Corporate Enshittification Is the New Normal
Adobe just swallowed Topaz Labs whole - another FAANG-style grab that screams vaporware waiting to happen. You know how this plays: they buy a great tool, integrate it into their bloated suite, and charge you three times what it used to cost. The press release says new features are "planned for the future" which is corporate code for "we have no idea."
"The new features will be integrated into Adobe Firefly and Photoshop, with additional tools planned for the future."Sure. Because Firefly hasn't already turned Photoshop into a slow, resource-hogging mess that crashes every time you try to run a simple action. And Microsoft? They filed a patent for ads during game loading screens. Natural breaks in gameplay - right, because nothing says "I paid $70 for this" like watching a commercial for laundry detergent while your character loads. That's not innovation, that's enshittification with a patent filing.
But here's the real kicker - the patent system exists so companies can patent ideas they'll never ship, then threaten competitors with litigation. Microsoft knows you'll tolerate this. You already tolerate it. Windows updates bricking your PC, forced telemetry, ads in the Start menu - and nobody revolts. Meanwhile actual game devs are grinding at 3AM trying to get a shader compiled. The machine doesn't care. It just keeps adding ads until the whole thing collapses under its own weight, and then someone writes a blog post about "streamlining the user experience."