Ridiculous!!!
Apparently the whole Adobe TOS change is real, and totally ridiculous.
Adobe has just changed the terms for subscription applications like Photoshop. Nothing big, just a demand of unlimited use of everything you ever create, forever. Oh, and you’re locked out of your existing work until you agree.
From the Battleswarm blog, HERE.
I guess Adobe thinks since they have the market cornered, they can do whatever they want...
But I'm betting now that the 'pros' are getting involved with Adobe trying to access their product, things are going to get interesting and the lawsuits will start coming! Especially from the aspect of NDA type work, and/or classified work done at various locations.
I could never afford to pay for photoshop, so I never went that way, thankfully! I do play with photography, but not that much. Years ago, one of my coworkers found a little freeware program called GIMP that he liked, because he could use it overseas and while at sea to put together AARs and briefs.
HERE is their wiki page.
None of the photo manipulation 'tools' are simple (IMHO), but GIMP is free and you can do quite a bit of manipulation with it.
YMMV, IANAL, etc...
The Adobe story sounds like “you created content, but we own it.” Adobe is a tool. My hammer doesn’t own the house built with it. Corporate decisions should not be based on the “we will do it until someone sues.”
Affinity is an alternate to PhotoShop for Mac users. I love it. Having said that, it looks like they recently sold out as well, which is what happens to any product that provides an alternative to the tyranny of the Tech Bros. They stated something akin to "at this time we have no plans to go to a subscription model" and the polyannas sighed in relief. "At this time..." means exactly what it says. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Affinity stays the course--no subscription model--in no small part because I threw quite a bit of money at them, supporting them by buying all their products (even though I only really use one) and singing their praises. If they go subscription I will be disappointed -- insert my disappointed mother look here-- and will go looking at things like Gimp, but grumpily.