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Comment by punkbit | Hacker News Reader

Side note: GIMP user here that has recently moved to a new image editor called Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer, that is super cheap and I highly recommend it to anyone who's looking for a good quality Photoshop and Illustrator alternative, with new ideas and concepts; They are doing an amazing job!

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I presume it's not free software. It's a deal breaker for many, including myself.

It's a bit of a dilemma, isn't it. I would love an alternative to Photoshop or Affinity that actually offers the same features and has a nice UI (let's be real, it's something most free applications really lack... and the look and feel of the software I'm using has high priority for me) but those who actually want these things aren't the ones developing, and the ones developing apparently don't place a lot of importance on it.

We really need more interdisciplinary developers and free software enthusiasts. I know I'm already working on it as an artist-turned-coder :D

> It's a bit of a dilemma, isn't it.

I like free software. It doesn't have to be free as in price. Various small free software developers are supported by its users, e.g. Liberapay / Patreon / Tipeee. Various things were contributed by ZeMarmot. This project is supported by its users using above methods.

> We really need more interdisciplinary developers and free software enthusiasts.

It seems just having people contribute by paying a small amount per week/month is also pretty good method. This allows the existing developers to dedicate more of their time to the project.

Isn't that just the subscription model that everyone here decries? That's what JetBrains went to, and people here were calling for their heads.

Since it's voluntary, no, it's not.

I bought Affinity Designer when I was still on Mac, and it was the first affordable non-Adobe app that I used that could open up Illustrator files without mangling them.

When I eventually switched to Windows, I basically ended up repurchasing Designer and Photo. Their software is great for the price.

I haven't tried Affinity products, but in recent times, I have started actually buying software.

I realized that I am willing to pay around 60$ for a marvelous editor (Sublime Text) or audio recording program (Reaper), in a non-subscription model, with non-cumbersome licence handling. I wish there was something similar for CAD software - something like Fusion 360, but where I can pay 60$ and be sure to be able to use it for the next 5 years.

I thought ViaCAD was pretty good and have had it around for 6 years. I guess it does depend on what you need though.

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