I have recently post a request to Seriff/Affinity for them to release a Linux version.
I’m about to migrate from Mac OS to Linux most likely Zorin pro.
As a professional creative I use Affinity Suite as my main software (having broken free from Adobe for ethical and financial reasons some time ago). I’m a creative not a computer expert so I’m a little concerned about the switch and keeping Affinity Suite working.
It would be a good move for Zorin and others to campaign Affinity for some support. You may find a lot of disgruntled creatives wishing to move from both Apple and Windows.
I fed up of both Apple being against the right to repair, it no good for users or the planet only apple. It also appears to me that a lot of people will be fleeing from Windows as 11 is released and 10 isn’t supported.
Unfortunately, as with many things, it's all about money. While GNU/Linux is the dominant operating system in the server space, the majority of the market share when it comes to desktops belongs to Windows (and to a lesser extent, MacOS).
A company developing software needs to assess what the majority of their user base will use, and focus on that area. I agree that Linux is seeing an unprecedented spike in number of new users, but the overall market share is still fairly low.
It's good that you did reach out to Affinity to let them know that you're interested in this. That's about the only way to get them to see this may be a worth while investment. Especially considering that many more will move over to Linux the more popular software like this there is.
This has been raised in the past and Serif have always been adamant that they never will release a GNU/Linux version. @NeilW is a member who also uses Affinity. Someone attempted a workaround but apparently it is not always a workable solution. Just done a quick search and found this:
These companies focus solely on their target market and disregard the small number of users who use other platforms. Their main concern is generating revenue from their software.
For years, users who need to write in Affinity Photo using RTL have requested proper support for right-aligned text and Arabic/Persian fonts, but the company has paid no attention to these demands.
Indeed, I have also raised the issue on their Linux related forum. My reading of the getting Affinity to work on Linux was that it was so problematic and hacky, and resulted in a not fully working installation that was more trouble than its worth.
I have it working fine in Boxes in a Win10 virtual. I can nip in whenever I need to. However I have also been learning more of Krita which meets many immediate image tasks. It has its own learning curve, of course.
