After Raising $235K, Abode Remains Committed to Taking on Adobe
After Raising $235K, Abode Remains Committed to Taking on Adobe
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.”
I'm highly sceptical of this shipping in a state that can compete with Adobe at the end of it all. The branding itself is asking for trouble, which is just plain stupid if you are serious about long-term and sustainable development of the whole suite, and 180k is not enough to even put together a competent alternative to Illustrator, not to mention Photoshop and InDesign.
And before people start claiming that you can fund this by outsourcing to Eastern Europe / India etc, please bear in mind that you usually get what you pay for. A competent developer with enough experience to actually make this happen won't come cheap, and opportunistic juniors with big ambitions won't deliver.
I wish this project all the luck it can get, but I'm personally banking on Graphite and Inkscape from the FOSS world and Affinity suite from (as of yet) less corpo commercial offerings.
He's right, Adobe's grip on users is bullshit. I just doubt that he's gonna be the guy to fix it.
Kinda off topic but the title of this post made me think; Do you think Adobe HQ is referred to as the “Abode”?
I kind of wish he'd just raise money for or contribute to existing FOSS Adobe alternatives that are still feature-lacking.
Poor timing in light of the recent Supreme Court Ruling. Stupid name, stupid decision, all of that Kickstarter money essentially gone.
It's not FOSS but I've been using Photopea since I ditched Adobe years ago, it's a decent alternative.
Unfortunately I think the name is kinda poor. I get why they named it but the SEO is always going to be bad against Adobe.
Great idea, but the money they have is barely enough to make a dent in the development scope they are aiming for.
Adobe are awful. I hope they go soon and bring their shitty Reader in the same way Flash went.
Photoshop has been around for over 3 decades. It's original patents must have expired by now.
I am also curious how software like Photopea exists. It is a direct Photoshop rip off. But it only runs in your browser. For small jobs it is fantastic since the layout is exactly the same as Photoshop, unfortunately for larger projects it doesn't have the speed that a natively installed app would have. Still check out the website if you need Photoshop functionality without paying Adobe's prices.
But how has Adobe not shut that site down since it mimics Photoshop so closely?
I wish Abode well and would love to see what they come up with.
Awesome guy! I hope he will succeed with this project. I'm also wondering if that guy who made photopea.com is in his team, because if not he should definitely hit him up.
I think I figured out the meaning behind the Abode icons:
It Is Po Od
It is pood
Gotta love the guy.
That name really sucks tbh. I suppose they should change the name. Adobe's current updates really bottlenecks my max spec PC, that's why I switched from Premiere to Davinci Resolve. Biggest switch in my career, but so far I'm currently loving it!
Like others, I'm doubtful he will produce anything with that little, I hope I'm wrong.
Maybe if he was forking existing open source projects and polishing them it's possible, but it's supposed to be closed source.
Someone tell Semple that Anish Kapoor is working with Adobe, that ought to make him extra spicy in the lawsuit.
What about Acrodat? I really hope they make Acrodat.
I‘m not yet convinced. Not enough to see what this is going to look like. And I don‘t find the copycat-name very serious. I hear already the lawyers knocking on their doors.
For alternatives to Adobe I can recommend Affinity software, which is a non-subscription alternative and Photopea as a free browser alternative for PS.