Welcome to the next episode in my blog series Breaking Up with Big Tech. In this post, I am shining a giant spotlight on one of the worst offenders of them all. I consider them an original villain, the Dracula of the tech world.

There are few companies in the world that I hate more than Adobe. I rank them in the top tier of evil corporations, a dark pit of despair where the telecoms lurk. Why the contempt? Because they did something wholly unforgivable. You know that piece of software that you used to own, but now can only subscribe to for a monthly fee? Yeah, you can thank Adobe for that.

What is truly infuriating is that Adobe was once a pioneer of cutting-edge software. Photoshop was so good that it became synonymous with graphic design. Everybody used it because it was the best. And then, some greedy prick in the boardroom said, “Instead of selling a stable suite of amazing software, what if we make it worse and charge a monthly subscription?” The others seal-clapped with approval, which began the hellscape that we now inhabit.

In the years that followed, Adobe became the poster child for what we now understand as enshittification. It’s quite literally their mess.

I should note that the subscription model as a concept is not without merit. If something is truly expensive to run, requires a ton of regular non-bug updates, and gives users a valuable experience, then a subscription makes sense. The old MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) like World of Warcraft come to mind. “Old” being an important distinction because modern Blizzard has become the Adobe of gaming.

At the peak of its power, Adobe had everything: a valuable tech suite, a dedicated user base, and a rock-solid reputation that comes from developing an industry standard. It’s the same reputation that Microsoft enjoyed before turning Office into a terrible subscription model. (Gee, I wonder where they got that idea.) These companies flushed it all down the toilet to become the tech-equivalent of drug dealers.

Adobe also decided to embrace Google’s model of cannibalizing competitors. They have acquired countless companies, only to squeeze existing customers while degrading the tech. Did you know that Photoshop was once its own company? Yup, Adobe acquired them in 1995 and turned the software into the money-siphon it is today. I’m still salty about their acquisition of Macromedia in 2005. I was a dedicated user until Adobe polluted the brand.

This was all bad enough, but it gets worse.

In their greed-fueled anti-wisdom, Adobe took it one step further and decided to charge fees for cancellation. Yes, you read that right. You purchase an Adobe subscription, realize that the software sucks, then get charged more to stop using it.

This one decision created a perfect storm of user radicalization. The short-sighted morons at the top just wanted to squeeze users for more cash. And in doing so, they tarnished Adobe’s reputation in a manner that only Ticketmaster can relate to.

And then there’s Adobe support, which has devolved into a telecom-level of worthless. Horror stories abound of users trying to get help with bug-laden Adobe products, only to be ignored entirely. Adobe has joined Comcast and CenturyLink in the dark realm of anti-service, where the company banks on users sticking around because they have no other choice. They rely on crappy chatbots and dirt-cheap call centers with scripted replies.

It reminds me of that classic South Park episode. “Didn’t solve your problem? Ah well, go somewhere else then. Oh wait, you caaaan’t. (rubs nipples)”

Sadly, this was true … for a time.

I have relied on Photoshop since my days in the music industry. Whenever I needed to print some fliers (ugh, I’m so old), or tweak a promo shot, or design some merch, I always used Photoshop. That carried over into my publishing career when I needed to create book covers and promo media. I had already purchased a physical copy of Photoshop CS 2003, which has served my needs for over 20 years.

Two decades is an eternity in Adobe land. Why? Because they like to disable old software in order to force users to adopt Creative Cloud. That’s right, Adobe will literally brick software that you already own. That’s a truly heinous business practice.

And since I vehemently refuse to adopt Creative Cloud, I continue to run my 2003 version on an old machine that never connects to the internet. It still runs like the stable little workhorse it is. But alas, graphic design has advanced over the years and it no longer meets my needs.

Godspeed, little workhorse. You served me well.

At this point, I would have simply purchased the latest version of Photoshop and enjoyed a stable program for the next several years. But I can’t do that because Adobe forbids it. I have to tithe to the corporate beast to gain access to the latest software, which I cannot own. (And it’s somehow worse than the previous software).

I was trapped in a subscription nightmare … or so I thought.

Enter Canva Affinity.

In their boardroom, someone stood up and said, “Adobe sucks balls and users want a viable alternative. So, what if we give users the option to open and edit Adobe files? All versions, even the old ones. And then, what if make the core software free to use? Only power-users need the the super advanced stuff, so we can charge them a one-time fee for all the bells and whistles.” The CEO thought for a moment, then slammed a fist on the table and said, “Brilliant! Take the rest of day off and go get some ice cream.”

And that’s exactly what they did.

Affinity could open all of my Photoshop files with no issues or data loss. Editing was easy and intuitive. I could even export the files in any format I wanted (including print-ready PDFs with font embedding). Color me shocked! I work as a programmer, so it’s rare to find a software solution that truly impresses me. Affinity landed on my machine and flexed like an Australian powerlifter. (Canva is based in Australia.)

To quote my Windows to Linux post … F#&K Adobe. F#&K them into the sun.

I also realize that I am focusing on a very specific need. Affinity isn’t just an Adobe bridge. It’s a fully realized and feature-rich graphics program that beats Adobe at its own game. If I was just starting out and looking for a solid graphics tool, I would choose Affinity. There’s no compelling reason to use Adobe products anymore. Companies like Canva are eating their lunch.

The only downside is that Canva has yet to release a native app for Linux. This is why I am forced to maintain a dual-boot setup, but that’s a small price to pay to tell Adobe to kick rocks. (I even refuse to use Acrobat. I open and edit PDFs with Firefox.) Some users have success with Wine and virtual boxes, but I would much rather use a native app.

I should also note that there are plenty of graphics programs on the Linux side that “get the job done,” but require some finessing. GIMP and Inkscape come to mind. But for my particular situation, I needed a comprehensive migration tool for old PSD files. Affinity was the only one that fit the bill, so as long as they are working towards a Linux app, I plan to stick with them for a long time to come.

I cannot thank Affinity enough for allowing me to abandon Adobe and further distance myself from the Big Tech dystopia. Adobe was once a great company and I mourn the loss of what we had. But as enshittification demands, they decided that stakeholders were far more important than users. Adobe is a bloated, bug-laden, predatory software company that is doomed to fail. And when they do, that day will be celebrated.