Kudos and Foolishness

[narrationsd]

That was a stunning set of demonstrations in your release Event.

And it's a great accomplishment, how far you've brought  Affinity/Serif, not to say a bright future.

It pleases me greatly to see this come out of the Northern England where I once had considerable experience consulting to then-software  companies.

Studio Link is marvelous - because of your architecture. It really is instant, with no need to have the subsidiary applications open. This is truly well done.

Of course, I couldn't run it. Not until an hour of troubleshooting, as there was no link up yet with suggestions. I will make another.

First, i have to say that I contacted you on the Beta forum, to 'suggest' with greybeard experience that you just possibly might want to actually Beta this, before today's big  bang. 

This was summarily dismissed: 'we've done a lot of testing you haven't seen, and you'll be surprised.'

Just like the Lancashire Girl, who famously 'can't be told.'

Of course, this is Marketing driving the ship, and it really shows. And could  be a learning moment?

 

Ok, here's what this cost me, perhaps with too much knowledge aforehand, and of course not the detail you could never know.

• have latest betas of all three installed, long Beta participant
• upgraded to latest non-Beta Designer and Photo, last night
• download and installed the Publisher release. Strangely, I don't believe it asked me for a key, but maybe.
• looks to work, as expected, so let's use the Design personality. Fail. Get alert below, which one would get very tired of, saying I hadn't installed.
• de-install Design and Photo. Reinstall. Validate keys. 'Open' as  required. Fail Studio Link, 'not installed' again.
• de-install all three. Reinstall. Keys asked for  Design and Photo only. Runs. Fails Studio Link again.
• try to get smart. Believe it might  be because I run Win10 (very latest 1903) always not-admin for security, as sense must. So I change login to an admin one, re-login, delete and install all three. Fail.
• ok, getting serious, and a serious waste of time.
• I continue as admin, deinstall all three, hunt down and find the Program Data Affinity folder. Delete that, and this time didn't have to delete a Program Files/Affinity folder, as  somehow this deinstall properly zapped it, which others before did not. Probably to do with that non-admin running installer and permitting by another admin login's password., no?
• install all three, try them individually. All three now do require a key. Shut them down, all.
• run Publisher. Try Studio Link. It works. Fantastic. An hour gone. But it is extraordinary, one more great tool from you guys.
•  _then_ I look again, and there is finally a post. About ten down in it, someone from Affinity finally stops asking 'if  you installed', and comes up with a  very targeted removal which I presume does answer the issue.
• -probably this file-to-be-deleted (again requiring admin permission, and lack of fearfulness in monkeying with Windows' innards, a fear that would be  fully justiied) is surgically targeted this way to avoid taking out recording of license keys, etc.. But.

 

Now, you have to ask:

  a. why on earth not have the Publisher installer take out this marvelous blocking file with the long path??

  b. we can answer, probably: you didn't know.

  c. now we  are back to Marketing-directed refusal to Beta, so as to believe they will generate the Big Bang

  d. and/or, the person who answered me with such cussedness is like a fellow who really was the guru in one of those Northern concerns twenty years ago, who I liked, but would respond straight to customers with his famous intonement,  'Works as Designed', if any treaded on weird and wonderful 'features' that had done them in -- if he felt that was right and had a reason, yes.  But a little open hearing would have told  him more.

 

You guys are doing wonderful things, and I have told many of those I've found, the ways your tools are very much cleverer in thinking that makes tough image needs easy to solve.

I hope you will take some lessons, and not spoil  it again by some move that flies in the face of sense any actual maker knows, and for some reason all tied up in wanting to puff up.

You don't need gimmicks to have the right to feel  puffed up. That's what I'd say...

Regards truly,

Clive

not a Brit, but I lived a long time there once, and I quite remember a fine-ness in my time...

 

 

Edited June 19, 2019 by narrationsd
add promised image of the alert

[AlanPickup]

I had no problem with installation and just opening the other product when the message came up solved it right away, this worked on both my desktop and laptop running Windows 10 that gave me not installed for AfPhoto.  So far Studio link working great.

May be because  I did not have all your experience I looked for the simple things first

[MichaDE]

No problems on my side. Installed on two computers yesterday, one showed your screen for Designer, which was updated but not started a minute earlier. So I started Designer. Since then: Works!