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Affinity Designer for Windows has launched!


TonyB

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I agree that the pricing is fair, but it would be unfair to renege on the promise of a special discount for DrawPlus X8 users just because the launch offer has ended. As things stand, registered users of DPX6 still qualify for a substantial discount on the price of DPX8, and we were given the impression that the same unlimited offer period would apply for users 'upgrading' from DPX8 to AD. (For those who don't know, there never was a DPX7, so X6 was the last version before X8.)

 

It is apparent that they are silent on this issue of unfairness at this point to their customer base who was promised special upgrading price for loyal customers. Yes internal communications still plague them. New software is one thing but same old broken promises and communications issues has not changed it would seem kind of like bait and switch. If they don't want to provide special pricing for their loyal base then maybe a suggestion: All Previous owners of DPlus X6/X8, WP X*, PhotoPX8, PageP X9, and Affinity Mac users get free upgrade to v2.0 when it is released and Affinity Photo to 2.0 as well. Just a suggestion. Granted it would seem that it was done out of convenience not fairness. To have to go and create a system to provide a separate discount for previous owners whose data is on another system because they created a whole new accounting system where you have to start a new user account would seem to make sense and did not want to spend the time on it let alone import customer data and history. Don't make false promises and alienate your base, That's why Hillary lost :) DOH. You can have great new software but not showing loyalty or keeping promises to your customer base who was loyal to you can put a stain on anything NEW. I would suggest you have a meeting on this with your boss on how you screwed up and misunderstand the meaning of fair and loyalty.

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Maybe we should ask if there is a way for this comments to get to the Marketing and Sales Teams in the form of good suggestions for this matter. That would be a good way for the loyal customers to get an extra reward (I'm new so I'm not in this situation but I can understand how you feel).

 

Since here Moderators are from the Development Team (as far as I know), it doesn't seem to be the right communication channel.

 

Best regards!

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Maybe we should ask if there is a way for this comments to get to the Marketing and Sales Teams in the form of good suggestions for this matter. That would be a good way for the loyal customers to get an extra reward (I'm new so I'm not in this situation but I can understand how you feel).

 

Since here Moderators are from the Development Team (as far as I know), it doesn't seem to be the right communication channel.

 

Best regards!

 

All the people making the decisions are aware of the comments. The main issue for us is the introductory offer is cheaper than any Serif software update has been to date. People have said the price is very fair but they would like other people to pay more. I think that says more about the people complaining than our strategy for the launch offer on Windows. Also, It was actually the revenue from the Mac sales that have paid for the Windows development of Affinity, perhaps we should give them a discount.

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Oh, come on, Tony.

 

I certainly didn't say "others" users should pay more. I may have missed other posts stating this. Castigating people in this way is no way for someone of your position to "argue" your point.

 

And when the Mac version began development 5 or whatever years ago, did Serif borrow any money that funded its development and not use any money from the Plus line revenue to date? Didn't think so. At least some of the developers were still involved in the Plus line's development to whatever degree. Just where did their salaries/wages come from? The Plus line.

 

Unless revenue from the Affinity line was wholly kept separated from the revenue from the Plus line, it would be disingenuous to say that the Mac sales have wholly funded the Windows development. heck, y'all are still selling the Plus line--without mentioning that it is a dead product on the Serif website (last I looked, anyway). As no real development is happening to the Plus line, is that revenue just evaporating? Or is it hitting the general coffers?

 

Even with what appears to be a silly statement, I will continue to be a Serif customer. Just not until y'all fix some of those problems I have alluded to.

 

Good luck, Mike

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All the people making the decisions are aware of the comments. The main issue for us is the introductory offer is cheaper than any Serif software update has been to date. People have said the price is very fair but they would like other people to pay more. I think that says more about the people complaining than our strategy for the launch offer on Windows. Also, It was actually the revenue from the Mac sales that have paid for the Windows development of Affinity, perhaps we should give them a discount.

 

I don't think it's people complaining.

When the 'Plus' range was removed from active development an announcement was made that current Serif Customers would get a discount on the new Affinity Range, those customers are now asking if they will get the promised discount and if it's the same discount that is now being offered to everyone.

Seems like a valid question.

I also find it a little sad that you've used the term 'people complaining', those 'people' are your customers and for some of them it's been almost 20 years of being your customers

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I also find it a little sad that you've used the term 'people complaining', those 'people' are your customers and for some of them it's been almost 20 years of being your customers

 

Never mind 'almost', Adi! PagePlus has been around for more than 25 years, and DrawPlus is only a few years younger than that.

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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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Bored now.

 

Even without the introductory special price the product represents excellent value for money.  If you want to complain about broken promises go talk to the politicians.

 

PS All the Serif Plus range of products are now just £19.99.  Maybe you all should start a new thread complaining that you had to pay a lot more for them many months/years ago

 

http://www.serif.com/index.aspx

 

 

 

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All the people making the decisions are aware of the comments. The main issue for us is the introductory offer is cheaper than any Serif software update has been to date. People have said the price is very fair but they would like other people to pay more. I think that says more about the people complaining than our strategy for the launch offer on Windows. Also, It was actually the revenue from the Mac sales that have paid for the Windows development of Affinity, perhaps we should give them a discount.

 

Good to know that you are aware. I am truly grateful with your effort, both developing and listening us here.

 

To me, the special launch offer was a great surprise, it's a way to share the benefits of Affinity Designer with more people, but I get the point some are trying to make here: that there should be an extra gift for people coming from DrawPlus. I don't know if that's possible. Maybe a cheaper update when V2 comes or something.

 

Anyway, I still appreciate your effort. Wish you the best.

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Even without the introductory special price the product represents excellent value for money. 

 

Exactly my thoughts.

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Bonjour,

 

   Maintenant qu'Affinity Designer est disponible à l'achat, j'ai juste une remarque qui ne va pas dans le même sens (euphorique) que la majorité des posts: je ne comprends pas comment une société peut mettre en vente un logiciel dans lequel il manque tellement d'outils par rapport à la concurrence (enveloppe, perspective, déformation, cutter, B-spline, gomme par exemple), même si le prix de vente est vraiment attractif.

 

   Ma version d'Illustrator (version 9 de 2001), DrawPlusX6 ou X8 me permettaient plus de choses qu'Affinity Designer qui a d'autres fonctions très intéressantes mais les outils manquants sont un handicap.

 

   La version Windows est présentée comme ayant les mêmes fonctions que la version Mac mais je pense que cette dernière est bien plus complète

(pour le moment du moins), ce qui explique son succès. Cette affirmation me semble donc actuellement mensongère.

 

   Les fonctions manquantes qui sont essentielles pour beaucoup sont sur la feuille de route, mais jamais mises en œuvre (dans les versions Beta).

 

   Pour moi l'aventure s'arrête là, je ne vais pas acheter un produit non fini pour lequel on me fait miroiter des mises à jour futures comprenant les

outils qui manquent actuellement.

 

   Je suis désolé mais s'il faut attendre des mois et des mois pour avoir un logiciel opérationnel, je ne suis pas d'accord: si j'achète un produit,

j'attends de lui qu'il soit prêt à l'emploi immédiatement, autrement il ne me sert à rien.

 

   Je sais que vous faites de l'excellent travail mais je me répète: pourquoi vendre un produit inachevé plutôt que le terminer avant de le commercialiser?

 

Cordialement

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reglico,
 
Most of your post is about the software being unready for sale in your opinion. You are entitled to that opinion if it does not currently meet your needs. However, we are selling it because it already does meet the needs of very many users who want the features that it has right now. I think we would have been wrong not to sell it until it had the features you want, because we have not had any of the income from the last 2 years to happy customers who have funded further development.


La plupart de votre poste est sur le logiciel étant déja en vente à votre avis. Vous avez droit à cette opinion si elle ne répond pas actuellement à vos besoins. Cependant, nous sommes le vendre parce qu'il répond déjà aux besoins de très nombreux utilisateurs qui veulent les fonctionnalités qu'il a en ce moment. Je pense que nous aurions eu tort de ne pas le vendre jusqu'à ce qu'il ait les caractéristiques que vous voulez, parce que nous n'avons pas eu le revenu des deux dernières années à des clients heureux qui ont financé le développement.


La version Windows est présentée comme ayant les mêmes fonctions que la version Mac mais je pense que cette dernière est bien plus complète (pour le moment du moins), ce qui explique son succès. Cette affirmation me semble donc actuellement mensongère.
...

The Windows version is presented as having the same functions as the Mac version but I think it is much more complete (For the moment at least), which explains its success. This statement, then, seems to me to be false.

  
The Windows version does have the same functionality as the Mac version (with the exception of one or 2 that are part of the operating system).
 Many people have mistaken the Affinity Photo videos for Designer ones and just assumed that the Windows version was missing those at the moment.
 
I hope that you return to Serif when we add the features that you need.

La version Windows a les mêmes fonctionnalités que la version Mac (à l'exception d'un ou deux qui font partie du système d'exploitation).
  Beaucoup de gens ont confondu les vidéos Affinity Photo pour les concepteurs et juste supposé que la version Windows manquait ceux pour le moment.
 
J'espère que vous reviendrez à Serif lorsque nous ajouterons les fonctionnalités dont vous avez besoin.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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reglico,

 

Most of your post is about the software being unready for sale in your opinion. You are entitled to that opinion if it does not currently meet your needs. However, we are selling it because it already does meet the needs of very many users who want the features that it has right now. I think we would have been wrong not to sell it until it had the features you want, because we have not had any of the income from the last 2 years to happy customers who have funded further development.

 

  

The Windows version does have the same functionality as the Mac version (with the exception of one or 2 that are part of the operating system).

 Many people have mistaken the Affinity Photo videos for Designer ones and just assumed that the Windows version was missing those at the moment.

 

I hope that you return to Serif when we add the features that you need.

 

Patrick, thank you for your answer.

 

   I am well aware that unlike me Affinity Designer Windows meets the expectations of many people and I am happy for them. I am very impressed by the artistic designs created and shared by some.

 

   For my part I do not have the same use but I do not exclude the purchase of Affinity Designer in the future, when the functions that interest me have been added.

 

   Cordially

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I hadn't received any kind of confirmation email from Serif (although my account and license is working fine), how can I claim my free UI kit?! 

I have a need for something just like that atm, so... pretty please guys? :)

 

Hope it's not location related or something like that.

 

Jan

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I hadn't received any kind of confirmation email from Serif (although my account and license is working fine), how can I claim my free UI kit?!

I have a need for something just like that atm, so... pretty please guys? :)

 

Hope it's not location related or something like that.

 

Jan

If you haven't resolved this before, we will need to contact you directly next week.

 

However, if the email address is correct in your account, then there are probably 3 emails to you from us in a spam filter somewhere. The "Affinity Order Confirmation" email has a button called "Get the Freebies" that leads to the downloads.

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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:)  :)  :)

Thank you for developing this fantastic software, and best wishes for the future.

I own 3 licenses of Draw Plus X8, and I mean that the price is also more than fair for the Draw Plus owner.

Hey guys, think about how much work is involved in the development of this good piece of software.

I also think that at this relatively low initial price, the cost of the programming and testing of upgrade rights is disproportionate to the purchase price.

Regards,

chrisart

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if there's a bug in Internet Explorer, how do people correct it to make Affinity Designer work?

 

The correct name for the downloaded installer file is affinity-designer-1.5.0.36.exe but IE is downloading it as affinity-designer-1.5.0.36 without the .exe at the end. When you double-click it to run the installer, Windows doesn't know what to do with files of type *.36 and you get an error message. To correct the problem, select the file in an Explorer window, press the F2 key to rename it and then add the missing filename extension.

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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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maybe you should give the discounts you promised the loyal windows users 

 

The crazy thing is we actually really did want to make sure our long standing Serif customers – as well as those people who helped us so much with the beta period – got a special deal. And that is what we did both with a discount and £50 of free extras.

 

The problem was as well as working on the app, we have also been developing a new store system and database (hence the requirement for setting up a new account, etc.) We were hoping to have some form of voucher functionality or similar in before launch, but unfortunately we ran out of time. Fundamentally right now we have no way to offer different customers different deals.

 

We did only include mention of some of the bonuses (the brush packs) in the Serif customer and beta customer email (you’ll see it was never mentioned on our blog post or any press we received). But yes it’s true that anyone who does buy at the moment does in fact end up being able to get them and so gets the same deal.

 

We felt ok with that as we knew while everyone would in effect get the same deal, the vast majority of people ordering in the first week would be those customers we wanted to give the special offer to. Better that then not giving any offer, or an offer not as good, so we ran with that decision.

 

As it has happened I can tell you that 86% of customers who have ordered so so far are either customers who were part of the beta test programme or customers who previously owned a latest version Plus range product. So yes it could be said that 14% of customers have ended up with a better deal than they would have done if we could have in some way locked the offer down to only Plus range and beta customers.

 

Clearly we should have been more open about this, but at the same time I don't think it makes us the devil as we have genuinely tried to do the best thing we can and give a fantastic offer.

 

We have got an incredibly fantastic team of people here, and we’re a small company. Some comments seem to suggest the belief is we are some big corporation. The part of the company involved in development, testing, documentation, marketing, graphic design and web development is 38 people in total. That’s it – and we’re (including me) all sat in the same room in a unit in Wilford Industrial estate in Nottingham. Adobe probably have 5,000 employees fulfilling the same functions.

 

We do just genuinely want to write fantastic apps, and have as many people using them as we can by offering them for a reasonable price. You will not find a team anywhere who are as committed, as focused, who takes so much pride in their work as what we have here. For many of us this is an all consuming, huge part of our lives and over recent months the hours which have been going into this (as well as our Mac updates, progress with iPad, etc.) has been phenomenal. I say this to explain why perhaps at times we can get a bit defensive, because we literally put everything we’ve got into it.

 

Anyway, please take this as as apology that I realise we have got our communication wrong and also to put the blame for that entirely on me as it was me, after all, who wrote the email. I’ll make sure we sort out some additional freebies or something similar to give exclusively to our latest version Plus range users in the future once we have a way to do it.

 

Thanks,

Ash

Managing Director

Help make our apps better by joining our beta program!


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I have no issues with the price I paid for AD (it's a bargain compared to other software)  however there's inconsistencies across currencies...

 

I'm in Australia (obviously!) but my email to purchase was in euros - EUR 39.99. Converted it cost me AUD$62.99.

 

However the online currency converter XE at the same time gives me...

 

US - 39.99 = AUD$54.52

 

EUR - 39.99 = AUD$57.74

 

and.. GBP 29.99 = AUD$50.46

 

Perhaps Serif's marketing team need to sort this out and (ideally!) use one currency only for pricing?

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...We have got an incredibly fantastic team of people here, and we’re a small company. Some comments seem to suggest the belief is we are some big corporation. The part of the company involved in development, testing, documentation, marketing, graphic design and web development is 38 people in total. That’s it – and we’re (including me) all sat in the same room in a unit in Wilford Industrial estate in Nottingham. Adobe probably have 5,000 employees fulfilling the same functions...

 

 

Thanks,

Ash

 

 

But they are totally confused.

Instead of colaborating, their teams compete each other. How else you can explain that same feature(s) works in three different ways into PS, AI and ID?

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Well, the registration to buy your software ruined it for me. I was happy that it's not a subscription model and thought I could simply enter my e-mail adress and pay with PayPal to get the serial key.

But no, you want us to create a user account so we need to keep track of another password and there's the possibility of your database getting hacked and leaked.

So for now, I'll sadly pass.

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