Free software this advanced, owned by Canva, is too good to be true. This is step one in Affinity's enshittification.
Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die.
Free software this advanced, owned by Canva, is too good to be true. This is step one in Affinity's enshittification.
Agreed. There’s a lot about how free and great it is, but for a major version change all it seems to have is paid AI features. I do notice that they don’t talk about designer, photo, and...
Agreed. There’s a lot about how free and great it is, but for a major version change all it seems to have is paid AI features.
I do notice that they don’t talk about designer, photo, and publisher, though, so maybe they are merging them all into one product?
As bad as Gimp may be, open source software is one tool that cannot be taken away from me. It’s a feature I wish more people would value.
I don't know how they're going to make money on AI subscriptions. Making it free just sounds like they're desperate to take market share from Adobe (and we absolutely need that) by any means...
I don't know how they're going to make money on AI subscriptions. Making it free just sounds like they're desperate to take market share from Adobe (and we absolutely need that) by any means necessary and they'll try make it profitable later.
I do notice that they don’t talk about designer, photo, and publisher, though, so maybe they are merging them all into one product?
This was the big thing for me. Even in Affinity 1 (which is all I paid for) Designer and Photo already felt like two sides of the same coin, so it doesn't surprise me they've gone the route of making it one thing.
I'm pretty pessimistic about this. I bought a Universal V2 license because I want to own my software, and I was happy to support one of the few companies that hadn't moved to software...
I'm pretty pessimistic about this. I bought a Universal V2 license because I want to own my software, and I was happy to support one of the few companies that hadn't moved to software subscriptions. Sure it's only for AI features now, but how long until they start locking more major features behind the sub? How long until the nag screens become more aggressive, or "sponsored content" starts making its way in?
I've made a backup of the final V2 installers, and I may just end up using them indefinitely. I've seen how this goes far too many times before to believe it'll be any different here.
I share your pessimism. Unfortunately for me I made the mistake of buying them through the Mac App store, so I've only got installers until they pull them down or Apple stops allowing downloads...
I share your pessimism. Unfortunately for me I made the mistake of buying them through the Mac App store, so I've only got installers until they pull them down or Apple stops allowing downloads due to incompatibility with later operating systems. I'm just going to uninstall them and return to using GIMP and Inkscape, myself. I really appreciated some of the stuff that Designer was doing, but not enough to swap to V3.
I installed it. The account making process used email address for the one-time-code to login, no password. The main three apps (vector, pixels, and layout) are all rolled into one program. There...
I installed it. The account making process used email address for the one-time-code to login, no password.
The main three apps (vector, pixels, and layout) are all rolled into one program. There is a fourth item for some canvAI thing but you can actually hide it by clicking the three dots and unselecting that item. Leaving the UI clean of any upsells for the time being.
Free software this advanced, owned by Canva, is too good to be true. This is step one in Affinity's enshittification.
Agreed. There’s a lot about how free and great it is, but for a major version change all it seems to have is paid AI features.
I do notice that they don’t talk about designer, photo, and publisher, though, so maybe they are merging them all into one product?
As bad as Gimp may be, open source software is one tool that cannot be taken away from me. It’s a feature I wish more people would value.
I don't know how they're going to make money on AI subscriptions. Making it free just sounds like they're desperate to take market share from Adobe (and we absolutely need that) by any means necessary and they'll try make it profitable later.
This was the big thing for me. Even in Affinity 1 (which is all I paid for) Designer and Photo already felt like two sides of the same coin, so it doesn't surprise me they've gone the route of making it one thing.
I'm pretty pessimistic about this. I bought a Universal V2 license because I want to own my software, and I was happy to support one of the few companies that hadn't moved to software subscriptions. Sure it's only for AI features now, but how long until they start locking more major features behind the sub? How long until the nag screens become more aggressive, or "sponsored content" starts making its way in?
I've made a backup of the final V2 installers, and I may just end up using them indefinitely. I've seen how this goes far too many times before to believe it'll be any different here.
I share your pessimism. Unfortunately for me I made the mistake of buying them through the Mac App store, so I've only got installers until they pull them down or Apple stops allowing downloads due to incompatibility with later operating systems. I'm just going to uninstall them and return to using GIMP and Inkscape, myself. I really appreciated some of the stuff that Designer was doing, but not enough to swap to V3.
I installed it. The account making process used email address for the one-time-code to login, no password.
The main three apps (vector, pixels, and layout) are all rolled into one program. There is a fourth item for some canvAI thing but you can actually hide it by clicking the three dots and unselecting that item. Leaving the UI clean of any upsells for the time being.
Seems okay so far!