A is for Affinity v Adobe and the bitter battle that rages on.

Not between the companies themselves of course, both have maintained a dignified silence on the matter. In “user-land” though battle lines have been drawn. You’re either an Adobe user, willing to pay a hefty subscription for the privilege, or a die hard Affinity fan. There doesn't appear to be much in the way of middle ground!

How Did We Get Here?

From the early 1980s, when Adobe were formed, they have reigned supreme in the creative application space. Products including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign have been industry standard for decades.

Compatibility is King

The need to exchange files in a compatible format meant that Adobe products were the only viable option for many.

Switching apps isn’t something done lightly. For corporate users compatibility and a predictable workflow is critical. Even hobbyists want to use what they consider to be the “best” tools available. However, for both factions, being able to get a job done cost effectively is just as critical.

David v Goliath

Could a small software development company from a Midlands town in the UK really challenge the Behemoth that Adobe had built? A true David v Goliath struggle! It wasn't as though Serif Affinity were the first company to try unseating Adobe as market leader. How could they succeed where others had failed?

Adobe surely must have considered themselves in an unassailable position with decades of unchallenged market dominance and almost 100% market share in the creative application space.

The Dreaded Subscription

In October 2011 Adobe announced an optional subscription model for their Adobe Creative Suite. A monthly charge for "renting" their applications. Obviously, they lauded the benefits of always having the latest version of apps and more frequent updates.

They appeared to be tone deaf to the cries of woe from those for whom a $50 per month subscription was a non-starter.

By May 2013 it was the Adobe way or the highway as a Creative Cloud subscription became the only way to access the apps.

Serif apps are sold as a single outright investment each costing less than a single month of the Creative Cloud plan.

And that is how Serif Affinity and their Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher gained both market share and an increasingly large army of dedicated users.

It’s against this backdrop that I’ll share the A to Z of Affinity Publisher and its challenge to Adobe InDesign.