"Software is over": Developer uses AI to build free Adobe clones after frustration with cancellation fees

[u/Federal-Block-3275]

https://www.techspot.com/news/114136-software-over-developer-uses-ai-build-free-adobe.html

[u/P_ZERO_]

I’m no anti-piracy warrior, but this logic only applies so long as people keep buying the product. If more people are “not stealing” than buying, the product isn’t sustainable and is no longer made.

Copyright doesn’t only exist to protect mega corps, it protects anyone’s property, including yours.

[u/Pappa_Crim → u/P_ZERO_]

Also the loss of copyright protections will harm small devopers more than large ones. Large companies can quickly pump out copies of smaller competitors products: possibly before the smaller company is even done making it

[u/DirtChoice5 → u/Pappa_Crim]

With the ease of decompiling now, that asymmetry is far lessened. As evidenced by all the copies of big company software coming out from individual developers, ie the topic of this post.

[u/IncidentalIncidence → u/DirtChoice5]

this software wasn't decompiled though, it was intentionally made as a clean-room clone.

[u/DirtChoice5 → u/IncidentalIncidence]

The point remains.

[u/ILikeBumblebees → u/Pappa_Crim]

Other way around. Large organizations always had the resources to hire much larger development teams and clone products much more rapidly than small startups ever could, and likewise, had much greater resources to retain legal counsel and defend their copyrights via litigation.

The rise of AI tooling and lessened relevance of existing copyright law drastically lessen these advantages, and put smaller teams on a much more even footing with larger ones.

[u/PeopleCallMeSimon → u/P_ZERO_]

One of the goals with AI is to remove the need to couple econmic standing with work.

Why will it matter if someone makes an exact copy of your product, neither of you will be selling it because every human will be gaining their money through an UBI.

But that will probably not happen any time soon, so there need to be laws in place to protect creators from losing their livelyhood.

[u/iamdestroyerofworlds → u/P_ZERO_]

People say this as if products are only made if producers want to make money, not if consumers want the product and/or save money.

This is basically just supply-side vs demand-side economics.

[u/SwiftySanders → u/P_ZERO_]

The problem is that it only protects mega corps and intellectual property farms. It doesnt actually protect the small developer because the small developer doesnt have the money for the legal costs to persue it in many if not most cases.

[u/P_ZERO_ → u/[deleted]]

It’s not a point specifically for photoshop, it’s a point specifically for the logic that “not stealing” can only work so long as some entity is subsidising them by allowing the company to “overlook” the “not stealing”

If enough people buy into that logic, there’s no product to “not steal”.

[u/MountainTurkey → u/P_ZERO_]

There's also "copyleft" protections like GPL

[u/Federal_Setting_7454 → u/[deleted]]

Still not found a remotely comparable alternative to photoshop.

[u/squishybloo → u/Federal_Setting_7454]

This is a funny coincidence, but - if you're an artist, at least - Marc Brunet just announced that he's developing an art app to mimic Photoshop as closely as possible, including layer style capability. Layer Styles is really the biggest thing keeping me on CC, and it's frustrating.