It seems reasonable for now: you can use all the tools except the AI stuff for free, so it’s still (I assume) as full-featured as the last Serif version of Affinity was. But we don’t know what Canva plans to do with it. Will the tools be hollowed out while more and more features go behind a paywall? I don’t entirely trust them.
tonytins@pawb.social 1 day ago
I stumbled upon them years ago when I discovered they had online colour tools. However, they’ve gradually leaned into AI and seem to be racking up a portfolio to rival Adobe.
floofloof@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Affinity has been the best alternative to some of the key Adobe tools for a while now, and it was a one-off payment of about $200 for the whole suite, which was pretty good value. Now it’s “free” I’m just a bit worried. Sure, it’s not exactly a subscription but why would a company decide not to take that $200? Unless this is just another case of betting it all on AI.
tonytins@pawb.social 1 day ago
I don’t know either, and that’s the problem. Open source projects can justify being free, even if some of the business models are a bit questionable (e.g. open core). Proprietary, on the other hand, has proven time and time again that we’re the product.