While it appeared as satire, Abode says it is dead serious about taking on Adobe.

TL;DR:

Semple, a multi-disciplinary British artist, promised to build “a brand new suite of world-class design and photography tools, with an uncanny similarity to the tools you’ve been indoctrinated in.”

“There’s a really urgent need for a suite of creative tools for creators that they actually own rather than rent. In a way, this first started when Adobe and Pantone decided to paywall the Pantone colors and I created Freetone — which was a free color plugin so creators could continue to access their palette,” he says.

“I have lawyers, and I’ve taken advice. We have solid plans in place. I would also point out that nobody has seen the final branding and no software that infringes on any of Adobe’s trademarks has been produced,”

“I have successfully challenged IP owned by Tiffany and Co, Pantone, Mattel, and others over the years. I feel we have a good and thorough understanding of where the legal line is and an ability to get as close to that as possible without overstepping it.”

    • @StovetopEnglish
      1•1 year ago

      Getting harder and harder these days, though. Hard to find a trustworthy source, and when you do you basically have to airgap the application to ensure that Adobe can’t weasel in a phone home call and flag the software as illegitimate. And they are integrating an increasing number of AI tools now that will simply not function if the application can’t connect.

      I still have a “discounted” copy of Photoshop CC 2016 on a 10-year-old MacBook that I’ve been using. But the computer itself is on its last legs and I don’t think I can rely on it much longer. When it goes, I’ll probably have to look into other options.