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Affinity Studio now free

affinity.studio

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Re: Affinity Studio now free

#651

Post by nirava »

justinclift wrote: post #495
blackqueeriroh wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> they're completely stopping all updates to v2 The article itself says at least this bit. I didn't notice anything about a "trace" thing though, but I was just skimming.

it says, "the new free version gets widely requested features like image trace" and "the v2 won't get updates anymore".

I can't read it any way other than "throw your paid-for v2, download this fremium thing, make account: to get access to image trace which is the one thing everyone has requested ever since affinity was a thing"

I could be wrong ofc, but this just looks like classic misdirection where they're pointing to the free thing but in reality it's not really free and just a distraction.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#652

Post by nirava »

ezfe wrote: post #350
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…

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.

why are you redirecting the conversation to subscriptions?

you know what would fix this? releasing a v3. that was the whole sell with affinity suite. that i could buy the new v3 for whatever price they set, it will contain all the new features. and i will own v3 for whatever that product lifecycle is.

THAT is why people invested in affinity. money is almost immaterial but that's why i spent time learning the thing and making it a part of my workflow.

affinity/canva can release free software all they want, but the whole reason affinity was popular was that people could pay 160 or whatever dollars for it to not nag, never nag. that has disappeared under the misdirection of "hey look its free for everyone now"

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#653

Post by nirava »

ezfe wrote: post #413
nirava wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

bad take. your perpetual license was swapped under your nose for a freemium thing designed explicitly and specifically to get you to start paying subscription. that's the exact opposite of why I bought this software in the first place. also remember, v2 is now NOT getting all the features people have been requesting for years like image trace. it seems basically calculated to get people to make an account and get the…

Your perpetual license is still valid for the v2 suite. Nothing was swapped - the product you paid for is no longer getting updates. Just because people have been asking for features doesn't mean your perpetual license is owed those features??? That's an incredible amount of entitlement.

bro i just want to be able to buy the v3. as opposed to downloading the free thing and waiting for it to get worse and worse and more things pushing me to get pro subscription. is that so hard to understand?

we went from v1 -> v2 -> "free" + subscription, where "free" is unsustainable in the current economic climate and they WILL have to pull shady stuff once all the AI bubble money disappears.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#654

Post by timc3 »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #498
fidotron wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely a sad end, though I still think that what happened with Xara was the real tragedy. (A friend of mine is still bitter about Freehand too). Someone should investigate why the 2D vector graphics space is such a repeated dumpster fire.

> Someone should investigate why the 2D vector graphics space is such a repeated dumpster fire. It’s interesting that none of the independent tools survive for long. I wonder if Adobe Illustrator is so dominant that there is little room left for the competitors.

I believe there is room left, particularly as some users would still be preferring to use Freehand after all this time, but Figma is strong in this space now.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#656

Post by reassess_blind »

xtagon wrote: post #641
reassess_blind wrote: post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long ago? I’d be going for a refund or credit card coverage if you’ve got it.

I don't feel like they owe me a refund in principle, at the end of the day I paid for subscription-free software and they delivered it, and I'm happy to do that exchange. I just don't like the changes and the future direction and that I won't be receiving updates to the one I'm currently using.

Ah, I thought you’d paid a one off fee.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#657

Post by trinix912 »

jansan wrote: post #463
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…

On the bright side, i am still using Paintshop Pro v7.04 from 2001, so we may be able to use Affinity for another 20 years, too.

Unless you're on Mac which many design folks are. PSP from '01 (if it existed for Mac) would likely mean running a pre-OS X version from 2 CPU architectures ago.

Re: Affinity Studio now free

#658

Post by blub »

mung wrote: post #447

I feel like everyone is very negative about something that hasn't happened yet. This gives a desktop environment to Canva users, where the revenue actually is. It's both a trojan horse and a usable product. Will everyone's worse fears come true? Maybe, maybe not. Mean time you have an excellent app, for free, and very few software products, free, open source, closed source, perpetual, subscription.... last "forever".…

It’s already happened: when trying to download, I can’t sign up for “security reasons”.

This never happened to me when getting something from the AppStore, or from anyone else really. And that’s the problem with cloudgarbage, you have zero control over it.

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