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ArtCraft Apps – open-source Adobe compatible suite written in Rust

103 points · 122 comments · aghuang

  1. ToyKeeper · · focus · HN ↗
    It's wild that anyone still uses Adobe software these days. Adobe is one of the most famous companies for enshittification, and the open-source alternatives are generally very good.

    Personally, I switched to open-source alternatives way back in the late 1900s, and they've only continued to improve ever since. Adobe has been lagging behind for over a quarter of a century, in the ways which matter to me, and they keep getting farther behind as they turn to worse and worse methods of extorting money from people.

    YMMV, of course.

    I can get behind almost anything which reduces lock-in for Adobe's remaining customers, but from what I see in other comments, this probably ain't it. It seems very vibey and buggy. But maybe after more work is put in, it could be good. It looks like it wasn't supposed to go public yet, and they're aware that it's not ready yet.

    1. techpression · · focus · HN ↗
      It’s actually quite simple, give me any open source alternative and I can give you ten major features it lacks that Photoshop has. If you just use Photoshop as a pixel editing tool, sure, but it does a lot more than that.

      I’ve tried getting rid of creative suite for years, but when it comes down to it no competitor has actually come close.

      1. ToyKeeper · · focus · HN ↗
        Sure, anyone can list ten features Photoshop has that GIMP, for example, lacks. But it's just as easy to list ten features GIMP has that Photoshop lacks. They're not trying to be the same program.

        I see the same argument all the time about Windows vs Linux. Linux lacks this, Linux lacks that, etc... but somehow, people fail to notice that Windows lacks a whole lot of important things that Linux has. Because a Windows user won't be aware of what they're missing. But for me, coming from a Linux background, Windows is missing so much I would view it as unusable.

        Changing from one to the other is painful, because of the differences. It's not a drop-in replacement you can keep using exactly the same way. But that doesn't make either one better or worse. They're different, and that's a good thing. But different requires learning, and learning is hard.

        Anyway, you're correct that $FreeProgram isn't a drop-in replacement for $ProprietaryProgram. But that's not a valid argument on the relative value of the two programs.

        1. techpression · · focus · HN ↗
          The interesting parts are what is lacking though, not just any feature. A life without smart objects is terrible in photo editing as an example, at least once you’ve seen the upsides. That and Camera Raw actually being an incredibly capable raw conversion engine.

          But I’m not trying to convince anyone here, just saying it makes sense people are paying for Adobe software.

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