The Adobe lawyers just cancelled their weekend plans…
Someone Rebuilt Free, Open-Source Versions of Photoshop, Premiere, and Lightroom Using AI | PetaPixel https://petapixel.com/2026/10/07/someone-rebuilt-free-open-source-versions-of-photoshop-premiere-and-lightroom-using-ai/
Oct 8, 2026, 2:43 PM@Cliff538 It was developed in a "clean room" which just means they reverse engineered it and that is not a violation of copyright law. Just like Compaq reverse engineered the IBM bios back in the day. The Adobe lawyers are busy looking for new clients.
@mike Ah, that makes sense, thanks Mike, but I find it hard to believe they won’t be attacked for years in court. Maybe over similar design features? Way out of my wheelhouse, but it’s a very interesting development in the photography world.
Oct 8, 2026, 2:48 PM@Cliff538 If the software proves to be feature equivalent I think it'll have far reaching implications on the software business in general. We are currently developing our own tools in house to replace ones we currently pay monthly fees for. This is where the real AI disruption is happening.
@mike I agree. (1/3)
This is a massive, economy-shaping time. I look at all the custom software people are putting out. I have spun up several custom data boards for a home server and a custom web based editor for blog posting, which is small potatoes. You just know, small and medium sized businesses are building their own in-house software not only because it’s cheaper, but because it’s ultra-customized to how they use it, something many large corporate software solutions don't even allow. (2/3)
@mike
I have friends in the hotel business and the amount of money they pay monthly for their reservation system is mind boggling and they can’t even customize it.
This reverse-engineering angle intrigues me; I’ll have to read up more about it. (3/3)
@mike
Oct 8, 2026, 3:10 PM@Cliff538 It's not technically difficult either, although you need to know how to steer the AI and test the results. But you simply start by saying make a thing that's like this thing.. I guarantee a lot of small business owners are crafting their own software right now because as you say it's both bespoke to them and far cheaper.
Oct 8, 2026, 3:12 PM
Oct 8, 2026, 3:14 PM@tantramar @Cliff538 I think you'd have to prove that the LLM was trained on closed source proprietary data, and it probably wasn't. It just actually looked at the software and programmed an equivalent. Or at least that's what we're lead to beleive.
@tantramar @mike TRUTH! Just try and understand the legal system… 🤯
Oct 8, 2026, 3:06 PMI thought this AI coding stuff was all hype until I saw Claude in action a few weeks back. Big tech got so greedy they made something that will ruin them. If a few indie developers use these tools to completely rip-off these predatory companies products before the bubble pops then good riddance, they deserve this stuff being turned against them
@mdc I haven’t thought about it like that!
It is fascinating to sit back and watch it all unfold.
The hard part is the job loss and lives affected, there is hardly an industry that isn’t being reshaped.