Every subscription software developer is becoming very nervous this week!

[rm]

A group of, apparently really pissed off and motivated Adobe customers just released an AI generated Open Source suite of the seven most used apps in the Adobe Suite. They even released a clone of AutoCAD. Could Graphisoft, Revit and the like be the next free clones?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUGjiG81tiU

We have just seen the first salvo launched as the market has made its tired of having its work being held hostage to continually buy subscriptions to access work created with software. I saw this coming 3 years ago as AI was just starting to become a real buzzword.

[rm]

UPDATE: The same group of people has also created most of the Microsoft Office suite clones as well. This is going to get quite spicy, quickly.

[Wlad222]

Do you think we will see Archicad alternative? 

[MSDC]

Interesting times but I'm not sure it's worth the risk for most companies of a hacked software that won't have ongoing support. Students get a lot of software for free so it's really only sole traders that would go for it imo and even then, is it worth the potential threat of legal action?

If you think of how unusable grasshopper is to anyone that didn't create the script, I can see these hacked programs feeling the same.

[Martin Jan Rosa]

Don’t jump on the hype. Being a clone, vibe-coded, open-source and free isn’t the only thing that matters when choosing an app. That said, it doesn’t mean any software developer shouldn’t be nervous these days. In fact, I’ve already replaced a few subscriptions with tools I built myself – but a complex product like Archicad is still a long way from that. At least for the next few months... 😆

[Wlad222]

Dude have you seen https://ingetrazo.com/en/ Sketchup clone? Its not 100% there yet, but holy shi it is pretty good. I give Archicad tops 1 year.

[rm]

Thanks for the replies and thoughts. Please note, my point was not that the clones are perfect or that anyone should use them. To me, it should be a serious wake up call to all software developers concerning unending adoption of subscriptions vs. ownership of software, and the promise putting more resources to software improvements, which has been a complete fallacy. Rather it has been a money grab opportunity while spoon feeding improvements, plain and simple; Graphisoft and parent company Nemetschek has greatly prioritized exorbitant profits over customer needs.

Book it, the clone developers are going to get better and better at what they do, every subscription based software developer is now on notice and there is nothing they can do about it., EXCEPT completely restructure their pricing structure and bring value back to the customer, kill subscriptions.

If any of you use Davinici Resolve, you know what an exceptional value their software is for video editing. They charge one price, issue a major updater every 18 months at no cost. They do sell high end video equipment, most of their customers use other hardware.

[rm]

I hope so. I for one will not go past version 30. I am not going to accept GS behavior any longer.