Ask HN: What share of software you use is American?

4 points by andreev_io 6 years ago | 1 comment

How much of the software you use daily is backed by a US-based company? Has the number been changing over the years?

Given that we all are in the same information bubble, I wonder if we are over- or underestimating the lead of the US software industry.

open-source-ux 6 years ago |

The interesting question for me is: big vs small companies. Can small companies successfully carve a slice out of a industry dominated by large companies? Has that happened? Or do big companies still dominate?

Anyway, to your actually question...I like to keep an eye on visual design or illustration apps, and the picture is quite varied.

Adobe continues to dominate with their suite of creative apps. But they are playing catch-up in some areas. Sketch (Netherlands) and now Figma (US) both dominate apps for UI design. Adobe XD is popular (Adobe made it free to encourage adoption) but it doesn't enjoy the same "mindshare" among designers and it doesn't appear to be displacing Sketch or Figma.

On the iPad, Procreate (Australia) has become incredibly popular for digital illustration. Adobe recently launched their own digital app called Fresco clearly taking aim at Procreate. It's too early to see how Fresco will do, but I can't see it displacing the popularity of Procreate.

I also can't see Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign losing any significant market share, but the Affinity suite of apps (Designer, Photo and Publisher) made by Serif (UK) has been hugely successful. I sense some designers (many?) would like to ditch Adobe if they could find suitable alternatives.

There is no real competitor to After Effects for professional 2D motion graphics, but there is a promising new 2D animation tool called Cavalry made by Mainframe (UK). It's in beta so too early to know what will happen. Blackmagic Design (Australia) make a combined video editor and compositing tool called DaVinci Resolve which does let you create motion graphics. DaVinci Resolve is a professional-level editor using in the film and TV industry.

There are dozens of other paining and drawing apps that have carved out a niche. For comics, Clip Studio Paint (Japan) is popular. Other drawing tools from Japan include MediBang Paint and Paint Tool SAI which are popular for creating manga.

So to sum up, Adobe still dominates, but smaller companies are gaining popularity and usage.