In their paper “Malleable Software: Restoring User Agency”, Litt et al., open with this startlingly insightful line, arguing what most of have instinctively known but never put down to words:
"The original promise of personal computing was a new kind of clay—a malleable material that users could reshape at will. Instead, we got appliances: built far away, sealed, unchangeable. When your tools don’t work the way you need them to, you submit feedback and hope for the best. You’re forced to adapt your workflow to fit your software, when it should be the other way around."
Such a state of affairs can lead to moments every creative dreads: a tool update erases a feature, a file format locks you out, or a subscription cost suddenly spikes. These are not isolated incidents, but symptoms of a deeper problem—control over the tools that shape our creative work has shifted away from users and toward vendors.
The software-as-an-appliance paradigm is convenience at the cost of user agency. In this time of AI threatening to take jobs across industries and job-types—both blue-collar and white-collar—it is time that we assert our agency once again.
Disillusionment with closed systems is not cynicism: it is the beginning of reclaiming creative freedom. Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is not just about zero cost—--it is about authorship, adaptability, and resilience. Malleable software is built to be reshaped by users. It invites tinkering, scripting, and extension, making the user a co-author of their workflow.
This is not theoretical: Blender, once dismissed as a hobbyist’s tool, now powers professional films and VFX because it lets creators script custom tools, automate tasks, and share add-ons. The Blender Development Fund sustains rapid innovation, and open formats like .blend and OpenEXR ensure project longevity.
Krita’s open-source canvas is beloved by illustrators for its brush engine, plugin system, and support for open formats (ORA, PNG, PSD). Artists routinely share custom brushes and scripts, building a living library of creative tools. Krita’s features emerge from real creative needs, not vendor priorities (Krita Artists Community).
Godot empowers indie game developers with a fully open engine, scriptable in GDScript and C#. Its scene system and export options (GLTF, PNG, OGG) make it easy to build, remix, and share assets. Godot’s governance is transparent, and its rapid iteration is fueled by user contributions (Godot Q&A).
Inkscape’s SVG-first approach means artists own their work—no proprietary lock-in. Its extension system lets users automate repetitive tasks, and its active forums foster a culture of sharing templates and plugins (Inkscape Forums). Darktable offers photographers a non-destructive, open workflow for RAW editing, with Lua scripting and open formats (XMP, TIFF) for deep customization (Darktable User Group).
The risks of proprietary lock-in are not abstract. Adobe’s shift to monthly subscriptions stranded many artists who couldn’t afford ongoing costs, and periodic price hikes forced workflow changes. As a creative professional working in South Asia, I can tell you that it drove a swathe of them towards pirating of software. There is a better and more legal way: Open standards like SVG, OpenEXR, FLAC, OpenTimelineIO, glTF, and OpenUSD, and formats that encourage portability of file format.
Redefining “Industry Standard”
The notion of “industry standard” is often used to justify proprietary lock-in. But standards are not immutable—they are shaped by the work that creative professionals produce. The rise of Blender in professional animation and VFX, the adoption of Godot in indie game development, and the widespread use of Krita and Inkscape in illustration and design all demonstrate that FOSS tools can—and do—set new standards.
LEARN FROM PEERS IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
None of what I am writing is without precedent. The FOSS eco-system was born because some programmers refused to abide by the rules. Linus Torvalds refused and created a free Unix-system that runs a vast majority of the underlying infrastructure that powers the modern internet. Richard Stallman refused, and created a text editor that is beloved by both software engineers and writers alike.
The many good people, many of them artists themselves, at the Blender Foundation refused, and have created one of the most beloved 3D creation tools in the world. This does not mean that you have to become a programmer to gain this freedom; instead, it means you become a better at searching online (or prompting AI). I know that works because I would not be writing this column if it wasn’t true.
Practical Steps Toward Creative Freedom
- Start Small: Introduce a single FOSS tool into your workflow. Experiment with Krita for illustration or Inkscape for vector art. Writers: move away from word processors and embrace plain-text and plain-text editors such as Kate (or Vim/Neovim or Emacs if you are feeling ambitious)
- Automate Repetitive Tasks: Use scripting and plugins to save time and reduce friction.
- Adopt Open Formats: Ensure that your work remains accessible and portable.
- Engage with the Community: Share your experiences, seek advice, and contribute to the collective knowledge base.
- Advocate for Change: Share your successes with peers and clients to help drive broader adoption of FOSS tools.
Conclusion
Creative freedom is not a luxury—it is a necessity. Proprietary software may offer short-term convenience, but it comes at the cost of long-term autonomy and resilience. FOSS provides a path to reclaiming control over your creative practice, enabling you to shape your tools to fit your vision, not the other way around.
Starting with this article, I will be writing a regular column geared towards people like me, creative professionals who are sometimes forcibly joined to closed-systems. Over the last five years, I have managed to wrestle some control back. I hope to share such insights with other creatives who may be where I was five years ago.
That journey has led me, a novelist-filmmaker, from the simple of joy of using plain-text and plain-text markup languages for version controlling my manuscripts, screenplays and research notes, to creating a fully-fledged Integrated Writing Environment (an IWE if you will) on Neovim.
Community
I will use a combination of opinion pieces coupled with actionable ways for the creative readers to begin taking their first steps in FOSS without being mired in unhelpful opinion pieces that offer no answers to the questions they pose.
It is my wish that you discover a whole new world of open source software.
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