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How-toStanley Lieber asked Devine & I the following question...
"So I heard you make software. Why not just pay a monthly subscription fee to some unaccountable corporation, let them lock up your files behind a proprietary interface, and then pray they don't alter the agreement?"
When Devine & I left the shores of the western world to go sailing in 2016, we also left constant connectivity behind. Out there, rare birds were more abundant than an internet signal, my monthly Photoshop subscription decided to stop serving me the tool I depended on to work, "connect to the internet, or else!" I realized that I really did not own the means of producing my art. Paying a monthly fee for the rental of a program failed to provide me with a worthwhile tool.
When your skill depends on the use of a specific software, you are liable to abuse by its creator. A skill that you thought was yours was actually entirely owned by them, they can take it away, or lock you into endless subcriptions, capture your work for training their AI datasets, etc. It is untenable.
Now, my art lives as hard copies in a sketchbook, that I can refer to or alter, as often as I like, and when digitized the work is not tied to any particular software. My skills are transferable, I can use anything, I can choose to walk away when a problem arises, like a hermit crab, I can change my shell and move on with my life.