Adobe Charged Him to Cancel. So He Rebuilt Adobe.

Summary

Filmmaker and commentator Pete examines ArtCraft, a collection of seven free, open-source creative apps built by Atlanta-based developer Brandon Thomas after he became frustrated with Adobe’s cancellation fees. Thomas says he created the apps in roughly 10 days with substantial help from Anthropic’s Claude AI.

Pete’s review of the public code history found about 7,500 changes across the projects, with around 60% listing Claude as a co-author. According to the video, the projects attracted significant GitHub interest, including nearly 40,000 stars for PhotoCraft and close to 6,000 forks.

The suite aims to provide alternatives to Adobe’s major creative tools:

• PhotoCraft — Photoshop-style image editing
• VectorCraft — Illustrator-style vector graphics
• FilmCraft — Premiere-style video editing
• LightCraft — Lightroom-style photo workflow
• EffectCraft — After Effects-style effects
• DesignCraft — InDesign-style page design
• PDFCraft — Acrobat-style PDF tools

The apps are described as available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and in a web browser. They use MIT and Apache open-source licenses, allowing people to download, modify, and share the code. Although the apps are free, ArtCraft’s business model includes selling AI image and video credits and cloud storage. Thomas is also said to be working on alternatives to PowerPoint, Excel, AutoCAD, and Pro Tools.

How good are the apps?

Pete characterizes the software as impressive but very early-stage—not yet a professional replacement for Adobe. A reviewer reportedly found PhotoCraft responsive on a low-powered laptop and noted support for layers, masks, smart objects, brushes, and Photoshop files. However, some blend modes and filters did not match Photoshop, and opening one file reportedly used about 5 GB of memory.

Thomas has called the software an early alpha and revised an initial claim of reaching full feature parity within a month to a longer timeframe.

The video advises users to download only from the official project page, keep backups, and avoid relying on the software for client deadlines. It does not provide a step-by-step tutorial.

Adobe’s business and competitive pressures

Pete contrasts Adobe’s strong revenue and large user base with declining investor confidence, a falling share price, slower growth in new subscriptions, and the planned departure of its longtime CEO.

He reviews several sources of customer dissatisfaction:

• Adobe’s shift to subscriptions
• Past security and licensing controversies
• The added cost of Pantone colors
• Cancellation terms that could charge customers half of the remaining annual subscription when they left early

The video says the U.S. government sued Adobe over its subscription and cancellation practices, and that Adobe agreed to a $150 million settlement while denying wrongdoing. A UK competition investigation is also mentioned.

The video also covers backlash over Adobe’s terms of use and concerns about customer content being used to train AI. Adobe revised its terms and said it would not use customer work for that purpose. Separately, reports about Firefly’s training material raised questions about its “ethical AI” positioning. Adobe’s attempted $20 billion acquisition of Figma was blocked by regulators, and Adobe paid a breakup fee.

Pete notes that alternatives have become more capable: Canva has a large user base and made Affinity apps free, while DaVinci Resolve offers a free version. Pete edited his own video in Resolve.

Legal risks and possible outcomes

The video argues that copying a program’s general functions or compatibility may be legally different from copying its source code, citing U.S. court decisions involving software interfaces and reverse engineering. Thomas says ArtCraft is a clean-room rebuild, and the video notes that Adobe publishes specifications for the Photoshop file format.

Pete also points to potential risks, including claims related to similar-looking interfaces, project tags containing Adobe names, and Adobe’s patents. He stresses that he is not a lawyer.

Pete outlines four possible responses from Adobe:

1. Ignore ArtCraft.
2. Send a legal warning demanding design changes.
3. Pursue patent claims.
4. Compete with better pricing and easier cancellation.

He considers competitive changes plausible and notes that open-source licenses cannot simply be revoked for copies already distributed.

Overall conclusion

Pete thinks Adobe is likely to survive as a company because creative studios depend on established workflows, plugins, training, and existing files. However, he argues that Adobe may struggle to preserve a business model based on recurring fees and difficult cancellation if small teams can use AI to build viable alternatives quickly.

In Pete’s view, ArtCraft’s broader significance is the development process it demonstrates, even if the current apps remain immature.

Main speakers and sources

• Pete — Narrator, filmmaker, and reviewer
• Brandon Thomas — Developer behind ArtCraft, as quoted and described in the video
• Other sources — Unnamed software reviewers, Adobe statements and financial reporting, and legal precedents discussed by Pete. The video says its sources are listed in the description.