Uh Oh (maybe)

[WildWestDesigns]

Now, I'm no longer on Windows/Mac, so software changing or disappearing is no skin off my back. However, I still keep up with programs as much as I can. Heard some scuttlebutt, went to their website and greeted with this:



No ability to purchase, their forum is locked down as well. It could be something simple, the only concern that I have is that they are owned by Canva and I have a dim view of situations when acquisitions are a part of it. Typically it's not because of actual true competition (in fact, it's the removal of said competition which isn't good for the users as well, some companies have been doing it for decades and it just shows that they are unable to truly innovate, but I digress).

It may not be anything, this is all just me speculating, I just don't feel warm and fuzzy about this going well, particularly after just about what a year since it was bought by Canva?

 

[Gino]

Speculate away.........

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Speculate away.........

Hey, I can do it.

 

[DL Signs]

I know they're moving their forums to Discord, not sure what else they're doing.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I know they're moving their forums to Discord, not sure what else they're doing.

Yep, they are. Which, in my opinion is not a good thing when talking about the type of info that does better in a traditional forum way to look at it.

I don't mind discord, but I mainly use it really due to dev libraries that I use/contribute to, use it that as the primary mode of communication outside of github/gitlab. But it's more transitory compared to a forum. However, it is cheaper to operate compared to a forum as well.

 

[Goatshaver]

I'll speculate that it's going to be mobile editing tools like Adobe Express to edit from the web or phone/tablet.
It's Canva/Affinity's major competition in that space that I'm aware of.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I'll speculate that it's going to be mobile editing tools like Adobe Express to edit from the web or phone/tablet.
It's Canva/Affinity's major competition in that space that I'm aware of.

Maybe, but why shut off purchasing, atleast easily thru online for all products? I couldn't find any way to purchase, at least easily, current offerings.

 

[Goatshaver]

Maybe, but why shut off purchasing, atleast easily thru online for all products? I couldn't find any way to purchase, at least easily, current offerings.

Probably going the way of a subscription model. It's kind of odd though that they just leave everyone in the dark about purchasing part.
They gave away the Apps for the iPad after the announcement, but all purchasing is off globally now.

Ahead of a mysterious announcement on October 30 iPad versions of Affinity's suite of apps — Affinity Photo, Affinity Publisher, and Affinity Designer — have been made entirely free. We think you need to move quickly to get this, though.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Probably going the way of a subscription model. It's kind of odd though that they just leave everyone in the dark about purchasing part.

I don't doubt that either, although people probably won't have forgotten this though:

However, to be fair, a pledge isn't really legally binding either (which is why I wouldn't be surprised if they go this way, given Canva's model otherwise).

Again, speculation, but most everything, rather we like it or not, is going the SaaS model when it comes to the commercial variants. At some point, I imagine that it will happen, the question becomes how late are they going to be to the "party".

While getting "absorbed" into Canva is technically possible, I don't know if it would happen at this point.

Guess have to find out around Halloween (hopefully, it's a "treat"). Just what has happened elsewhere within the industry, just don't know how much faith I have it in being a "treat".

 

[Bobby H]

My speculative guess is the Canva folks are going to use the bones of Affinity Designer to launch some sort of desktop app version of Canva. And they'll probably have some "artificial intelligence" content-generating features included. That way we can get even more AI-flavored trash-art from customers to waste time repairing to make "production ready."

Their big reveal date of October 30 is kind of telling. The Adobe MAX conference will be well underway. I guess the folks at Canva will be trying to steal some attention from Adobe.

If Affinity Designer ends up going away will Canva/Serif still offer any basic support for it? What I mean by that is say for instance a computer's hard disc toasts itself. Will someone who bought and registered a copy of Affinity Designer be able to reinstall it? Like so many apps these days, it has to be able to phone home to be activated.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

My speculative guess is the Canva folks are going to use the bones of Affinity Designer to launch some sort of desktop app version of Canva.

Technically, they already have the bones for one, but since they don't use a local server for the webview app that they have, it's not. If they had a local server for the webview app, they could still have access to the native APIs without having to refactor to match up with how things are done with Affinity.

And they'll probably have some "artificial intelligence" content-generating features included. That way we can get even more AI-flavored trash-art from customers to waste time repairing to make "production ready."

I can certainly see that. Most people now (even "professionals"), believe that some form of "AI" needs to be in programs.

Their big reveal date of October 30 is kind of telling. The Adobe MAX conference will be well underway. I guess the folks at Canva will be trying to steal some attention from Adobe.

Depends on what they are going to showcase as to see if it really steals Adobe's thunder.

If Affinity Designer ends up going away will Canva/Serif still offer any basic support for it? What I mean by that is say for instance a computer's hard disc toasts itself. Will someone who bought and registered a copy of Affinity Designer be able to reinstall it? Like so many apps these days, it has to be able to phone home to be activated.

I doubt that they would. What is the latest version, 2.x? If this launch is 3.x, I wouldn't expect support for an HD crash. It sucks, but I wouldn't expect it. At best, maybe get a discount for an "upgrade", but I wouldn't expect even that given today's environment. Again, speculation, but nothing points me to anything else.