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Gimp is 25 years old today

gimp.org

41–50 of 271 posts

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#41
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…

Quite similar situation here: it's the tool that I know but that I will never master. I'm not bothered much by the UI though, it gets the job done well enough for the occasional pixel task. What I mind much more is the atrocious startup time (might be a peculiarity of wingimp)

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#42
While I use GIMP all the time, I'm a bit out of the loop regarding its development community.

I remember CMYK support was discussed as a future goal in the community a few years ago.

Is it still planned? Or it was later abandoned?

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#43
GIMP's name comes from Pulp Fiction.

> 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 single word popped into my mind while we were tossing out name ideas. It only took a few more minutes to determine what the 'G' stood for.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMP#cite_note-GG1Jan1997-6

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#45

Any word yet on whether GIMP will be supported on Apple’s M1/silicon platform?

It barely works on macOS as it stands. The Mac version on their web site hasn't been updated since 2019, it's slow, it doesn't support Retina displays (everything is pixelated, including the image you're editing and the UI), and it doesn't use any native controls (even for OS-specific functionality like file pickers).

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#46
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/

What kind of place is this where they care about the name of applications you use? You should stop using git before they find out.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#47
post #29
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't realistically use an app called "GIMP" at work even if I was personally comfortable with it. What kind of work do you do?

I'm not parent but probably they work in a corporate environment where you have to talk to someone about what apps you're going to have installed on your machine and get them approved. Based on my experience it's quite common at companies over a few hundreds employees. If the company is publicly traded, then you're almost guaranteed having to go through that because of regulatory concerns (I'm in Australia, it may va…

Say it is the GNU image manipulation app.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. It's an unfortunate word. There are better choices that wouldn't exclude people.

AFAIK it has nothing to do with physical disability. The word has a lot of meanings: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimp

And most of the commonly understood meanings of the word are rather negative. Nobody hears the word "gimp" out of context and thinks of decorative sewing thread, for example.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#49
post #34
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.

Cut my teeth on PSP then Photoshop in college. Soon thereafter started with GIMP and indeed the different naming and menu organization was a hurdle. Though it wasn't too bad. Still Photoshop was always ahead in features and most things were more logical.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#50
post #43

GIMP's name comes from Pulp Fiction. > 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 single word popped into my mind while we were tossing…

My twitter account was suspended until I removed a post with the word gimp in it. It was not an abusive post.
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