For those of you that can’t afford or don’t want to pay Adobe…

Affinity logo 190920160826Might I suggest the Affinity line of products?

Back a while ago, Adobe moved to a completely Cloud based paradigm. This offers a lot of very nice features not the least of which is that All Adobe products are available, and fully updated all the time. This is subscription dependent, nonetheless it’s very nice. 

It’s also very expensive for the small business who may or may not need to use the Creative Suite products only occasionally. Yes, you can turn the subscription on & off as needed and you still have access to view files created in Adobe products just not edit them if for instance you were to pay the monthly fee only as needed. This is a expensive option for individuals or small businesses, especially if you’re just an occasional user.

So being in the individual / Small business class of users I started looking for an alternative.

Typicality,  I use the big three. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign. So I started looking for replacements. I found Affinity.  

I tried their Photo application. It was nice, a bit different from Photoshop and it’s in the differences that there was some of frustration. If you’re used to Photoshop, you tend to reach for tools that are present but not available in the habitual way that you’re going to grab them. 

The frustration is short-lived and as you adapt to the changes they’re not as jarring. So stay patient and don’t try to transition on a high pressure project. (You’ll make yourself crazy… I speak from experience!)

Then I tried Designer. This is Affinity’s response to Illustrator. Again, there was a level of frustration transitioning.  But it was short-lived, once again it was the differences between the applications that I stumbled over. 

Most recently, Affinity released Publisher, an answer to InDesign.

I’m still learning this one. Thus far I’ve been pleased. Again, there are differences but perhaps because of my previous experiences with Affinity’s other applications or just the layout of tools It’s not been a big frustration. Either way, using Affinity’s Publisher I’ve been able to turn out a couple of projects with a minimum of headaches.

The applications work well, They open Adobe native files and can save, import, and export, into a variety of formats as you’d expect, and they’re relatively inexpensive. Photo, and Designer work on Mac, and my iPad. Publisher, for the time being is running on the Mac but I’ve not seen it for the iPad yet.

Affinity produces Windows versions of their applications as well.

They’re generally smaller than the Adobe equivalents. An added perk for me is that they don’t spatter support and utility files all over your drive. So if space is at a premium on your drive, Affinity may provide you with some relief in that area too.

I can tell you, saving 50+ dollars a month adds up.

Based on the stability and functionality I’m seeing from Affinity I’m going to be retiring my old Creative Suite.

Moving Sucks!

I hate it, I hate it bad. 

Because I hate it, I tend to procrastinate. I wish I had a magic wand, or a transporter.

I’d like to just make everything disappear from one location and reappear in another. I know, who wouldn’t? I’m no different than anyone else about moving.

That’s what I’m doing now… Procrastinating. I have stuff that I should be packing, but I’m not into it. I’ve tossed a bunch of stuff, there’s more to toss. Not that I’m a packrat but there is more stuff to get rid of simply because there’s no reason to keep it, or move it.

I think I have enough bins to take care of all the little stuff

Now it’s about sorting and boxing.

Then It’s just about arranging transportation, disassembly, and loading.

Groceries are almost depleted, so everything is moving to schedule, except, of course the actual packing…

I hate moving….

Don’t know if you’ve noticed

I’m blogging more. 

I think it’s that I’m not having to stay in idiot mode 8 – 10 hours a day.

I’m a week away from the company and I’m starting to think and create again. I’m still not sleeping well but each night is getting a little better.

I’m starting to feel a bit more normal and while I’m still kind of blue about not working and scared about the future and paying bills. At least I’m more “Me”.

I had to lobotomize myself every day in order to maintain control over my emotions and refrain from actually telling someone what I really thought.

Devil 05Here are some of the top things I’d thought while dealing with whiny customers who wanted to rely on the victim card;

“Aren’t you precious”

“If you and you spouse both have this illness, why the fuck did you breed? How are you surprised that all four of your children have the same illness? Adopt! For fucks sake.”

“You might have better luck solving your problem by arranging bones in a pentagram on the floor and slaughtering a chicken. Probably won’t solve your problem but at least you’ll have something ready for dinner.”

“Okay, if you’re done being a victim, shall we solve your problem?”

“Given the way you just explained your problem, it’s obvious you haven’t a clue about how the device works or for that matter, how your illness works.”

“God! I’m sorry I’m circumventing Darwinism.”

“This is not magic, this is technology and it obeys a finite set of rules. What you have just described would only be possible in an alternate dimension. I don’t provide support to inter-dimensional beings.”

“No sir, that four digit number is not a serial number. A four digit number can only represent 9,999 units There are a lot more idiots than that using this product.”

“No ma’m I’m not minimizing your concern for your child. I do have serious questions about your intellect and fitness to be a parent.”

“Nope, I don’t give a shit that you’re pregnant, I didn’t put that bun in your oven and based on your behavior during this phone call I wouldn’t fuck you with a rancid donkey dick. I expect my women to be paragons of civility & virtue outside the bedroom, and whores inside the bedroom. You appear to be a bitch all the time. OH, and by the way… Use of this product is contraindicated during pregnancy.” Devil cover

Thankfully, I managed to maintain my control. Otherwise my tenure would have been significantly shorter. That being said, perhaps brutal truth would have been more helpful in the long run.

In retrospect, it’s probably a damn good thing I didn’t go into medicine. My bedside manner would have been off-putting.

As it is, the few times in my life when I’ve provided technical support… (Essentially the same thing; listening to people bitch and whine,) I wasn’t very good at it.

It’s good to be un-lobotomized 24/7 again. It also feels really good to let the evil flow. It does beg a question.

Is it more evil to tell the brutal truth, or more evil to obfuscate an obvious truth?

Humm, gotta think about that one.