“The art and design communities, in particular, are feeling the pinch from Adobe Suite going towards a rental model, and now the artist and perennial thorn in the side of anyone who seeks to own a colour, [Stuart Semple] is doing something about it. He’s launching a competing suite called provocatively, Abode, which will follow an affordable paid-for licence model.”
The Abode project seems overly optimistic in terms of scope, cost and timing to me but then I’ve never been involved in software development. Still, alternatives to the big names are always nice.
As an ex-professional photography, time is money, and the Photography plan wasn’t expensive (it was cheaper than buying PS and LR outright and upgrading every other version) and had class leading tools. It was an easy business expense. I suppose for many creative professionals, they felt the same way.
For those who’re dabbling as an amatuer, there are plenty of other tools for Photoshop, though I still haven’t found a decent LR alternative.