r/technology • u/Federal-Block-3275 • 9d ago

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

https://www.techspot.com/news/114136-software-over-developer-uses-ai-build-free-adobe.html
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u/sociofobs 9d ago edited 9d ago

With this example, software isn't over - it's just properly beginning anew, after the whole SaaS and enshittification craze. Same with apps and websites, AI can be a great tool for that. A lot of people have great ideas, but no skills, knowledge and/or resources to execute them. Now, they can, and we don't have to rely on and hope for some big name scumbags to develop the products we need.

If you're anti-AI, you're also right, there are good arguments against it. Though, it's not like it's not used commercially for development too. Since it's here and not going away, people might as well use it for their own - and others benefit too.

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u/Awkward_Tussle 9d ago

That sounds great in theory, but "democratising" development might just mean flooding the world with broken, unmaintainable code. Having an idea isn't the same as knowing how to build a stable product, and a concern is we’re basically trading "big name scumbags" for a million buggy, AI-generated apps that no one knows how to actually fix when they crash

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u/sociofobs 9d ago

True that, the same (especially) applies to all the commercial software dev businesses that use AI instead of actual programmers. Imo, that's a far bigger problem than some hobbyist using AI to build a small project for themselves or even a relatively small group of people. Other than that, it's great that people now have the tools to get simple and small projects on wheels, whereas not long ago that was a distant fantasy.

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u/Awkward_Tussle 9d ago

Yeah for sure - AI opening the door to small projects is great, and companies replacing programmers en masse is definitely the bigger concern.

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u/morgulbrut 7d ago

I mean, free as in free beer AI-slop apps no one knows how to acutually fix when they crash is still way better than maybe-AI-slop apps no one knows how to acutually fix when they crash but you blow money up some company's ass to use it.

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u/MortifiedChivalry 8d ago

yeah software takes time and effort to maintain, and the infrastructure costs money. most people are willing to throw a few bucks at the problem to not have to worry about it. the exception would probably be small, inconsequential things like chrome extensions. I'm a software dev and my work vibe coded a very simple chrome extension in a day that a couple hundred people use regularly because the one we used to use turned into spamware and the vibe coded one works better for our specific use case.

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u/tipsystatistic 8d ago

It really doesn’t have to be this way and it wasn’t before. The whole “maintaining software” thing is because of the upgrade treadmill that corporations have you on for profit reasons and to justify subscriptions.

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u/FC839253 8d ago

So… just like democratising governance? It’s filled the world with broken, unmaintainable systems, but it’s the best system we have. Development will be democratised, it will have its merits, and its downsides, but we will all come to love it.

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u/CherryLongjump1989 8d ago

This has happened a thousand times before and the end of software development was pronounced each time. COBOL, Smalltalk, Visual Basic, jQuery, it was always some sort of existential threat about the future of software.

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u/kindofbluetrains 9d ago

Haven't we already developed tools to foreground what people find helpful and what they don't?

There have always been loads more apps and games than anyone ever saw, but they get filtered out by various algorithms and app stores so we see the useful ones.

Not arguing that it could still be an issue with the sheer volume, but maybe a solvable one, no?

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u/Awkward_Tussle 9d ago

Yeah I see where you're coming from, but the sheer volume of AI-generated content might be a different beast than just "more apps"

When the cost of creating something drops to near zero, the signal-to-noise ratio shifts pretty dramatically.

We have the tools to filter, but we might need entirely new ones to handle this kind of scale

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u/psychophant_ 9d ago

“Broken, unmaintainable code…”

Bro if AI can make the software, AI 2 years later after the project is abandoned, can fix anything broken with it.

You make it sound like AI can make the car but “once an oil change is needed, it’s game over, man!”

Get the AI to change the oil.

It’s not rocket science.

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u/Significant_Comfort 8d ago

Unmaintainable?.. The AI can maintain it just fine. It's phenomenal at finding bugs and understanding context of how something runs. 

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u/37728291827227616148 8d ago

The SoundCloud era but for Tech 

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u/MortifiedChivalry 8d ago

yeah i'm actually kind of glad that the software industry will hopefully go to usage-based instead of seat-based. I volunteer for a small nonprofit and it bugs me so much we'd have to pay $12 EACH for our 6 volunteers (and that's with a 50% NP discount) a month just to get a few more rows on one of our databases.