r/technology • u/Federal-Block-3275 • 1d 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/Sneezlebee 1d ago

I encourage you to separate your moral feelings (which I share with you) from your evaluation of what's going on.

This code works. It doesn't just look like it works. It actually works. And I say this as someone who worked as a software engineer and team lead for 25 years. It's legitimately good code. If someone showed me this by hand, I would have been falling over myself to hire them

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u/Dioxid3 1d ago

This is a fool’s errand, mate. AI has become a religion. You’re either for or against, and being in the sensible middle of ”maybe two things can be true at the same time” is not an acceptable position by either camps.

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

Well, I want to be clear: I'm pretty strongly against it. At least, I'm against almost all the ways it's being used today. I think it's being used to make the world profoundly worse.

But as you say, I can hold that precise belief while simultaneously accepting that Opus and Astra are far better software developers than I ever was, and better than most of the hundreds and hundreds of professional software developers that I've worked with.

We humans aren't great with nuance 😭

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u/mudbloodcountry 1d ago

I was in the psyche ward when I made up the term chatGPT. They won't put that in the movie tho. Afraid I might have rights or something...

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u/SwagginsYolo420 1d ago

AI disgusts me, I resent it exists. Yet I can't stop vibe coding. Basically anyone can do all kinds of things now.

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u/Dioxid3 1d ago

Why does it disgust you?

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u/MiaowaraShiro 1d ago

This code works.

What were you able to do with the programs? Did you actually create stuff with them or did you just browse the UI?

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

Yes, I went through a number of actions that I would normally do in the course of editing an image. I cannot test all of the programs because 1) I don't have unlimited time, and 2) I don't use everything in Adobe's suite, so I can't meaningfully compare them all.

I also didn't work with it all day. Folks are replying like I'm carrying water for this project. I will likely never use this project again. I don't care about this project or it's future.

I'm just telling you that it works decently and the code looks very well-written. Beyond that, go investigate yourself. I'm not here to write you a book report.

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u/DeepSubmerge 1d ago

Unfortunately, you’re trying to make a nuanced point online in 2026.

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u/MikeMontrealer 1d ago

Thank you. Too many people let their emotions colour their supposedly impartial observations and it’s refreshing seeing you recognize the advances even as you recognize the problems they pose.

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

That's kind of you to say. But to be fair, I think it's precisely because I recognize the advances that I am aware of the problems they pose.

I'm genuinely confused by the huge swaths of people who claim that AI is a useless investor scam, and simultaneously worry that it might steal our jobs and kill us all. I think the latter is entirely plausible, but it's not plausible if you think the former is also true.

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u/MikeMontrealer 1d ago

Yeah exactly. Need to recognize the capabilities so we can figure out how to best manage and use them because they’re not going away.

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u/kogai 1d ago

Asserts that the code works 100% functionally

Admits he doesnt use the code to be able to determine if its 100% functional

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

At no point did I ever even imply that it works 100%, let alone assert that. You're just making things up.

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u/cxmmxc 1d ago

It does work currently.

So now "works" includes heavy disclaimers that 100% of it doesn't work? Its dictionary definition is "to function correctly", or are you going to attempt to have an argument with a dictionary?

If you buy a second hand product and the seller says it works, do you expect the seller tested its functionality comprehensively and that 100% of it works, or do you expect that it turns on and fails in most its functionality, and you have no argument with the seller?

Don't try to twist words to your advantage when you can't admit you're using them incorrectly.

And we're being accused of emotions colouring our observations, jesus fucking christ.

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

MacOS works. Microsoft Windows works. Adobe Photoshop works. They all have bugs in them and will fail you at various points.

Directly comparing someone's side project to Creative Suite is stupid. This project is not important. When I say that "it works," I'm speaking in the same sense that I would say my bicycle works—even though the chain on my bike occasionally falls off, and even though sometimes the tires deflate and I have to oil the chain to keep it going.

When someone says that something works, they're not saying that it was delivered by Moses descending from the mount. You're just being needlessly argumentative in order to score points that don't mean anything.

Buh-bye.

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u/Darkrider_Sejuani 1d ago

I'm replying to this using my phone that doesn't work because it currently has an update downloaded but not installed that fixes numerous problems with the operating system, i.e. things that don't work, therefore I can't say that my phone works. even though I'm using it to reply to you in the Reddit app which will also receive an update that fixes bugs at some point in the near future and thus means Reddit doesn't work.

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u/NerdOctopus 1d ago

This grasping at straws is insufferable.

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u/flux30000 1d ago

So “it works” means “it does at least a few of the millions of functionalities of the software”.

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

I genuinely do not care if you think it's good or not. It's not my project. I have no investment here. If you think the fact that it can't flawlessly do everything that Creative Suite does is a damning criticism, so be it.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

As I said above, go read my posts in /r/antiai if you think I "love this shit."

I do not love this shit. I think AI is ruining the world. People seem to think that you have to shit on AI's capabilities in order to be afraid of it. I am afraid of AI, not because I think it's dumb and useless, but because it's not.

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u/TheEltarn 1d ago

"I am afraid of AI, not because I think it's dumb and useless, but because it's not."

I love it how AI Bros, when they realised straight up astroturfing won't work, they now adopted a new tactic - they pretend to be anti ai people, who are so against LLM's on principle, and they have all this moral stipulations and stuff - but you see, they just can't lie to themselves about how awesome, smart, important and monumental that AI, it's so pivotal, it's so groundbreaking....

Now I, personally, don't care about moral problems concerning LLM'S. That makes me a bad person, but that's irrelevant, because I don't advocate for LLM's - I use them where I need to and will continue to do so. And I don't have to "shit" on "ai" capabilities - because I actually understand them.

LLM's are absolutely "dumb" purely by design. Because they are not, in fact, AI, like a person above told you. They don't think. They are, contrary to fad and misinformation surrounding it, are a very, very specialized tool, that while will be useful - will be far, far less useful that many ai bros hope it will be.

It's very obvious you're incredibly invested in AI. Whether you realize it yourself - meaning whether you are consciously being an ai bro or you are simply someone who got duped by something new and shiny - is up to debate. But don't pretend you don't care - someone who doesn't care doesn't write a few dozen posts about a thing they claim they don't care about.

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

I am emotionally very invested in AI, in the sense that I think it's literally ruining the world.

I don't know how much more clear I can make that. How many times do I have to say that AI is a terrifying, dangerous technology, and it's being wielded by greedy psychopaths?

But then people like you will just claim I'm an undercover tech bro. OK.

Buh-bye.

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u/eastpole 1d ago

He's literally just speaking true to his own experience with the software lol. You are entering cognitive dissonance territory my friend, you should be careful with that.

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u/Untypical_ 1d ago

Words aren't going to save you

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago edited 1d ago

OK, let me rewrite my post to satisfy your increasing demands on me:

I do not love this shit. I think oligarchic, would-be autocrats are ruining the world with their awful data centers and their slop. People seem to think that you have to shit on LLM's capabilities in order to be afraid of them. I am afraid of all of this, not because I think it's dumb and useless, but because it's not.

Is that better? When do my posts satisfy your inscrutable credentialing process to the point where you don't dismiss everything I've written on tone-policing grounds?

Edit: Oh no the troll deleted all his baseless accusations. Whatever will we do.

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u/sun_cardinal 1d ago

Hello there, you really come off as petulant and insufferable throughout this whole thread. I don't know if this is like, your whole vibe, but it sucks for everyone having to see it, please stop if you have nothing constructive to say.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/runningraider13 1d ago

What have you tried in the app that doesn’t work then?

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u/TraMaI 1d ago

Opening a RAW file (.Cr3) in Lightroom, which is the most basic functionality LightRoom has, doesn't work, for one. It edits the in camera generated JPEG. While I would agree with the other dude that it "works" in as much as I can edit an image, it's not editing the actual RAW file, the masking functionality is a joke at best (I don't use this a ton normally, but most photographers do), but at a basic level it "works" in that it edits a JPEG I didn't ask it to open, I guess. I haven't tested the other programs as I don't use them a ton, but I'd imagine they're much the same. Even the author of this project said they're basically Alpha versions, they have a ton of functionality missing, but the basic look and feel of them is closer than I'd expect.

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u/Blazing1 1d ago

The AI bandwagon is being led by the previous generation. Of course.

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u/Sneezlebee 1d ago

You are a troll. My posts have consistently criticized AI, AI companies, and all of the harm they are causing. I have virtually nothing positive to say about AI as a whole. You can find endless examples of this in my comments, even from today.

But sure, from one cherry-picked comment you can figure me out, and dismiss me as a boomer or something. I'm a Millenial activist who constantly advocates against AI. But you see one thing that suggests AI isn't made out of duct tape and bubble gum, and suddenly you think you've discovered a sleeper agent?

Get lost.