Hi, I’ve been paying attention to VS development in passing (thanks, boldline) knowing I’ll likely soon be looking for my next launching pad(s). This was all in fruition pre-Canva acquisition. I’ve returned to Adobe at least for the time being because it’s what I can get back into realistically quickly with my crazy schedule and a very young child. Still, I will never stop checking out alternatives as that is where ultimately I will look for my new home.
I am very pleased to see there is a commitment to quality in this community and that’s one of the reasons I keep returning here to check on VS, I think. I’m sure other Affinity users have taken their own notes and are checking out their options as well post-Canva acquisition.
I’ve been with Affinity since it emerged on Windows and it made sense to me to switch away from AI to it as I always found AI joyless and painful to use. It also needed too many plugins to do what should’ve been native functionality. Even if its output was superior at the time, I thought I could get by as long as the software was solid and I could work around limitations. However, between participating in betas and analyzing each .x bug release, it became all too clear they are not invested in raising their product to the level of even their own marketing. I’ve had numerous issues with getting quality output from their software, to say the least. I was constantly opening the program and finding new bugs, most of the time right upon starting something very basic in their programs. This chipped away at any benefit of the doubt I would’ve given them in the past.
Example: In-program rendering has always been unusable/unreliable:
I can open a PNG in Photo straight from its source and Affinity will still find some way to blur or fudge this in the viewport. I don’t know how they managed it, but their software cannot handle a simple 1:1 display of a bitmap opened straight from its file without some sort of display issue occurring. Something even MS Paint can handle. I would question if it was the file being too compressed, but as it turns out, it was often Affinity. Screenshots also had this issue. I can only imagine what it’s done to my perception of my processed RAWs where it would be much more difficult to tell at scale whether I’m seeing a true image at 100% view or not.
At least there’s increased pressure in the market for competition. This also gives needed incentive for the market to grow and I think it will also encourage people towards other options such as VS and FOSS, indeed any alternatives. That’s my hope and I don’t think that that’s unrealistic at all.
On the bright side, if Canva is where some aspiring designers begin, then they’re already more platform-agnostic than others have been historically. They can still self-educate on their options before settling down on the most obvious choices. Maybe.
@Boldline said in Canva Bought Affinity!:
The FOSS "Graphite" is interesting - thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Same, also. I noticed other people were talking about it on AF. I'm subscribed to their mailing list.
