I can share a similar experience: I began to learn programming during my first school years, on an Apple II clone with Logo, a fancy language with turtle graphics as a most distinctive feature. We used to boot Logo off 5.25" floppy disks...
For some time now, I've come to the conclusion that the choice of a programming language is of crucial importance to the success of a project: programmers are inspired by beautiful tech solutions, that's what motivates them to give the best of themselves. PHP has never been such a piece of technology for me, whereas Perl used to be...
The promise of Affinity: a professional graphic design package without the hefty monthly subscription cost of Adobe. Now it is "free". How come?! I don't take it! It's a fundamental law of economics that there is no free lunch. I will not be paying for the product with my personal data.
Adobe's products are more professional than Affinity's, and they are de facto the norm for professional graphic design.
The main reason for me to consider non-free software for graphic design is not that Gimp, Inkscape, etc. are not good enough and lacking in features. It's about the social aspect of working and interacting with other peer designers.
I thought so - until film photography prices began to skyrocket. Then I bought a quality second hand DSLR body compatible with my 35mm film lenses, and haven't regretted the decision, not for a minute. The investment has since completely paid out. Great books otherwise...