this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2023
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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.”

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[–] ddnomad 241 points 2 years ago (16 children)

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.

[–] djquadratic@kbin.social 139 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Case in point. I’m still waking up and thought that said adobe is taking on adobe

[–] ddnomad 48 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Same, actually! And that happened even after I had my morning coffee too.

I especially like how “legal issues” is not even in “Risks and challenges” section on Kickstarter.

What can possibly go wrong?

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[–] Zagorath@aussie.zone 19 points 2 years ago

It took until reading your comment and then going back to check the title again for me to realise it didn’t say Adobe twice.

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[–] Ddhuud@lemmy.world 115 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Took me 3 reads to notice that ABODE is not ADOBE

Maybe I'm a little dyslexic after 8 hours of work.

[–] ultratiem@lemmy.world 40 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Bruh, till I read this I was so confused, like Adobe is taking on Adobe? lol, what?

[–] poquito_cabeza@lemmy.world 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I thought the article was going to be about a trademark dispute, lol.

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[–] EatMyDick@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

Jesus Christ thank you. I thought I had a stroke.

[–] walnutwalrus@lemmy.world 89 points 2 years ago (1 children)

tfw dyslexic people trying to read this post

[–] LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I have dyslexia and had such a hard time. Took like 3 reads to get it right

[–] HurlingDurling@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I don't have dyslexia and I had a hard time as well... but I just woke up so IDK

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[–] TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world 54 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Affinity is available today. The products are great, the pricing is reasonable, and it is not subscription based.

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[–] Throwaway4669332255@lemmy.world 45 points 2 years ago (8 children)

If I depend on yours software to work, I'm not willing to pay a subscription. Period.

[–] Pokethat@lemm.ee 10 points 2 years ago

I'd happily pay for a 2023 Adobe Lightroom classic. Unfortunately Adobe doesn't offer this, but I can find it sailing the high seas branded this way.

It'd be cool to just buy it and get a year's worth of updates with the option of going subscription then

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[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 45 points 2 years ago (1 children)

as a dyslexic person I had to read that 6 times to see the difference.

[–] PunnyName@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago

I'm not dyslexix, and I didn't realize the issue until I saw your comment.

[–] xaxl@lemmy.world 37 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I think he'll just deliver some reskinned FOSS projects at best.

Its one thing to make a color chart, its a whole other thing to make all of Adobe.

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 24 points 2 years ago (3 children)

This wouldn't be a bad thing. If someone had the money and time to alter GIMPs interface and layer handling to work more like PS and reduce the learning curve, it would be very nice.

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[–] RobotToaster 22 points 2 years ago (1 children)

He says it will be closed source on the kickscammer page

[–] xaxl@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago (1 children)

So ultimately the goal is to just lock people into his own ecosystem. Nice.

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[–] Reliant1087@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Well Stuart Semple is someone who has generally been quite reliable in what he does and a fairly prominent artist, so he presumably understands how the Adobe tools work. He probably doesn't have the technical know-how on how to build it. The article mentions that it's a team of sixteen people right now without the funding presumably.

I mean the worst case is they pick an existing project like gimp, krita, darktable or inkscape and brings in enough features to Adobe parity. That isn't a bad outcome at all.

[–] xaxl@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The worse case you mention is probably actually the best case scenario tbh. If they deliver beyond that it'll be a bonus. Right now, this is just looking like yet another Kickstarter self-filling water bottle scam in the making.

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[–] ilega_dh@feddit.nl 35 points 2 years ago (2 children)

This article confirmed I’m still dyslexic

[–] GroteStreet@aussie.zone 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I read the title 10 times and was still confused until I saw your comment. And I'm not even dyslexic.

Or am i...?

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[–] StewartGilligan@lemmy.world 35 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

One of my many gripes with Inkscape is the steep learning curve. If this new application fixes it, I'd see myself using it as long as I don't have to rent the software.

Till then, Inkscape all the way.

[–] tomthegeek@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Inkscape is one of the better open source UIs IMO. There's a lot to learn about vector vs raster graphics but that's not the fault of Inkscape.

Gimp took a while to figure out.

Blender has got the be one of the steepest learning curves out there though. Not that the UI for Blender is bad. It's just that there are 5-6 different sections and each section is like learning a new app. It's huge and does everything.

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[–] TheFonz@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

Agreed. Why does FOSS feel like they have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to UI. Just take what people know and run with it. It's literally the same functions (Béziers, splines, etc)

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[–] joel_feila@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago (1 children)

how about working with already existing adobe alternatives and help get them better

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[–] VanillaGorilla@kbin.social 28 points 2 years ago

He's right, Adobe's grip on users is bullshit. I just doubt that he's gonna be the guy to fix it.

[–] aquarisces@lemmy.world 26 points 2 years ago

Kinda off topic but the title of this post made me think; Do you think Adobe HQ is referred to as the “Abode”?

[–] brsrklf@compuverse.uk 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Oh, it's that guy. The "Semple vs Kapoor" stuff was funny.

Before I recognized who was doing "abode" I was going to say that name was just asking for trouble, but yeah, he knew what he was doing.

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[–] nomadjoanne@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I kind of wish he'd just raise money for or contribute to existing FOSS Adobe alternatives that are still feature-lacking.

[–] Orionza@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Does anyone else think this will go to court over copyright infringement? Purposefully similar name and same industry.

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[–] alansuspect@aussie.zone 18 points 2 years ago

It's not FOSS but I've been using Photopea since I ditched Adobe years ago, it's a decent alternative.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Poor timing in light of the recent Supreme Court Ruling. Stupid name, stupid decision, all of that Kickstarter money essentially gone.

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[–] mtchristo@lemm.ee 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Color me skeptical

The Foss community already tried for years. And the gap is widening even more thanks to AI.

[–] p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 34 points 2 years ago (7 children)

Speak for yourself. GIMP rules, and DaVinci Resolve (not OSS, but still free) does just fine.

Fuck Adobe.

[–] OtakuAltair@lemm.ee 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Davinci is straight up way better than premiere lol

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[–] LUHG_HANI@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

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.

[–] narc0tic_bird@lemm.ee 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

How can you even take them serious when their name is literally "Abode"?

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[–] mtcerio@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

Adobe are awful. I hope they go soon and bring their shitty Reader in the same way Flash went.

[–] yggdar@lemmy.wtf 11 points 2 years ago

Great idea, but the money they have is barely enough to make a dent in the development scope they are aiming for.

[–] Hazdaz@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Humanius@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)

Patents and Trademark are two separate things:

  • Patents relate to new inventions and/or ideas, and they eventually expire
  • Trademark relates to the brand image of a company, and that does not expire

The issue I see is not so much that Abode is aiming to make an Adobe Suite competitor, but rather that they are so purposefully mimicking the brand and image of Adobe in doing that. I think it is likely that the courts will rule this to be blatant trademark infringement

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