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Gimp is 25 years old today

gimp.org

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Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#31

Post by darig »

jes5199 wrote: post #14

GIMP is such a strange tool. I actually have used it, semi-frequently - since the 90s! The overall experience of using it has only changed a little in that time. And it gets the job done. I guess that makes it successful! What else has been so stable? But of all the software I have ever used, GIMP is the most difficult to learn. I memorized a few tutorials, this must have been around Y2K, to do the a couple things. A…

I've also been using GIMP since the 90s... but I'd say the overall experience has changed drastically and done so many times. I use a lot of Plug-ins, and somewhere in the mid 2000s the communication between them stabilized and sped up dramatically to the point that I all but ditched photoshop. Then I switched to an all mac shop, but GIMP's X11 interface on a mac was terrible, so I was back on photoshop. Then, fairly recently, GIMP switched to all native windows on mac, with tons of new windowing and tiling options that feels as responsive as photoshop, so I'm back to 100% GIMP.

I'm leaving out a ton of bug fixes and optimizations and new features over the years that were game changing to my processes. It's never stopped getting better. The only software I'd say has improved so much so consistently is OBS.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#32

Post by edgyquant »

fortran77 wrote: post #16
mconigliaro wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look everyone, someone is offended! A first for 2020! Someone give this guy an award!

Why does @dang and Hacker News think it's OK to mock the physically disabled?

Gimp is a type of of suit commonly used in BDSM circles...

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#33

Post by ternaryoperator »

Lammy wrote: post #21

Fun fact: the name is a Pulp Fiction reference :) https://www.xach.com/gg/1997/1/profile/1/ "It took us a little while to come up with the name. We knew we wanted an image manipulation program like Photoshop, but the name IMP sounded wrong. We also tossed around XIMP (X Image Manipulation Program) following the rule of when in doubt prefix an X for X11 based programs. At the time, Pulp Fiction was the hot movie and a…

From the same article you link to: "And to make the matter clear, the GIMP originally stood for General Image Manipulation Program, but has since been dubbed GNU software by Richard Stallman (with our agreement). Spencer and I decided that GNU Image Manipulation Program is a better usage of the 'G'."

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#34

Post by shawnz »

jes5199 wrote: post #14

GIMP is such a strange tool. I actually have used it, semi-frequently - since the 90s! The overall experience of using it has only changed a little in that time. And it gets the job done. I guess that makes it successful! What else has been so stable? But of all the software I have ever used, GIMP is the most difficult to learn. I memorized a few tutorials, this must have been around Y2K, to do the a couple things. A…

As a counterpoint I often hear people make this argument but I've never found that to be the case. I find Gimp to have a simple interface in which it's easy to find all the features.

However I never used Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. I have found that people who cut their teeth on Photoshop seem to consistently find the Gimp UI confusing.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#37

Post by nyberg »

dwiize wrote: post #5

Finally time for a new name?

Names can mean multiple things to different groups and if one had to cater to every group which finds a name non fitting then you'd end up spending more time on name changes than actual development as in some context any name can be seen as offensive. This isn't strictly useful and to non-native english speakers the connection between the offensive meaning and the name would most likely never occur as it's use in such is obscure (for one, this is where I first learned of it).

Currently there's a large number of resources that refer to the program as GIMP which are unlikely to be updated if the name changed and thus making years worth of guides, tutorials, and so on harder to find unless you know to search for (which if you do... the name change is meaningless as you'll still see GIMP). Harassing GIMP over the name is hardly a way to get things moving forwards and only sparks a negative environment. Should you find the name to make the software unusable then it would be better to focus your attention on the fork which changes the name rather than continuing to contribute a negative to the positive news of GIMP turning 25.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#39

Post by ekianjo »

CharlesW wrote: post #12
dwiize wrote: post #5

Finally time for a new name?

Between it's derogatory and sexual definitions, I can't realistically use an app called "GIMP" at work even if I was personally comfortable with it. If you're in a similar position, try Glimpse. https://glimpse-editor.github.io/

Call it the GNU Image Manipulation Program then.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#40

Post by kradeelav »

Well I'll be, the software that launched me into design as a career. I remember messing around on it designing (bad) gaming forum banners and trying out wacom tablet styles back in the 00's. Convoluted as hell to somebody barely out of grade school, which well prepared me for how absurd Photoshop is. ;)

Kudos to the software for sticking around, and the team for enabling it.

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