You don't use open source software because it's better (it usually isn't).
You don't use open source software because it's freer (it only sometimes is).
You don't use open source software because it's got better politics (it isn't always).
You use open source software because *it is the only option*. In the long run, if it isn't open source, it doesn't exist.
image source: keithstack.com
@mcc
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~shrug~
I dunno. I've been using *libre* software for over two decades. I enjoy it for all the reasons.
At this point, I don't know anything about proprietary software other than things like this. It seems to be more closed and restrictive than every. This shows that even the Big Name stuff becomes vaporware.
I don't really understand why anyone uses it. Find something similar, RTFM, watch some videos, and take the time to learn the workflow of the tool. It'll get the job done.
Donate money or hire a dev to work on it if you're well off enough. At least that's possible! Contribute anyway.
@mcc "You don't use open source software because it's better (it usually isn't)." Define better. Anyway. I'm sure there will be a ton of slop generators ready to fill the gap made thousands of creators having had their toolbox evaporate. Fortunately there is #libre, #freesoftware and the more folks that create with it, the "better" (whatever that means) it will get. #Krita, #Blender, #OBS, etc.
@mcc agreed!
Btw, glaxnimate rocks https://glaxnimate.org/download/
I just made a simple merge request into their KDE repo last week!
@mcc You use open source software because it is the only option.
If you're able-bodied, sure. If you're not, well, too bad for ya, most OSS is terrible for accessibility especially with the typical response of, patch welcome. They're essentially asking disabled users to fix the unusable softwares themselves, completely ignoring the fact that the software isn't accessible, so how are we meant to fix it?
@xogium It is a huge problem
@mcc Adobe: pay us $600/year to discontinue the software you need for work
@mcc https://bsky.app/profile/strongbadnofoolin.bsky.social/post/3mdwlz7tbik2z I had wondered why Strong Bad posted this today.
@mcc FLOSS is the safest bet in the long run.
@mcc I actually use Free Software because it's better.
But Open Source isn't so much the point about this message by Adobe.
The point is not to use a Cloud service you do not have control over and not to use software via subscription.
Because you could always use old hardware, an old OS, not being connected to the Internet for safety reasons, to run old software you need. Or you could do it in something like VirtualBox.
Open source, is it easier with that respect? It depends… there is also old open source software that will not run on your current system, because dependencies have changed / cannot be provided any more, and lots of other stuff. And if you do not know how to compile from source, resolving dependencies manually, it's of no use for you.
@mcc Wrong. 100% wrong. I use FOSS because it is better for almost everything in almost every way.
For proprietary software, the only things I ever want to use, are a little Google Drive (mostly for friends) and Acrobat. Really. That's all. And those both suck because of the embedded slop, the slop that I can't remove that would never exist in FOSS because someone would just take it out or fork.
Yeah, well. I use open source software because most that I use are better.
So, in my case, they usually are.
@mcc Funny, It was exactly this kind of rug pull by Adobe about Flash that made me into an open source/Linux crank about 15 years ago.
@mcc "Thank you for being an Adobe Animate user. You can now fuck off."
@mcc ehh…not really? Some of it is definitely better. Quite a lot of backend software is open source. Not just that either. There are a lot of instances where you use open source because it’s the best thing out there. I mean I get where you are coming from, but credit where it’s due. IBM doesn’t buy Redhat because it’s second best. Open source is under funded, under appreciated, and to a large extent out of sight, but there is real quality/talent/ideas there.
@mcc Open-source software can cease to exist anytime too - due maintainers burnout under burden of unpaid work, for example. Or by sme other reasons. More chances if project managed by some group of people/organization as foundation with proper measures for longevity.
@mcc I use open source software because it's better. Often it's better for the reason you are posting, often it's just higher quality software. Linux for example, is vastly superior to Windows and OSX. 90% of what I use computers for wouldn't even be possible on those operating systems. I have access to expansive open source code libraries that make my computing experience basically what I can imagine doing with a computer.
@mcc Asking you to export to SWF in 2026 is slightly surprising news.
@mcc And that's why I'm trying to switch jobs 
@mcc Not to undermine your point, but this strikes me as more of an open file format issue than an issue of software as such. As long as we have open file formats, we can never be locked into a vendor.
@mcc Right but open source software can get abandoned too
@mcc Using Twitter as the first time that a lot of people experienced this, I have started pitching this idea as "if a petulant billionaire decides to destroy this project, how much would he need to pay?" Every point of centralization is now a massive vulnerability instead of a cost-cutting necessity, because you don't even need the petulant billionaire.
@mcc any software that needs to communicate with a license server has a single point of failure. If someone’s writing code to deliberately stop their product working in a given circumstance then they are baking In unreliability and increasing support costs. There’s very few less rewarding tasks than convincing software that you’ve paid for that you’re not actually a thief.
@mcc I wish we had copyright laws that cared about protecting consumers. Requiring corporations to put the source of their applications in escrow somehow, to be released when they end support. Something like this for electronic devices, releasing the source + requiring the ability to install custom firmware, would prevent so many of them from becoming e-waste.
@mcc This is going to add at least 15 minutes to "Adobe Must Die".
@mcc I know you're being rhetorical but I actually do mostly use FOSS because it's better. It's usually a lot less bloated and just does the thing it's supposed to do. That to me is better.
@mcc Add to that: If it's open source, even a single author project, if support stops, it is still usable.
The mail client I have been using for the last 28 years has not seen any updates for 4 years. The author disappeared without a trace (probably life happened). It still works. I can still compile it. I can still fix the small issues that are annoying. I know, one day I will have to find a replacement, but today is not the day.. probably not even the year.
@mcc I take exception to the line: You don't use open source software because it's better (it usually isn't).
I have been using OSS since the 90's. Back then it might have been true, and there are still some holes in some categories of OSS software, but I wouldn't trade my OSS software for today's closed source software even if someone else was paying for it.
@mcc Blender is better.
@mcc holy shit
@lexfeathers Capitalism literally incompatible with software
@mcc Regulation might help. Prohibiting bundling of OS with hardware might make Microsoft care about backwards compatibility again. Which would reduce maintenance for application vendors.
@mcc What... what does this announcement even MEAN.
You can keep using it... but you won't have access to your files? What are you TALKING about
@WAHa_06x36 Look more carefully at the dates. They are saying you may keep using it past the official discontinuation on 2026 March 1, but you CANNOT use it past 2027 March 1, so on that second date presumably you will lose access to your files.
As someone who was a true devotee of FutureWave SmartSketch (which became FutureSplash Animator, which became Macromedia Shockwave Flash, which became Adobe Flash, which became Adobe Animator) my sorrow is incalculable. Every day I long for software I had in the 90s which I can't find anything as good as today.
Update
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:66c5dzsjoocyuwls45m4is7x/post/3mdylw2wsa22g
This is actually a very good outcome, until— and only until— the day comes Adobe Animate users have the need for Adobe to add support for one (1) additional import or export file format
@mcc yeah this, there isn't really anything that matches its functionality;
like fuck can you name any vectored video formats that can also have interactivity and a whole goddamn scripting language;
fuck forget that; can you name any software that would create and manipulate such a format?
it .. doesn't exist.
@Li Based on long familiarity with Flash and having spent over a decade thinking about this exact problem, I believe that I could represent all features of Flash within either the SVG file format or a modest extension or SVG.
However, making the tooling to edit such a file format? Making that tooling to the quality level required by art professionals?
I'm gonna need many millions of dollars, a *good* recruiter, and at least two years. For the MVP.
@Li also, if you build this on top of webtech as I propose in the previous post, it might turn out the timing is shit.
@mcc I developed a web site very early in my career using Future Splash Animator. In some ways the technology was way ahead of its time.
@mcc we should have a law/regulation that says that any discontinued/non-supported software MUST be made #opensource
@mcc I still remember how excellent and affordable Cool Edit Pro was until Adobe bought it, rebranded it as Adobe Audition, and made the price instantly astronomical.
@mcc I was also a true devotee, but my grief ran its course more than a decade ago.
@crankylinuxuser @dbat @mcc he's just agreeing with the post
@mcc This made me remember all the awesome, free games on Newgrounds and other sites :-/
@mcc If you use open source software that isn't particularly popular, it might cease to exist as well. I used a "soundtracer" (a kind of synthesizer that you script in a language similar to that being used for POVray scenes) called "sapphire" over a decade ago, and then it suddenly vanished. I can't even find the source anymore, and the last time I downloaded the source a couple of years ago, I couldn't compile it because all the dependencies were outdated.
@LordCaramac @mcc Yeah, but at least then it would only take a sufficiently skilled group of people to make it work again, without _also_ needing to pay off greedy IP owners who'd rather see it rot.
@LordCaramac @RogerBW Although it's not the point of your post, would you like a boost trying to find the original?
@RogerBW @mcc Nope, all I can find are links to the original website that doesn't exist anymore. https://web.archive.org/web/20050901030734/http://www.pale.org/sapphire/
@LordCaramac @RogerBW @mcc The website has an (archived) link to the tarball with the source code: https://web.archive.org/web/20050901030734/http://www.pale.org/sapphire/sapphire_19.tgz (If the downloaded file ends in .txt for you as well just remove/change that extension to .tgz)
@mcc "This author has chosen to make their posts visible only to people who are signed in."
