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Welcome to the Serif Affinity Forums, @djjss. :)

 

It’s much more than just a question of funding. I think the following post from this long thread provides a good summary of the problem:

 

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What about starting a kickstarter to collect 500.000 bucks for the GIMP team to temporary employ some full time people, including a qualified ui/ux designer to highly improve and refactor GIMP?

So we can reduce the gap between GIMP and it's non-free competitors - and even may not need them anymore.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/1/2018 at 10:05 AM, Requester said:

What about starting a kickstarter to collect 500.000 bucks for the GIMP team to temporary employ some full time people, including a qualified ui/ux designer to highly improve and refactor GIMP?

So we can reduce the gap between GIMP and it's non-free competitors - and even may not need them anymore.

but we would also need help for inkscape or a similar vector tool.

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Then, another KS for that one.

IMO, good luck with both, tho... These are projects handled by a group of developers, each. Often not very flexible to outside "suggestions". And you would need to convince them about that...While both have from start (unlike krita) not considered things like getting a proper CMYK mode as an important feature. I doubt they'd love to loose control, or go in a direction even slightly different to what they have planned. Also rightly so, as they put tons of free hours in developing them, who has the right to tell them what to do? (even less, in the case of Serif! )... I only mean it wouldn't be an easy task to convince them. But to convince a commercial, closed source company about making a big route change might prove to be even much harder, virtually impossible (ANY company), IMO. Among other things, because salaries and families depend on making the right decisions. And because making money is its main motto (for the salaries, company growth, surviving in a fierce market, etc). 

But if there's a first try, it must be with the existing open source projects, imo.  (but they probably will not be very happy to be told their projects aren't professional enough or stuff like that, lol... )

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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1 hour ago, SrPx said:

IMO, good luck with both, tho... These are projects handled by a group of developers, each. Often not very flexible to outside "suggestions". And you would need to convince them about that...While both have from start (unlike krita) not considered things like getting a proper CMYK mode as an important feature. I doubt they'd love to loose control, or go in a direction even slightly different to what they have planned. Also rightly so, as they put tons of free hours in developing them, who has the right to tell them what to do? (even less, in the case of Serif! )... I only mean it wouldn't be an easy task to convince them. But to convince a commercial, closed source company about making a big route change might prove to be even much harder, virtually impossible (ANY company), IMO. Among other things, because salaries and families depend on making the right decisions. And because making money is its main motto (for the salaries, company growth, surviving in a fierce market, etc). 

But if there's a first try, it must be with the existing open source projects, imo.  (but they probably will not be very happy to be told their projects aren't professional enough or stuff like that, lol... )

This sound really good. I never thought in that, really good Idea... But the problem is that Affinity Photo and Designer is created from scratch (Everything) and if they will improve gimp, it will be little messy in this aspect. They will work more and more harder adding, changing, removing things from Gimp code than create everything from scratch... But if they contract Gimp employers for do that, it will be a great help... Affinity can buy Gimp for do that, but then, the open source community of Gimp will be look very affected and irritated for that... They can leave Gimp open source and make another version very different for pay..  I really don't know, I guess that is a hard topic and hard decision... Because if they do this with gimp, they have to do the same with inkscape.

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I might have understood badly a previous post. I thought we were talking about putting that cash -the famous 500k dollars- entirely in projects like Gimp and Inkscape. Not meaning to involve Serif neither Affinity line in any way.  Just an act done by open source users, Linux users. Kickstarter campaigns for just improving the Gimp and Inskacape projects (and maybe Scribus, too). The only realistic approach, IMO, is to FIRST talk to the Gimp and/or Inkscape (and/or Scribus) development groups or project managers. Or you'll be making a campaign for nothing, for zero results. You can't even think of improving an icon in the entire project without that. Be prepared to receive a "no, thanks"  as a response, or a kind reply telling you in which way you can donate to help the project. Or which books to buy to support them in their shop. Or which are the EXISTING campaigns to help this or that feature. I wouldn't expect any more than that as a response, if you get replied. BUT... you may be lucky. Maybe there's some outstanding KS planned for a set of features that are which particularly you need The Gimp (or Inkscape, or Scribus) to get added to become the professional solution you are after (and we all would be). Or maybe not.

I've studied deeply what those tools can and can't do, myself. I faced several rock solid facts... That those are good tools, good software. But they do not reach what I need say, at a company (been using them for very long years at the latest company, and before), and while I have more possibilities of using them now as a freelancer, I would be loosing a lot of time, speed (yeah, even knowing them very well, and being a very seasoned 2D graphic artist/designer), and loosing valuable energy (cognitive resources, they call it now, kindda trendy word...) by using apps less powerful, by far, that what I can get by a bit above 50 dollars/euros (whatever is the price now), which I'll renew no matter what, even if yearly, even if I can stick to an older version (always that remain not forced, not a subscription) whenever they release 1.7, and all following ones. To support them, and also because the improves really worth it by very far. Is just the right fit. Having to use Windows, is a very minor issue compared to having the pro stuff covered well. IMO, if I was still in deep love with Linux as I was, I can tell you I'd still have a multi-boot system with the two OSes, just to use Affinity and a few other software apps, even non graphics related. But not even in my most fanboy times would have had a single problem in having a windows multi-boot (it is indeed a very powerful, freedom bringer and wise solution), just to use Affinity suite. Lucky me, am totally fine, zero issues in using Windows 7, 8.1 and 10.  So, I avoid maintaining -well- yet another OS, and the extra gigabytes of the HD.

I was not suggesting Serif teaming with Gimp people, in any possible way ! . And the code base of Gimp... I suspect is like night and day with Affinity's (and probably also with anything else on earth). About one sentence that you said that made me cringe a bit, sorry...  :

Quote

Affinity can buy Gimp for do that,

No they can't ! As far as I know, The Gimp is licensed under a GPL license !  :s  At least, the money stuff must have handled different than with closed source code. Meaning,  they can't purchase it to close it and make the code exclusive (which tends to be a need in a commercial company's ecosystem, tho this is changing slightly, but tends to be for side projects), but yep, anyone can distribute and sell a copy of Gimp, provided ALL the source code and modifications over it are PROVIDED with EACH COPY of the software. For many commercial companies this is a no-no, as then would have to disclose some routines, algos, some code that is under NDA, among other issues, the fear of industrial espionage, etc. I see zero benefits in an approach like this for them, and if anything, making a software from the competition grow, even if not a commercial competitor, is still one that can predate users from their user base. 

There is a way to "buy" that I have seen done in the past,totally legal, unless specific contracts wouldn't allow that, etc : A company contracts for a very nice salary one of the main developers of the open source project. But often, to avoid mountains of community hate, the developer is provided with total freedom to keep working in the open source project, and even given resources and time for that (never using routines that are the company's property, of course. Even if developed by the coder). They know the top stuff, time and dedication will be given to the commercial company where he/she/they got the job, anyways. Inside commercial world, I've seen a company "buying" secretly most of the employers of another one, which was not even competing, but for personal reasons, or just as it was a nice pool of talent to rob. Stuff (to avoid a stronger word) happens....

Quote

They will work more and more harder adding, changing, removing things from Gimp code than create everything from scratch

Indeed, I'm told by someone who really (emphasis not exaggerated a single bit, if anything, RATHER short) knows his stuff (coding these kind of graphic apps) that the code structure of the Gimp is highly limiting them in a bunch of things, for faster/more flexible advance. So you can't do a lot of stuff just directly, the GEGL is being in done in part due to that (among other things, its total implementation is needed for a real CMYK mode, sadly).

Again, IMO the realistic choices are extremely simple, and the only ones you're gonna see for a very long time : Stick to Gimp and Inkscape as long as you can, if you don't have certain professional features needs, which I do have, or have a dual boot with both systems installed, each one in a different partition. I did so for long years, but it ends up being more practical just only using and maintaining Windows (or Mac, if you have that preference and don't need to have Windows, don't mind expending a bit more in mac machines). Obvious conclusion is that IF you are a hardcore Linux lover, and you do graphics for a hobby, you might want to stick to Gimp and Inskcape in your Linux.  Advanced hobbyists tho, might rather prefer Affinity (so, Win /Mac). Unless their advanced hobby is well supported by the Gimp/Inskcape/Scribus features. Which actually happens for a ton of activities. And IMO pros needing a very wide range of activities to cover, in the professional field and market, they (we) have no option in Linux, at least if want to do (just as an example!) print stuff FAST and flexible (because you can do CMYK based projects, with almost everything required(almost) in Linux. But the workarounds for that are very clumsy and slow, yet). And ppl keep saying printing is a thing from the past, but the down to earth reality is that it is still absolutely strong, and I don't see it disappearing any time soon, feeding yet a lot of professionals and their families... so, yep, it is a very important set of features (to be implemented to perfection), crucial for "some" (EDIT: hear the sarcasm, here. Yep, print media will surely disappear, or reduced a lot, but it's gonna be, IMO, a very slow process, meaning is a lot of salaries and gigs of the entire market, will keep bringing the main income for a large bunch of companies and freelancers for too many years yet. There are publications GROWING in print media, from a 5% to a 37%, recently.... At some point, it will all be other sort of media, digital based even if used as a regular newspapers/magazines, so, light-based color might make CMYK rarely needed, but there's a long time before that happening, IMO ) ).

Besides, high end color managing is not only for print... Also, the UI could be much faster in both open source projects. Again, I know the tools very well, the advanced tricks/ways, am not the typical user complaining because the UI is not like Photoshop, that tried gimp/inskcape for a week, or the typical Blender newbie crying because that is not like 3DS Max. (IMO Blender is doing things really well). I have stuff to criticize for example about Blender UI (a bunch of it is being improved as we speak, and has been so in late years) but a major difference is how much Blender is aiming to the professional. While keeping quite some care on the new comer, this is going to be noticed, both approaches in the next major version, the outstanding 2.8.  I bring it up so many times not just because I like it and use it in my pro work, but because is an existing proof of what can be done in Linux world, if done well, and with enough human power behind it...

Quote

Because if they do this with gimp, they have to do the same with inkscape.

Er.... not really. Totally different projects and communities.

The best that could happen to Inkscape and Gimp, IMO, would be to receive large funding (without setting any conditions or change of direction (that might possibly produce a major disband of coders and other contributors), maybe only forcing the implementation, as a funding condition or KS goal, of the pro features, lacking to date yet), to grow faster. But IMO, not from Serif, that's unlikely to happen, but from companies that SHOULD be defending open source, Linux based software .Well, "linux based", tho since some point in time, most apps got (clever move, imo, specially when you do not have the market dominance by any stretch of your imagination) ported to other platforms, and the ports, maintained. That is, the company behind Ubuntu, Redhat, etc should do a royal ton more to help these community projects. The big Linux companies. And those applications should receive a lot more "love", support and attention from the full Linux community, in general (the users and independent coders). IMO they don't give them the right merit and attention. True that part of it is because a lot of Linux users themselves don't enjoy Gimp/inkscape/Scribus UIs, (and others are mainly coders/system/network guys, not graphic people) but it is IMO not the ultimate reason, is a kind of low consideration of the entire graphic creation world (probably as very few artists in that community!! In comparison to Mac and Windows, both in % and absolute number). Because Krita DOES have a good UI, much friendlier for the newcomer (from Linux and Win/Mac users, and even from total noobs to computers) , and still is almost abandoned to its luck and a few warriors' effort....

And the ones needing to support those, Linux users, are here in an impossible chimera trying to convince a commercial company to do a crazy 360º maneuver with a ton of risks for any company (and weirder things I've seen happening, but certain kind pressure tends to work really bad in these situations), instead of supporting the real Linux projects: Inkscape, Scribus, Krita, Blender, Synfig and Gimp (to name some of the most known ones, there are quite more). So, there's little hope for Linux graphic software (apart from Blender, and maybe Krita as they are strong and well done enough to keep a fine evolution path, going with the times and pro market needs)

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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Anyone can do a fork, provided is respected the GNU GPL license rules. That sounds as an outstanding task, though, and the issues is same as in affinity: finding people with a very rare amount of experience and knowledge, and willing to do that.

If wanted to keep under the Gimp group unbrella, to promote something that The Gimp group is going to at least consider, your first step should be to join the Gimp developers mailing list. The actual developers are there and read that.

A total apart project from the Gimp devs group, yes, is technically possible, but if has not happened in 20 years, I doubt is gonna happen. That said, really the Gimp main code seems mostly done now by 3 guys, and a pair more for GEGL mode.

Stuff as important for DTP and design, is considered of minor importance by them.  It is planned! but so far in the future (first comes complete implementation of GEGL in every bit, and I'm afraid any cmyk start would not happen until 2 years. if I were to think badly, I'd say they might expect CMYK would have disappeared by then...Which IMO, will not be the case, tho...)  https://www.gimp.org/docs/userfaq.html#i-do-a-lot-of-desktop-publishing-related-work-will-you-ever-support-cmyk

There are OSS sites with bounty offers that rarely go over 200 bucks for a feature in Gimp, that's a very ugly joke....

The kickstarters and similar, are mostly for specific widely requested features, a recent one is the GEGL, i believe . Most people are looking to that due to allowing non destructive editing. There are some ultra basic features added in 2.10 that they welcome as edge technology while it is in PS since, I dunno, version 2.0  (NOT CS 2, but 2.0....)

My 2c... If you love Linux that much, stick to Gimp and all that. I prefer to use my graphics creation time wisely....  ;)  If I see the development team in gimp or inkscape grow as much as Blender's, my opinion might change radically, but only once I see that reflected in real advance towards a real professional 2D package in the main fields (and yep, printing is clearly one of those. But also is crucial key basic functionality pending for years in the to-do, not even print related... That will keep me away from these projects unless there's a radical change in its path and philosophy )

 

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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  • 1 month later...

I know that his thread is ancient.

Given the current OS landscape and lack of decent pro apple hardware I am switching to Linux for film editing using resolve. (CentOS).

Would love to have a decent image editing application on Linux!

Resolve is 300$ for a Linux seat, would not mind paying a similar price for the entire Affinity suite.

Cheers!

K.

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/21/2018 at 3:16 PM, helloha said:

I know that his thread is ancient.

Given the current OS landscape and lack of decent pro apple hardware I am switching to Linux for film editing using resolve. (CentOS).

Would love to have a decent image editing application on Linux!

Resolve is 300$ for a Linux seat, would not mind paying a similar price for the entire Affinity suite.

Cheers!

K.

I'm in a similar situation.

I'm still using MacOS at the moment, but if I can get some decent image editing and vector application running natively on Linux, then my next computer will be a PC running some version of Linux (I haven't decided which one yet).

The only other "pro" software I use (Davinci Resolve) already has a linux version.

If not, then I'll have to buy an Apple computer again - but I don't really like many of their decisions made in the last few years, so I'd prefer to switch to a different OS... and Windows 10 is (for me) almost unusable due to my low frustration tolerance. ;)

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  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...

@Andy Somerfield I've been running AlienSkin Exposure X2 RAW Photo Editor on Linux through WINE ever since it was new. Performance is no different from running it in Windows. I haven't tested X3 because I didn't have a reason to buy the license, but according to WineHQ it runs fine.

Frankly, I haven't used Affinity anymore because it is literally the last thing that needs Windows in my workflow. And although I have the license for Photo and Designer, switching to Windows is too "expensive" for me in terms of productivity.

Observing how some software runs perfectly - I can even play the latest Doom 4 and Tomb Raider (PC games for Windows) on Linux - it is tempting to think that Affinity Designer could swap some library and poof, WINE compatibility.

Would it be an idea to investigate this?

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I think that if Affinity could at least work on making the Microsoft version of Affinity Photo work properly via Wine/PlayOnLinux, that would be enough for most of us.  Affinity is literally the only Windows app that I have to boot into Windows for, and that's a huge chore.  Photoshop works fine in Wine, Lightroom, etc.  For whatever reason, Affinity Photo won't even begin to install via Wine, which is a rarity among Windows apps.  Quite disappointing!

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5 hours ago, Kodiak_F said:

Photoshop works fine in Wine,

Photoshop CC 2018 works fine in Wine ?  

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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40 minutes ago, SrPx said:

Photoshop CC 2018 works fine in Wine ?  

I believe it varies quite a bit Photoshop version to version.  CC2018's page is here, and lists gold-class compatibility, (whereas Affinity Photo 1.5 is listed as 'garbage-class [won't install]).  https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=36206

I'm beginning down the road of troubleshooting Affinity 1.6.5 installation via Wine since I have a license for the Windows version.

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3 hours ago, SrPx said:

Photoshop CC 2018 works fine in Wine ?  

Check the 3.x branch of wine.

Photoshop CC 2018 works after installing the dependencies. Manually copy Photoshop over from your Windows installation, e.g. to ~/.wine-photoshop/drive_c/Program\ Files/Adobe/Photoshop

WINEARCH=win64
WINEPREFIX=~/.wine-photoshop
wineboot -u
winetricks fontsmooth=rgb gdiplus vcrun2008 vcrun2010 vcrun2012 vcrun2013 vcrun2015 atmlib msxml6 gdiplus corefonts
wget http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/creativesuite/cc/win/ApplicationManager10.0_all.exe
wine ApplicationManager10.0_all.exe
wine ~/.wine-photoshop/drive_c/Program\ Files/Adobe/Photoshop/Photoshop.exe

See https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=36206

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as a fan of macos, affinity and linux, I wonder what the experience of using affinity on linux would actually be like? do affinity for mac products rely heavily on the various “layers” of os x which devs can freely tap into to give functionality to their apps? are there counterparts in linux?

in my experience, the affinity devs truly get macos; they don’t merely write great software which runs on a mac, as some legacy software developers do. they fully operate in the head space of “what’s the mac way of handling this? now, what’s the even greater mac/affinity way of handling this?”

until recently, I was about fed up with computering in general, but developers such as serif breathed fresh new life into the experience and brought back the focus on creativity, and took emphasis away from doing workarounds on sclerotic software. 

If they could do the same thing on the linux platform, that would be very exciting, but I certainly wouldn’t expect it if it didn’t pay off for them.

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Well, about lil details in OS integration... they are even running stuff through Wine!.... Linux users, or a least, for the bunch of years I was a very active one at home, later on at the job (even if not at home anymore), we were very much used to really hard workflows, quite feature and functionality limited graphic software (in some areas, non existing) and complex workarounds, both in the applications and the overall system. I doubt that has changed that radically, even if IMO users have changed a lot in some years, specially newcomers aren't that similar to the old ones, IMO.... I think they still are quite hardened in that respect (most mac users I know -and a bunch of Windows ones- would never go as far as (even) to handle sth like Wine. Would probably lack of motivation to fiddle with that (generally speaking)). With sth functional (like Affinity), linux users, they'd deal with it, no matter what. IMO, going the Wine route is wise. I'm not planning to go back to Linux anytime soon (until Win 7 is not yet at the end of support time), but you never know, with the way of the Dodo of Windows updates (even deleting user files?).... So, this research with Wine... Interesting, to say the least (plus, it does not remove dev time from actually developing/polishing the Affinity apps, which is in the interest of all users, mac, win and linux ones).

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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  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/29/2014 at 8:17 PM, Andy Somerfield said:

Hi,

 

Affinity is about, amongst other things, the "experience" of designing things.. 60fps, fluid navigation and editing of documents is at the heart of what we do.

 

WINE is a wonderful project, but I don't think it would work for Affinity - performance is close to native, but support for things like our use of OpenGL / input interaction would take some work. It also assumes a Windows build to map onto WINE libs - which we don't have. You have more chance of convincing us to make a native Linux version than a WINE one..

 

I won't rule out making a Linux version of Affinity, but I need someone to show me a combination of distro, desktop topology and deployment (paid) platform where we would recoup our development costs. If someone can show me that, I'll be willing to talk some more about it all..

 

Hope this helps,

 

AndyS

Dear Andy,

 

Since barely no one actually replied to the requirements that you asked for I will do my best to answer them:

1 - The obvious distro that you would have to target/develop for is Ubuntu. Ubuntu is Debian-based but there's plenty of other distros based on it. The most popular distros besides Ubuntu are usually based on Ubuntu (ex. Mint). So if you develop for Ubuntu, your software would automatically be compatible with the vast majority of Linux distros.

This brings other advantages because Ubuntu offers something that no other Linux distro does: predictability. Every two years there's a Long-Term-Support release. This LTS release is then installed in servers, end-user PCs, etc. It is THE base for two years for the majority of Linux distros and it offers stability. Also, the second most popular Linux distro - Linux Mint - is based on Ubuntu LTS releases and they don't change their base for those two years. Effectively, Ubuntu LTS releases are the core for most Linux users.

2 - With desktop topology, I assume you are mentioning Desktop Environment? Well, if so you are in luck. Canonical has discarded their Unity desktop environment and is again using the main-line Gnome desktop environment. Therefore, you should support the Gnome Desktop Environment.

This is the obvious choice since it is the base desktop environment of Ubuntu 18.04, but its development is heavily funded by Red Hat (now belongs to IBM). The only other alternative would be Plasma (based on Qt) but they are not supported by the two biggest open-source companies in the world (Canonical and Red Hat).

3 - Deployment (paid) platform where we would recoup our development costs. Someone else already mentioned this but you should definitely use the Snapcraft platform. Snaps are a package format which is a bundle of your app and dependencies that works without modification across Linux. Snaps are discoverable and installable from the Snap Store, an app store with an audience of millions. You can create snaps from apps you’ve already built and zipped, or your preferred programming language or framework (this includes C/c++, Java, Electron, Go, Rust, etc...).

The Snap package format is accessible by default in all Ubuntu installations starting from the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, and directly available from the Ubuntu software store. Also, Snaps can be easily accessed even by non-Ubuntu based distros and you don't have to do anything to make it compatible to other distros since the dependencies required are bundled with the app, so no conflicts arise.

Also Snaps auto-update and work like app formats for other platforms (ex. .apks for Android).

Here's an infographic from Snaps

Snapcraft-Infographic-EndUser.jpg

Canonical's Snap Store has apps - this includes paid proprietary apps - from major publishers. Examples include Plex Media Server, Windows Powershell (!), Visual Studio Code and Android Studio, Only Office, Slack, Mailspring, Spotify.

Proprietary graphics software is also being released as Snaps. This includes Polarr. As you can see their developers followed a strategy similar to what I outlined for you.

It also includes Gravit Designer.

 

Ofcourse, there'll be challenges and I cannot guarantee you that if you invest 500.000$ into this that you'll be able to recoup your investment. I don't know your financial health, nor your budget or 3-year business plan.

There's always a degree of risk in every investment. However, be aware that plenty of companies that launched their proprietary software in Linux thought it was a worthy investment. Namely, Valve launched Steam and they keep investing and improving the Linux graphics stack including OpenGL support, Vulkan support and D3D to Vulkan support. Many gaming companies still release numerous ports for Linux (the Total War strategy games from Creative Assembly, the Tomb Raider series, etc).

I cannot run your company but if you were truly interested, a solid strategy plan would have to be outlined. However, I am certain that if you approached Canonical they would support you on this endeavour since they would also be interested in having professional proprietary software in their Snap store. They would probably collaborate in marketing your software and spread awareness about Affinity in social media and websites with enormous following like OMGUbuntu! would advertise Affinity software endlessly. If you consider this investment not only as a product launch but as integrating your marketing strategy then it would probably justify the investment.

 

Hopefully my reply is enough to convince that this might be a worthy endeavour.

Pedro Rosmaninho

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • Staff

Linux Sucks ;)  that video is OT from an Affinity development standpoint, but it's food for thought (and funny).

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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@TonyB you will get that money just stay calm and confident

@Andy SomerfieldSomerfield Linux is simply a world with an ecosystem to conquer, nothing else, Affinity would run smoothly on Linux if we consider the fact Linux makes less use of resources than it's brothers (Windows and MacOs) also check projects like Pop! Is from system76, KDE Neon, Elementary OS, Fedora 30 (coming soon) and much more

Never be the Same Again !
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On 11/29/2018 at 12:40 PM, Patrick Connor said:

Linux Sucks ;)  that video is OT from an Affinity development standpoint, but it's food for thought (and funny).

Watched the whole video.... Mile long rant about it, spoiler-hidden just below. For the [very] bored.

 

Problem I have with "Stupid Statement #2" is....that it isn't true. Or at least, let's redefine or rephrase that "can do their job" statement. A freelancer, maybe ( even there, I can tell you, will need to avoid a bunch of gigs: Not a good thing to do, in this economy...). Someone at a company, heck, that's wild to asume, as a generic thing. Even a freelancer, it probably would need to be disconnected from a large portion of the actual world and industry, to work effectively with a big bunch of clients.  Funnily, I have always thought all the other points (tho to be sincere, never cared much about gaming, despite having been quite a gamer) against Linux were weak for whoever was minimally nerd about computers.

The #2 has a major issue. Nope, not a prob to achieve almost anything ( at the right speed as in Win/OSX, even compared in times of execution of well trained ppl handling the whatever Linux app for decades, in certain key scenarios, nope, am afraid not, and that's a prob as speed is so essential in commercial world...If u can't deliver both quality and speed, you're done. )  with current Linux graphic software. But yeah, HUGE issue to go to any company and try to convince virtually anyone that your expertise is easily transferable. They're not stupid.... they know ( all time I'm speaking about apps for graphics, is our theme and what we care about) you will need at least a month to get up to speed, heck, even happens if using any other windows app, if is not the industry standard!, and even expecting them to bet for it, that you'll be able to get there, as well! Problem is that a company doesn't know you, and that/if u'r gonna be capable till..they know you, lol. In some cases could be 2 weeks, with luck. And they don't have that time to get you at similar pace than the rest of the team (or not the case in my region, haven't moved yet to Silicon Valley), even if you are a freakin' genius in your 2D and 3D modeling or whatever. Yeah, not Linux's fault. But these are market and industry rules. That's how the jungle works. So MUCH would love it to be different. I was able to convince bosses about some open source tools (Wings3D, Blender, Inkscape, etc). Some were a success because I showed speed and good quality in the result. Others (who rarely care much about quality) because zero investment in bucks is attractive.   

It was quite a hard thing to do in literally every case, for many reasons.This is the software Linux pro users have to wrestle with for making graphic content.  And lots of the Linux defenders as a platform for graphic content makers don't know a word about the task in hand,  not to the required extreme level, if haven't tried, and achieved, for very long time, years, the goal of delivering in time, and requirements, to clients or at a company, using those applications. But I was never able to convince bosses and other powers that be to run those on Linux. Funnily, later had SAME continuous fight at a Linux centered company to convince them to let me use Windows and Photoshop ( and any other industry standard pro app) because (I mean, the why I asked for that) , well, had to do tons of printing, CMYK stuff involved (seems finally Gimp is getting CMYK, wohoo! (not being fully sarcastic: I really LOVE it getting it. There's one magic guy that's gonna make it possible.... Looking forward to it, sincerely. )). One English expression I liked that someone used in some recent thread ... "seems I can't win here"...

In how I'm perceiving the way things are moving (Blender 2.8 is outstanding, some video editors of high level, certain big names in 3D with Linux versions, GIMP getting in months a CMYK mode (probably) , Scribus being used already by some print companies as the third native format to get the CMYK files delivered on, even making guides for those users) it seems to me it will first get solidly its place in the freelance world ( I mean, really, not marginally) . And will grab a lot of those who escaped from "the system" (specially the 9 to 5 job system). But is yet an heroic pain to try to go Linux route for getting a job at a company (it's even as a freelance). That's my point. Large corporations kind of jobs, I see more problems there. Specially in graphics making stuff. But a bit how Affinity is surely getting a lot of people out of the grid (the lost sheep?), could happen to Linux, too... I just don't want to be back again the one taking all the heat (and dragons' breath on my neck to catch me in some error...tho to be forced to be error free, ain't a bad thing at all, u know...makes good habits) because fighting at same time with skeptical bosses willing me to make some single error with my open source application, as is not a bet they wanted, neither I wish to wrestle again with the random lack of features so essential for the market, to keep competitive with the industry. BUT...truth to be said in all fairness, meanwhile, Blender covers a lot (well, ALL) of my indy/freelance projects' stuff. And wont ever model with other thing than Wings3D , am afraid, it just doesn't feel right/comfortable anymore to use other thing...(although,  heck, if nicely paid, I can 3D model even with Microsoft Word, if they add a pair of features and am told to do so.... :D  )

"So we're going to ignore..." and points to the #2 sentence in the board. Yep. That right there is the issue. To keep ignoring it. The statement that I heard just seconds before of that, literally told me there was not much hope more in the rest of the video, but kept carefully watching, till very last second.... "The only thing you can't do in Linux is Windows and Mac OSX applications". I do have a serious feeling this guy has not tried to work at a company using Linux based software for making certain -very common- type of graphics, (sure, he's very experienced in coding or whatever, worked at MS...) at the levels the industry requires. Because the issue is not ONLY to be able to compile Win or Mac apps, lol... Wish it was just that. Problem is to deal with files that are produced, native, IN those Win and Mac OSX apps, the native files those do export. And not just any Win/OSX app, but the current industry standard ones. I can use Sculptris on Windows, but my boss (I don't have currently any, making an example here) will require from me yes or yes to handle Zbrush for that task, and provide the files as it exports them. I can of course save a file in Gimp native format, but good luck with that at a print company, local print shop, whatever. And good luck trying to open a native PSD with all layers FX, smart objects, etc,  and stuff of a critically important client which you can't loose, 'cause as a full time freelancer, you might not eat then that whole month if loose him/her, or worse, that the company you work at as an employee, can't loose this client/firm , and which milestone must be respected at all costs, yes or yes, or we are dead in the water, as is needed for yesterday. (fail to deliver perfect and fast once... or two as much, and you're under the bridge next Monday)

It's the same common places without a real scenario kind of analysis, IMO. And its the grunt soldiers in the barricades -us- who pay the freakin' price of that light and enthusiast (but imo, bit ignorant) treatment of the matter...No , thank you. I'll be looking forward the evolution of these graphic content making tools, and I'll see by myself when they are REALLY ready for showtime. Not a freaking second before... "I have spoken with video professionals..."    Yeah, right (besides, not direct experience...)....video is strong since a very long time in Linux ( now, a lot more options, but Cinelerra's been there for eons), and specially FX with Houdini. 3D is also (Maya, Blender, etc), but not in certain cases that are critical for many jobs. There are too many fields, big ones and micro fields that need "a lot of love", yet. And are essential.  Doing web apps, as he mentions, yeah, not a good example, either. That has been strong in Linux almost since always. And server stuff. That's not the point. Not what needs more badly that care and love. And money. And people. And resources. But mostly, that they would actually started caring deeply in making the graphic content creation (tools and the OS part) whole area as strong as other areas indeed are. Heck, if anything, focus on color management printed oriented, being easier to use and configure ( and with way less limits) for the average Joe kind of pro that lands on Linux just to give it a go... Typical over simplistic take at it, of some people that see their very own tiny parcel working, but has not been at a full stressing environment where GRAPHIC production, market standards and speed are vital and equally important.

So, is not the pros who he talked to that "don't get it", no matter how that audience clapped him (as expected). It's other people (in the community as a whole) who has been decades "not getting it"....sorry.... The old argument (he touches it at #3) of, "hey, now it is easier to use" ...ouch...hiding again behind that , instead of really addressing #2... doesn't cut it a single bit in the issues I have listed. As if difficulty of handling ( but it slows anyone down, and THAT affects production)  was the issue, for the well trained IT/graphic pro... is the actual capabilities and compatibility (in files, workflows, pipelines) with the current INDUSTRY standards, not just if being able to make "Windows or OSX apps". Difficulty on handling, lol... I've installed decades ago linux distros -many- with a bunch of floppy disks by making first a faked virtual ram from floppy disks to be able to install the first slackware or whatever, on a super low 286 , and man, were those things hard... NOTHING, not a single distro today is "hard"...compared to those. Heck , there was not even a graphic desktop.

He even goes to say the hardware is very well supported now. And puts an example: Not anymore one has to loose an entire morning making the wifi work again after a kernel compile.... (so, he admits we come from there, sigh...Some basic stuff could take days...and I'm not/neither was then a noob with Linux) . Yeah, right, but a pro usage (again, which was my main issue, point #2 ) requires that your scanner or whatever pro device (not sth as super standard as the wifi chip) comes with a driver. That  -essentially important for me- the hardware color calibrator for my monitor counts on software and drivers for the OS...guess what...as always been, and just checked now out of curiosity, full support for Win/Mac, but not even a dirty link for a source file for Linux. And hey, am not as noob as not to know that maybe at some dark forum or, as a sudden package update someday, I get a package supporting that one from an actual user who was kind enough, but this is OPPOSITE to what a professional functioning needs. You just can't go like that, full stop. Again, even this, I'd find my way, I dig for not the best, surely a quite worse yet somewhat functional, bad weird piece which would happen to have a linux driver...but beside the main issues (graphic apps, color managing ease and depth in the system, etc), all keeps adding up for the graphic pro.

But he made other very strong points. And I laughed, quite. Didn't understand fully the "do you have a Canadian girlfriend" joke, tho...Must be sth trendy or rare to be seen . Well, local  US humor, I guess....

Anyway....the rest of the video is mostly nostalgic feeling about how MS is invading Linux, removing control from the people. If you can't win, absorbe it and transform it. It's an obvious tactic, and yep, they're doing that (still, not sure if it could add a middle ground that could be interesting). And that's absolutely true, I saw it increasing at a linux based company, some years ago. And so... is that much of a big deal for a graphic creator who's gotta pay the freaking bills every end of the month? Is it our fight? I mean, all these years, Linux (often cross platform) graphic apps could be used just as well in Windows or Mac. And still, never in those golden years (for Linux. Kindda recent years, tho) he speaks about, those apps were even close to what they should to help you bring food to the plate (not speaking of it for a side income or a hobby) in what is graphics creation (maybe in video editing/FX, and some other exception). So, it upsets them that money is coming into linux, that is more corporate-y (to follow his naming) , and so, a bunch (very young, often) users get upset, while having their salary and stuff covered at some web dev, systems, or whatever tech company, because, let's realize this, server stuff, database, many stuff system/network/coding relating has been always greatly covered in Linux, and there is and has been plenty of well paid jobs for that (have tons of friends in the situation, and is not even in the US). So, these large companies (not just MS) are just "ruining" their hipster vibe (he kind of suggests they've become sort of less hardcore hippy, lol...they never were true ones...I've known some real ones, could tell the difference then, now is much easier...for starters, none would have those nice jobs, or even an electronic device...)  and their hobby. For a lot of us the operating system is A TOOL, one more. Not the freakin' center of our entire life and world. And if it (its graphic content creation software applications) doesn't help enough for getting the 2D/3D graphics done, fully featured and in time for clients and the boss, that plate of food is not getting full, neither half, or getting anything at all, and the monthly bills neither getting paid. So, nice and funny video, but didn't find it convincing....

 

AD, AP and APub. V1.10.6 and V2.4 Windows 10 and Windows 11. 
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20 hours ago, Uncle Mez said:

Affinity would run smoothly on Linux if we consider the fact Linux makes less use of resources than it's brothers (Windows and MacOs)

A bunch of resources still have to be available from somewhere to support things like built-in help systems, font & text management, print & other device drivers, file level metadata, window servers, etc.

Obviously, Linux can be configured to support all of that in some way or another, but think about how much extra work it would take for the developers to make sure Affinity would run smoothly no matter how that OS was configured.

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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  • Staff
Quote

Mile long rant about it, spoiler-hidden just below. For the [very] bored.

Response below (for the thick skinned)

 

TL;DR ;)  

 

actually I did

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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