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Affinity Studio now free

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Re: Affinity Studio now free

#401

Post by GuinansEyebrows »

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #303
possiblerobot wrote: post #250

The entire Affinity Suite is now reduced to bait on a hook for an AI subscription service. This is enshittification. This arrangement will also undermine Affinity's credibility as a serious tool for work (and play!). I just want to pay for nice software made by thoughtful people like a normal human.

Support open source projects with donations and contributions

i would gladly pay $500 for GIMP if i felt their developers would prioritize features that i actually need out of an image manipulation program. they never have and by the looks of things, they never will. it's too bad.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#402

Post by ezfe »

chemotaxis wrote: post #376
ezfe wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this EXACTLY what subscriptions fix, though? That you can stop paying if the product stops getting updates. Everyone wanted a one time license, you aren't allowed to complain when that one-time licensed product stops getting updates. Note: I own a license to V2 of the Serif suite.

> Isn't this EXACTLY what subscriptions fix, though? That you can stop paying if the product stops getting updates. How? First, by that time, you've usually spent many times more than it would have cost you to own the software outright, so the vendor is already better off. Second, if you stop paying, you lose access to the software, possibly with no other way to open existing files, etc. You're the one who's being he…

Sure, if the subscription is unreasonably priced. Then yes, it will be unreasonable.

Final Cut Pro is a $300 piece of software with a $50/yr or $5/mo subscription. It would take you 6 years to reach the same price which shows the subscription cost is reasonable.

It's a separate issue when software is unreasonably priced in subscription mode, versus the merits of the subscription model itself.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#403

Post by ezfe »

jkaplowitz wrote: post #378
ezfe wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this EXACTLY what subscriptions fix, though? That you can stop paying if the product stops getting updates. Everyone wanted a one time license, you aren't allowed to complain when that one-time licensed product stops getting updates. Note: I own a license to V2 of the Serif suite.

Subscriptions often don’t allow continuing use of even existing versions of the product after you stop paying - it’s not just about access to future updates. The main exceptions are subscriptions that are explicitly for support and maintenance contracts on top of a perpetual license. There are also a few unusual business models, like JetBrains offer for subscriptions that last at least 12 months which grants a perpet…

Correct, and you're no longer paying so that's okay? It is unfortunate if the software stops existing but there is not a financial issue.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#404

Post by ezfe »

paulhebert wrote: post #355
ezfe wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't this EXACTLY what subscriptions fix, though? That you can stop paying if the product stops getting updates. Everyone wanted a one time license, you aren't allowed to complain when that one-time licensed product stops getting updates. Note: I own a license to V2 of the Serif suite.

I’d prefer to have them release a new version every X years and let me buy that for a fixed cost. (This is how Adobe used to work)

You can't have your cake (one time payments) and eat it too (software gets perpetual updates).

Perpetual licenses with 1 year of updates is a good middle ground, but they have said that the v2 suite will get maintenance updates for some period of time so even that type of license would not have changed this conversation.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#405

Post by blackqueeriroh »

nirava wrote: post #238

This is a deletion. - they're completely stopping all updates to v2; even image trace won't be coming to it. You might have paid for perpetual access to it 2 months ago, but it has completely stopped. As the world moves on (new chips, new OS features, just general software movement) this will increasingly feel like a second-class experience. - the new "free" software is a sales funnel into the paid subscription, and…

> they're completely stopping all updates to v2; even image trace won't be coming to it.

There’s as of yet no confirmation about this. There is a lot of speculation, but there has not been official confirmation.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#406

Post by renewiltord »

Espressosaurus wrote: post #345
renewiltord wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, what’s the problem? You wanted a pay once use forever and you got that with v2. So keep using v2. No one is going to charge your credit card.

I paid for v1 and v2, and would have happily paid for v3. The reason I’m not using Adobe is to avoid their onerous subscription. If Affinity has moved to a subscription model then why bother not using the incumbent?

Okay so you wanted a different kind of subscription (based on major versions). That’s different from the guy I’m replying to who wants to Buy Software And Just Use It. He can do that with v2. Never needs to pay a penny again.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#407

Post by blackqueeriroh »

Sharlin wrote: post #343
netghost wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean 20+ years ago we called this shareware. If you get value out of the free part of a tool, great! If not, then you get to choose to pay for the rest or not. Personally I'm happy that it tends to be the feature set I can live without that costs money. Not always, but often enough.

Fair, but shareware was pay-once, which many people find preferable to a subscription-chained model.

You don’t have to keep paying for a subscription. You can stop at any time and still have access to all the non-AI features.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#408

Post by ezfe »

skwee357 wrote: post #59
carlosjobim wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The complaining is off the charts! Nothing in your life would have changed if you hadn't heard about this free product. Now you rest sleepless and grind your teeth because other people get to enjoy free high quality software.

Don't worry, I sleep tight and don't grind my teeth (at least not over Affinity). What bothers me, however, is that I bought Affinity tools in the first place in order to avoid marrying myself with Adobe and their predatory business practices. I, and many people here on HN, shared this sentiment of Adobe. However, I'm kind of baffled by the amount of people who seems to celebrate these free tools, as this is a 101 in…

They already were deprecating the original Serif suite, since it was clearly in part an acquihire.

You bought those licenses with terms that you preferred and those terms are being honored so it seems like everything worked well.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#409

Post by blackqueeriroh »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #196
mns wrote: post #137

Devastated about this. Good for them for making money on the sale to Canva, but still, this is a sad day. Studio is now freemium, in the future probably more and more features (outside of AI) will be added in the subscription, and you will end up with an app full of disabled features and pop-ups encouraging you to subscribe and unlock the new and shiny thing. There is absolutely nothing in the world that anyone can s…

Yeah, I've been using Affinity apps since they appeared. Paid up for the 2.0 versions when they launched. I didn't know if I would need Publisher but bought it too simply because I liked the company (and in fact use it all the time now). Nothing is broken with their apps or sales model. There was nothing to "fix" there.

They seemed to disagree with you.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#410

Post by [deleted] »

kybernetyk wrote: post #259
exasperaited wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It says, on the actual website, the absolute opposite: "Your content in Affinity isn’t used to train AI features — we can’t access local files. For content you choose to upload to Canva, you’re in control. You can review and update your preferences any time in Canva settings." The only nuance I can think of here is that if you are using the cloud AI tools, you are uploading content. But it's largely hypocritical to c…

>2025 >believing anything a corporation says

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