An Infuriating Goodbye to Photoshop

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Longtime Photoshop users are increasingly frustrated with Adobe’s subscription model, intrusive system behavior (such as modifying hosts files), declining performance, and lock‑in tactics that make cancellation difficult. Many are migrating to alternatives like Affinity, Photopea, GIMP, Krita, Darktable, and Capture One, weighing trade-offs in features, UI familiarity, and privacy. The broader concern is how subscription software and growth-driven roadmaps can erode product quality and user trust even as revenues rise.

Overall sentiment on Photoshop & Adobe

  • Many long-time users report Photoshop has become slower, buggier, and more intrusive over the years, especially on macOS.
  • Complaints include: multiple “Save As” dialogs, focus-stealing between desktops, broken GIF timeline on Mac, bloated startup, and heavy background processes.
  • Several say the last “good” versions were CS5/CS6; performance appears to degrade again with each hardware/OS upgrade.
  • Subscription model and “annual paid monthly” lock-in are widely disliked; some view early cancellation fees as predatory.
  • Some feel Adobe stopped prioritizing product quality once subscriptions and scale guaranteed revenue.

System-level behavior & trust

  • Strong criticism of Creative Cloud’s deep OS integration and difficult removal.
  • Specific alarm over reports that Adobe silently modified /etc/hosts via privileged helpers; some users are skeptical it happens on Windows, but the mechanism on macOS is described in detail.
  • Separate cleanup/uninstaller tools are seen as a hallmark of “rotting” software.

Alternatives to Photoshop

  • Affinity suite is frequently recommended: fast, mostly familiar to Photoshop users, now free (as in price) after Canva acquisition.
    • Concerns: data sent to multiple telemetry/analytics endpoints; new versions require Canva sign-in; some UX differences (e.g., transparency handling, export quality) frustrate PS veterans.
    • Linux users rely on WINE plus community configs.
  • Photopea is praised for speed and PS-like UI in a browser, but said to lag with large files.
  • Acorn is cited as a lightweight, “pleasant” Mac editor for pixel-perfect work.
  • Krita is praised mainly as a painting app, not a full Photoshop replacement.
  • Others mention Figma, Penpot, Patchy, and the idea of a GEGL-based PS-style editor.

GIMP and FOSS ecosystem

  • Opinions on GIMP are polarized:
    • Critics say it blocked better alternatives, evolved too slowly (e.g., adjustment layers), and sometimes removed useful features (e.g., “Fade”) in the name of technical purity.
    • Defenders argue it meets many users’ needs, UI choices must balance “Photoshop-like” vs “MS Paint-like” expectations, and developers are more collaborative now.
  • Several prefer Krita or hope Blender would grow a serious 2D editor.

Alternatives to Lightroom

  • Suggested options: Capture One, Darktable, RawTherapee, CameraBag Photo, Photomator, and new photo tools inside DaVinci Resolve.
  • Capabilities vs Lightroom are mixed; suitability depends heavily on workflow.