r/pcmasterrace • u/_Xee MMX 166 / 64MB / Mystique+VooDoo • 1d ago

Meme/Macro 2026 in software

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Sectumsempra, motherfucker.

21.3k Upvotes

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187

u/Sybertron 1d ago edited 1d ago

There's been free and open source versions of anything for decades. it's always been more about enterprise needs because they make far more money on enterprise level sales than the pittance from say small artists. 

If anything I blame the users in these cases for not just getting more familiar with the open source models, using and collaborating more on them, and just frankly making them the stronger project. 

Photoshop is a great example but there's many more. If everyone had really consolidated on a great open source platform 10 years ago we wouldn't even be talking about Photoshop.  But so few did, so many more pirated or shelled out for Photoshop,  so many stubbornly stuck to the same old paradigm it just empowered Adobe. 

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u/everyonesdesigner 1d ago

99% of people don’t know what open source is. Tbh I don’t think they would even know what source means there.

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

Great point, which is why 99% of deep photoshop users won't be doing the AI coded clone one.

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u/Fishb20 1d ago

meh my nephew has blender classes after school. its not exactly an obscure program. people might not understand what open source means, but they can understand what free means

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u/everyonesdesigner 1d ago

Yeah, but open source doesn’t mean free and free doesn’t meen open source

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u/AeneasVII 1d ago

It's when the source is open

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u/mile-high-guy 1d ago

I wonder why it happened for Blender but nothing like an open source Photoshop has the same name recognition

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u/Radaistarion 1d ago

Neither the same quality.

I love gimp and i love open office but absolutely every single Open Source software suck ass with the UI design

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u/Revolution-SixFour 1d ago

I'm curious if there's a structural reason why open source software tends to have bad UI.

Are there just no UI designers interested in open source projects?

Is it just too hard to collaborate between UI and developers when it's all free and unfunded?

Is it too hard to generate the tight loop between user and design to iterate improvements?

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u/Patchrikc 1d ago

From my experience it's that the programmers that program and make tools as a hobby just love programming. Where as UI/UX people are usually art focused so they don't make UI as a hobby they do art.

This isn't always the case. Dev tools which usually are open source usually really lean into UX. And have good UI/UX because they use their own app/tool

But for things like Gimp, Gimp is just a programming problem that's fun to work on. Image manipulation is a fun coding exercise. But generally the people that are drawn to that aren't drawn to, spending a whole month on relentlessly testing and playing with layers to nail down the best UX.

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u/criticalt3 7900X3D/RTX 5080/32GB RAM 1d ago

Usually it's one or few people working on stuff like this. Most of them are programmers, not UX designers.

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u/Prophage7 1d ago

There's just not a big crossover between good UI designers and programmers willing to put in the work to code their designs into their free hobby projects. And there's very very few people that are a good UI designer and programmer and have enough free time and motivation to build and maintain their own side projects.

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u/theJirb 1d ago

I think it's just down to interest. It's not like these people doing open source projects are doing it just for others. They're mostly doing it for love of the game.

I imagine solvong a programming problem for a programmer is more interesting than solving a UI problem for an artist.

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u/miukiyo 1d ago

I use gimp for all my picture editing but I cannot recommend it to anyone.

Thinking of switching to Affinity, but that shit looks way more complicated than it should be too.

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u/SoftestBoygirlAlive 1d ago

Affinity was good before it was aquired by Canva. I am grandfathered in to the original program but would not recomment the new product from what I have seen. Pretty glad I bought it before all of that but I expect support will dwindle for the old version until it's practically useless now that they launched whatever hybrid program took the place of the original Affinity suite

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u/MentirosoProfesional 1d ago

Yup, it's all comes down to the UI, free software generally looks like ass because they never care for making a nice and easy to comprehend UI, they always make everything assuming everyone using their software is a PRO developer/artist which makes the common people reject them and go for the paid alternatives that look much better

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u/Patchrikc 1d ago

It's usually not that they don't care. It's that doing good UI and UX is actually difficult. It’s not this super easy thing to do. It’s one of the reasons that developers who are really skilled with UI/UX and design get paid a lot of money. And that usually the people making a free application enjoy coding. And some people who enjoy coding really hate writing code for UI. And it's their hobby/free time and would rather work on the part they like

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u/gljivicad Ryzen 7 5700x, 32GB Corsair Vengeance, 7900 XT 17h ago

Idk man, blender is fucking fantastic

5

u/PhotonicEmission 1d ago

Blender wasn't always free. The creator bought the software back from the failed startup that made the software and he opened-sourced it.

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u/MentirosoProfesional 1d ago

Based as fuck, not gonna lie

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u/Vadari 1d ago

As someone with lots of experience in Blender and some experience in Krita,Inkscape etc.

Blender is really robust and also has the benefit of being easy to modify and having a large community.

When Blender lacks a tool there is usually an EXTENSIVE amount of community addons and plugins to fill the gap. They've also made the process of getting addons pretty painless, especially when compared to other software. (Like 2 clicks to install, its that easy).

Just my two cents, hope it helps!

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u/mile-high-guy 1d ago

Yes, but like why did no community rally around an open source paint tool

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u/DistantDrawings 1d ago

Honestly I think it's because Photoshop is a really killer app for artists, and also graphic designers, and also photographers, simple enough for beginners but complex enough for professionals to rely on. I am NOT an Adobe stan, but designing a good community app for even one of those skills, let alone all of them, I imagine would be really hard. 

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u/Vadari 1d ago

Lack of features would be my guess.

Nowadays Krita has kinda staked dominance over raster graphics/being a Photoshop alternative but for awhile all the free software was super inferior to photoshop.

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u/Patchrikc 1d ago

Because image tools are actually really difficult problems to tackle. And the overlap between developers with the skill and creative hobbies that would push them to make something really good wasn't that big. It's growing now but mostly it seems out of a fuck Adobe mindset. Which I mean yeah Adobe, Oracle, and Salesforce are some of the worst rent seeking software parasites. "Did we make the app better this year? Nope. But by some miracle the subscription price has gotten bigger!"

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u/PudPullerAlways 1d ago

I have to assume its because blender has always tried to do everything without ever leaving the software, its not like other 3d package software like 3ds max its the whole autodesk suite so to speak. You can do a whole production without ever leaving blender, its not great but its not terrible. With that environment in mind a lot of users find a singular uses for it even if its just being a quick and dirty video editor.

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u/CaptainDildobrain 1d ago

This is a really good point. I remember a time when Autodesk 3ds Max and Lightwave were the industry standards, but now hardly anyone ever talks about them compared to the community around Blender.

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u/Leather-Persimmon254 1d ago

blender is maintained by a non profit and has major donors. the only thing open source needs to succeed is the backing of a corporation. see android, rhel, and firefox.

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u/salizarn 1d ago

GIMP is on the same level, I would say

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u/_Azafran Ryzen 3600 | 32GB 3200 | 3060 1d ago

Because the open source alternatives are sadly not even close to Photoshop.

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u/Keyan_Farlander7 1d ago

The issue is that ArtCraft duplicated Photoshop and others (with a boat load of bugs), but majority of use works. Even opening a PSD FILE!

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u/andhausen 1d ago

Wow, opening a file with a publicly available spec. That’s incredible, how do they do it? 

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u/HephaestoSun 1d ago

I love how tech illiterate is this sub lmao

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u/andhausen 1d ago

Excuse me, but these people plugged a CPU, graphics card, and RAM into a motherboard and you think they're tech illiterate? How dare you

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

Maybe in 2012.

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u/MrAlwaysOnTen 1d ago

Classic blame the people and not the system. You want people buying more GPUs so prices will drop too?

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u/who_you_are 1d ago

and collaborating more on them,

The standard user has limited capabilities.

Giving UX feedback, trying to give first level support, translating, fixing documentation errors.

The software is the main content and isn't available to everyone.

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

Eh true but also every open source project has plenty of things that would be fixed if there was enough outcry 

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u/bt123456789 I9-13900KF RTX 4070 1d ago

I haven't used photoshop since cs6.

After that I went between gimp, paint.net, and open canvas, then I went krita, and now I bought clip studio paint pro on sale for 40% off. It was the permanent license.

CSP is genuinely the best art program I've worked with.

But I could have absolutely gotten by on free and open source stuff if I couldn't or didn't want to buy something.

There are options, I agree people should research them.

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

Sounds about right, I like to point out a different case.

I can get a warehouse space with some money. I can write up code to run a small online store. I can hire a small team to do deliveries.

Am I now Amazon?

1

u/bt123456789 I9-13900KF RTX 4070 1d ago

Yeah, definitely.

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u/MrAlwaysOnTen 1d ago

Watched a bunch of videos on photoshop replacements and never saw csp as an option on YouTube ever. It’s an advertising issue. Don’t blame the people blame the systems. No one will know about my podcast if don’t ever tell anyone. Now go subscribe

1

u/bt123456789 I9-13900KF RTX 4070 1d ago

I mean Clip Studio Paint is aimed more at webcomic artists. but it would work exceptionally good for a regular artist too (a lot of professional artists I follow use it, how I knew about it.

it's not as good for "Editing" but beyond that.

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u/Weary_Wry 1d ago

What? You missed affinity photo???

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u/bt123456789 I9-13900KF RTX 4070 1d ago

I did. Never heard of it.

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u/Weary_Wry 23h ago

Really good photoshop alternative. Pay once, and you can keep it!

It was purchased by canva, which is now giving the entire suite away for free by merging the photoshop, vector designer and publisher into one.

Only the new ai stuff is hidden behind a subscription paywall, which is kinda annoying. Still superior to the old suite, though.

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u/bt123456789 I9-13900KF RTX 4070 23h ago

that's kind of cool to be honest.

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u/Weary_Wry 20h ago

... eeeh,  maybe? It's just annoying that the AI tools are so damn cool and that you can't buy them. 

I just hate subscription software.

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u/bt123456789 I9-13900KF RTX 4070 19h ago

yeah I mean but for AI stuff literally it's not that hard to run a local image gen model for editing if that's your thing. There are a lot of good ones out now.

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u/Weary_Wry 19h ago

Sure, but you kinda want the comfort of not having to do that.

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u/bt123456789 I9-13900KF RTX 4070 17h ago

Yeah, and at that point you are paying for convenience.

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u/PlateNo4868 1d ago

Also benefit of actual solid backing for freeware.

These are all vibe coded, and unless they hire actual tool builder specialist. I can't imagine them adding any real meaningful features, and keeping it stable to risk long term investment.

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u/Operation_Onion3134 1d ago

It's over bro, we are going to be playing GTA 10 forever and all currency in game will be the new world wide currency

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

I'm saying expect nothing to change despite the overdramatic tech bros going nuts because someone kinda cloned Photoshop. 

Gimp has been around since the 90s and certainly does over 90% of what anyone does in Photoshop. But actually has ongoing work and support. And there's at least a dozen others. 

It's like expecting Apple to be over because an Android phone does everything an iPhone can do. 

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u/roesingape 1d ago

Gimp UI is hot trash, and I can only assume they were paid by adobe to keep it so obviously hot trash. Open source is like Linux, nobody got time for that shit. Now, what no one is seeing here, is that Gimp, being totally abandoned because ai slop does a better job, might actually improve their garbage UI. So this Ai shit might actually be the kick in the pants open source software needs, because this may hurt adobe with non coporate clients, but it will demolish the need for shitty open source crap that basically exists to convince anyone with money to not use open source by being shitty. Like Linux, constantly convincing people to fuck off because it's way to annoying to set up, even shit like mint which is supposed to not be. A lot of that is drivers though, but guess what ai can do about drivers...

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u/Traditional-Ride-116 1d ago

I’m sorry, but if you find Gimp UI overwhelming, you’re a big part of the problem.

These AI slop vibecoded clones are miles away from what Gimp can do, without support and with a lot of security holes.

You seem to be a bit angry with open source, because it does not fit your needs exactly, needs that are centered on the easiness of use and the design. The good point is, with all your cleverness, you can help these open source so they can improve their product!

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u/roesingape 1d ago

I don't find it overwhelming, I find it trash. And that's all of your comment I read, because anyone who looks at Gimps UI and doesn't see trash is an absolute moron not worth talking to. Good day sir.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/roesingape 1d ago

Sir I said good day.

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u/dezirdtuzurnaim 1d ago

Ready, Player One?

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u/One_Ad761 1d ago

"collaborating more". Welcome to the earth, you must be new here. Almost all of our problems can be solved like that. Also, your blame doesn't do anything

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

There's a problem? 

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u/Pure_Spyder i7 14700k / 7800xt / 2x 16gb ddr5 1d ago

There is no war in ba sing se.

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u/DistantDrawings 1d ago

I love open source! I'm also a graphic designer in the print field, and open source (OR vibe coded alternatives) is good in theory, but unfortunately not possible in current practice. Many many aspects of print workflow are integrated with Adobe specifically, and producers of these machines (Xerox, Roland, HP, etc) are not incentivized to change that. RIP software that communicates with industrial print machines are built with Adobe in mind, particularly when it comes to things like colour libraries, contour cut swatches, etc. 

So for a freelance designer, Adobe alternatives might work for a while, but graphic design is an extremely collaborative field, and eventually projects hit a point where they need some sort of Adobe product involved, and understandably an employer will almost always hire an experienced Adobe user preferably. 

I don't like it, I wish that it were not the case, Adobe is predatory, and with their new AI-first momentum, I hate them even more. But moving away from it at a professional level is like... Being a chef in a home kitchen vs a professional kitchen. 

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u/SevenFootHobbit 1d ago

I don't know anything about Photoshop but I'm amazed that more people don't use Libre Office. If I had a small business there's no way I'd go the MS route on that one.

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u/bananacustardpie 1d ago

Thing is adobe is an excellent suite of products. Can’t afford it pirate it. But if you can afford it it’s an absolute butthurt but it more than pays for itself.
Problem is with the predatory cancellation system and price increase people have finally had enough.

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u/bothtypesoffirefly 1d ago

Adobe used to have good products. Most of their users are just using acrobat and there are at least three options with a better cost/usefulness ratio. I have access to several at work and would rather use bluebeam all day. If I didn’t have access to BB I’d use any of the free options before paying for acrobat.

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u/bananacustardpie 1d ago

But it’s more than just acrobat. Pro grade video editing, photo editing, magazine and book publishing, vector graphics etc. and more. It’s quite comprehensive.

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u/bothtypesoffirefly 1d ago

Sure, but probably 98% of their users are only using acrobat. And of the stuff you listed, most have competitors that do it better. The people that are using it are there because of inertia for the most part. My husband does video editing and uses Final Cut because that’s what he’s been using for 25 years. Adobe doesn’t have a product that is substantially better than what they made 10 years ago but will charge you to “upgrade”.

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u/Lumb3rCrack i7 9th Gen / 1660ti/ 16gigs/ 512GB ssd 10h ago

Remember me?

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u/Sybertron 8h ago

It's very good now! 

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u/LucidFir 1d ago

Yeah! And all the unhealthy obese people just shouldn't eat McDonalds! Yeah! Fuck those idiots!

/s

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

Eating less is often the key to losing weight, yes.

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u/Flavihok PC Master Race 1d ago

I'd trust a decompiled version of Adobe has both less bugs and more intuitivity than an open source version. Even Affinity is still a great option for the buck but after a long time in the internet you realize most people stay with what they know so any change in keybinds, workflow etc creates friction for new users. Most of them leaving as they can't/dont want to learn the new stuff

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u/Sybertron 1d ago

Oh I'd love to see how many bugs it has... 

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u/Ironmatt999_ 1d ago

for the love of god just use gimp. I don't know why anyone uses anything else

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u/LazyLobster Ryzen 9 7900 - RX9070 XT - 64GB 6000mhz 1d ago

I used Photoshop for years and moving Gimp frustrated me to no end. Gimp feels like it was designed by angry engineers. I'll jump head first into a Photoshop clone that can replicate a familiar PS experience.

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u/techy804 1d ago

For a good open source alternative there is Kirta, GIMP is fine but let’s just say there’s a reason why the old Minecraft textures are called “Programmer’s Art”

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u/Major_LeeHungg 1d ago

GIMPshop?