers to smaller companies, which is good (less monopoly). So, I'm happy they went with this model, hehe.

 

 

Can I just say with regard to the pricing issue, I would have happily paid £90/100 each for both Designer and Photo as The software is well worth it for such professional software. I'm not quite sure where some peoples heads are as professional software for under £50 is not only cheap, it's ridiculously cheap!! I for one won't grumble if the price increases 25/30 percent. I have had my moments with the software but the more I'm using them the more I realise how professionally good they are.

 

^^ THIS. Heck, Max used to cost 3.500 $, and now jumped into the renting wagon, 150$ per month, hehe. Luckily I can do now professional modeling and rendering -do it often, indeed- with just Blender 3D (fully free).

 

The thing I love the most is that they care, and having a trustworthy company makes all the difference. People complain about the postpones of Publisher, which I understand can be upsetting, but at the same time, the price and free updates to programs that can do a heck of a lot for the price is extremely fair.

 

Is very hard to find these days a software company this good and caring, IMO.

 

The big problem is not the delay but how Serif communicates the launch. For example Serif does not change “with Affinity Publisher coming soon” in news/notes to editors.

 

We could infinitely be nitpicking on that, or get a much more positive line of work... My 2c. Again, is amazing the quantity of times much more resourceful companies have done way bigger announcements and have not been able to accomplish those, being way more damaging. And if you complain, you get your thread closed in the first post, in a lot of them.

 

That’s not the point there. It’s about corporate image and some texts that could be easily corrected. Serif seems to have problems with the infinite improbability drive and the launch of apps; another example: The website still states “[…] Affinity Designer for Windows, we’ll be bringing Affinity Photo to that platform too”.

 

A very good sign of how flooded of work they are. Small staff, low resources, is said in countless posts... Geez, we could use some flexibility here... This way is how most great projects get stalled, by the very specific people that should be defending them...

[Bri-Toon]

 Is very hard to find these days a software company this good and caring, IMO.

 

Exactly. Not just software companies, but most general companies out there. Just because of the trust and care makes me want to stick around. Those two things are more important to me in a business, not the product.

[SrPx]

...neither some obsessive nitpicking in an error in timing estimation....

[Oval]

“Nitpicking”? Schools lose money because the planned budget and curricula expire, people leave the suite before it is finished, … but the big problem is not a single “error in timing estimation” but many mistakes that burden the corporate image. Some examples:

 

“Very soon added” features are still not added after two years.

 

Serif claims that Affinity Designer is the “most precise vector graphic design software available”, but other apps are required because basic features like ”Expand Stroke” are not precise and not corrected. 

 

“Due in 2015, this publishing thoroughbred will share the precision, speed, quality, and designer-led finesse found in other Affinity titles.” was not a rare single “communication error”:

 

From 2015 until now Serif didn’t change their message “Publisher coming soon“.

 

The launch of iPad apps is announced for 2017 although: “After completing the full suite on the Mac […] we will look into other platforms”

 

“Beta veröffentlichen, und dafür benötigen wir Ihre Hilfe”

 

Three months after the launch the website still states “The Future […] Windows, we’ll be bringing Affinity Photo to that platform too”.

 

…

 

If Serif can’t change those reported tiny errors like the too light text in the search field within 2,5 years, people begin to ask if Serif can improve unprecise features. Can Serif do what Serif announces? Corporate image is important. If Serif doesn’t change some simple (communication) errors, the brand will not gain in credibility.

[Bri-Toon]

...neither some obsessive nitpicking in an error in timing estimation....

 

Even though I can't say I agree with Oval's point, I don't think there was any need for this comment, I hate to say it.

[SrPx]

Even though I can't say I agree with Oval's point, I don't think there was any need for this comment, I hate to say it.

 

Don't hate saying it, ;) is no problem at all... Just opinions.  ;)

Anyway, it was not in a harsh tone or whatever. More of about a vision of things, about being practical, that's all.

Well, I guess I have developed a strong habit of reading between the lines and being skeptical by default, whenever reading any commercial announcement (you, know, when even super solid and prestigious companies, the top dogs, do even worse statements : " The most professional 2D retouch ever created" ... and is just a toy for hobbyists not having much of a clue !) of any sort (or reading a review, etc), probably more than other people... Of course, those details fixed and improved, in the post above listed, would leave better image, I don't deny it. I just have grown in me this tendency of only count on what is readily available (and even so, only making a plan if a serious test of myself concludes in it being really up to the task), and only make plans with the things I can count on, or solely depend on my own. That might be the difference. Plus, really, have seen so many delays, so many promises not fulfilled, surprising changes of plans, etc, etc, in companies like MS, Apple, HP, Lenovo, (and I really like all of them) even my loved Dell made some things at times that would have made me run from ever purchasing anything for them.. And still, 90 % of my family's computers are of that brand, thanks to me, basically... is the comparison what is not being -IMO- fully considered, as is what I was referring to as 'context'. IE, if in a region, you call a painter to paint your house, and every one comes in less than 2 hours, and does an excellent job, for a fair price, is not the same than in a region where you call one and after 3 months you get a reply and the professional makes a bad job, after charging a lot, and there's no other person for that in many kilometers.  I mean, obviously each thing is what it is, objectively, of course, that is true. And this might be a very personal position, but to me, context , market global status, etc, is essential when thinking about these matters...   Like all the rest, and my previous comment, is just my opinion... You can differ as much as you desire, super obviously... ;)

 

 

[MikeW]

How about a quick show of hands? Everyone who thinks Serif is happy with the slipping of APub's beta release date, raise your hand...

 

Whether Serif ought to reign in the marketing department's verbal acumen or not, and whether that decision hinders or hurts their reputation is their's to make.

 

All this bluster concerning the issue is folly on the part of the posters. Serif will do just fine in the end.

[R C-R]

All this bluster concerning the issue is folly on the part of the posters. Serif will do just fine in the end.

Never mind "in the end." It is doing just fine right now, has been for quite a while, & it is extremely unlikely that it will not continue to do so. It has nothing to do with the supposed damage to the company's reputation because <gasp> there is still some out-of-date info on the web if you look for it or any of the farfetched scenarios that might result from that.

 

Affinity/Serif will do more than "just fine" for several reasons:

1. The apps are remarkably good values.

2. The pace of development is amazing, even without considering how small the development team is or the enormity of trying to develop a suite of apps based on a single file format, which is almost without precedent in the software industry.

3. The staff, including the people who actually write the code, are remarkably straightforward & honest about the problems they have encountered & what they are doing to try to resolve them.

4. Even if Publisher is never released, there are viable alternative workflows in which using the existing Affinity apps still makes a lot of sense to a lot of people.

5. Did I mention that they are remarkably good values?

6. For the most part, people are not really so gullible or stupid that they cannot tell the difference between marketing hype & reality. This is true for almost all marketed goods & services; in the software industry "real soon now" has long since become a catch phase that almost everybody except the most naive have long since realized means very little other than "we are working on it."

 

Aside from all that, this horse has been beaten to death. Continuing to kick the corpse will not bring it back to life or do anything besides waste time & energy better applied to other, more productive things. Time to move on, folks.

[Petar Petrenko]

Well, I made some suggestions to the Affinity team about outdated infos and they corrected it after some time.

So, all you have to do it is to tell them if something is wrong on their forum and they will do their best to make a correction.

 

@MikeW: let's do it even simplier: everyone who is disapointed from Serif can just leave this forum without making the others nervous.

[Rocketdrive]

I guess the love is cooling off a bit, and Serif's path(s) chosen are steeper than they thought.

 

The big success came with one (AD), then two (+ AP) products for one platform (macOS).

 

Now there are three platforms (Mac, Win, iOS), two products up and running on two out of three platforms, two more apps in the pipeline. Ideally, to deliver as advertised, they have dedicated teams for:

 

AD win, AD mac, AD iOS

AP win, AP mac, AP iOS

APu win, APu mac, APu iOS

unnamed Asset management app win, mac, iOS

 

I hope they are doing fine and would really love to see the whole suite up and running. Obviously, they were too optimistic, and so was I: by the end of 2015 I saw myself, half a year from then, doing most of the work for my clients on my iPad Pro with Designer and Photo. For the rest I'd use Publisher, even if still in beta.

 

The reality is: the iPad Pro is perfect for drawing and digital illustrations, but work on designs for print and web I still do an a Macbook Pro. Where possible I use AD, but unfortunately it still has some shortcomings when it comes to print documents. So Indesign is still part of the equation, and it is here to stay for another year, because of the subscription.

 

So I am not impatiently waiting for anything to arrive, but when it does, I'll be there and give it a try :)

[Minimumsix13]

Never mind "in the end." It is doing just fine right now, has been for quite a while, & it is extremely unlikely that it will not continue to do so. It has nothing to do with the supposed damage to the company's reputation because <gasp> there is still some out-of-date info on the web if you look for it or any of the farfetched scenarios that might result from that...

 

Great points, all of them, and you're quite right—Affinity is performing and will continue to perform remarkably well in this sector. I think the outcry regarding published information about AP is due to the fact that all published information is either incorrect or out of date, not simply bits and bytes. Better on Affinity's part to have said nothing at all considering how long it's been since the first whisper of AP was uttered online. But they're young and ambitious and excited, I'm sure, so I can understand their enthusiasm behind announcing the addition of another app to their suite, thus bringing them ever closer to competing with Adobe on a grander scale. I don't think it hinders their "reputation", necessarily, but many (including me) have put Affinity on a pedestal for creating Adobe alternatives that really sing—this is just a reminder that Affinity is a small team of mere mortals who charge next to nothing to crank out legitimately pro-level design software.

[MikeW]

Affinity ... But they're young and ambitious and excited, I'm sure, ...

 

Er, that is Serif. Affinity is a product range encompassing at this point two applications on (currently) two OS platforms.

 

Also, Serif ain't young. Not quite middle age, but beyond being a "twenty-something." They shouldn't have announced APub until, well, there was something in the near term. But Serif's marketing department has never learned its lesson in overstating facts, etc. All I can think of is it (an announcement) was to generate interest. Unfortunately, the people actually doing the work could not meet those expectations the marketing hype generated.

 

That said, anyone awaiting vaporware to get work done is allowing that enthusiasm to boil over to disappointment at best. There are options, just not as inexpensive.

 

Mike