Live data from Hacker News

GIMP Turns 27

gimp.org

131–140 of 310 posts

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#131

I was a heavy GIMP user back in the day. Just last week i downloaded again. I didn‘t understand anything. Maybe i just forgot it all, but it felt unusable to me. The UI seemed so cluttered and unnecessarily complex. Almost like they want to prove how powerful the tool is, by shoving it all in your face. I didn‘t like it. I think it might be time to reinvent. It would be a shame if GIMP joined the club of 27…

Has the UI even changed in 27 years? The fact that the I don't have to relearn it every time I update it has been my favorite feature.

Then i might just have forgotten it (which i stated as a possibility). I haven‘t used it in at least 10-14 years (wow, i‘m still a noob in so many things after all this time in the matrix).

Back then i might have been more fascinated with the „FOSS alternative“ and more eager to learn… but even back then it has never felt intuitive. Glad to hear people still enjoy & use GIMP.

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#132
post #55

GIMP is great, I use it all the time. I wish they would change their name so it could have more mainstream acceptance.

This gets dismissed every time it's brought up, but I agree with you that it probably has stunted its growth considerably.

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What the link you gave is supposed to show? >It was a serious Photoshop competitor before it made a single cent. Can you provide an actual reference of this? The AMA you gave explicitly says Photopea is making a revenue.

> After the first 7 000 hours of work (around 5 hours a day during 3.5 years), I haven't made a single dollar (it was just my hobby during the college). 3rd paragraph. You can see what it looked like at that time by looking at the blog posts.

Then maybe point to the blog posts rather an AMA that clearly doesn't contradict anything that I said before stating "this is an obvious lie"? Yes, they worked on the project without making revenue initially. Was it that good then?

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#134
post #2

Still no adjustment layers, still no layer styles. It’s so easy to just critique away…but really? Really? Those are just absolutely essential image editing software features. What have they been prioritizing ahead of that?

No, those are absolutely essential Adobe Photoshop features. Having a different set of tools to accomplish a specific goal is fine because, bear with me, GIMP is not Photoshop.

90% of the complaining that always happens in these threads is Photoshop/Irfanview/whatever users, coming in and assuming that the purpose of GIMP is to reimplement your favorite image editing software for free. That is not the goal, and it never has been. As long as you keep pretending anyone intends GIMP to be a Photoshop clone, you'll keep being disappointed.

After _three decades_ I can no longer blame anyone but the complainant.

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#135

Man, who would've guessed I'd be tempted to flag a post about GIMP. The level of vitriol in these comments is truly impressive...

There's an instinct for pre-emptive attacks on minority opinions from people who have gone with the crowd and experience some cognitive dissonance over it. There are a lot of people who think that they should be using the GIMP (for whatever reason), but of course found it easier to do what everyone else was doing, and have to justify that by attacking the software and the people who use it.

The reason definitely isn't because Photoshop is a great piece of software with a logical UI, because it's damn near a random UI filled with aging cruft, advertisements, and bizarre flows for doing simple things. Any affection for Photoshop is Stockholm Syndrome from spending 8 hours a day in it and getting periodic dopamine hits from puzzling out a riddle of how to do something in it that seemed like it would be simple.

If the GIMP had proper color management (and better non-destructive editing), I'd never touch Photoshop. That's the beauty of free software, though. Once that stuff is finalized and in, we'll have it forever. See, GIMP doesn't have the means to steal colors from work you've already done, and you don't have to rent it.

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#136
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Krita is better in any conceivable way.

Can’t I just choose any feature available in Gimp and not in Krita and disprove your point. Sorry if I’m missing obvious hyperbole.

You can, but that would be inconceivable.

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#137
post #2

Still no adjustment layers, still no layer styles. It’s so easy to just critique away…but really? Really? Those are just absolutely essential image editing software features. What have they been prioritizing ahead of that?

At this point I don’t think it’s controversial to say that this project existing has harmed creative tools on Linux. If another project had become the de-facto we’d have all those basic features. Instead we’re stuck with something that almost provides the basics ok, because it exists people treat it like a solved problem, and it has such a history no one’s allowed to say it just frankly isn’t usable for it’s one job.

I am confused why you think that Gimp somehow magically used all slots for image software development.

It is not like it is extremely well funded or otherwise resource consuming.

> because it exists people treat it like a solved problem

People complaining about lack of alternative projects in open source is a new one for me

> it has such a history no one’s allowed to say it just frankly isn’t usable for it’s one job.

that is not how free software creation works like, really

Re: GIMP Turns 27

#138
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't download a car

"You know what? I would steal a car. If it was as easy as, like, touching the car and then 30 seconds later I own the car. And like, I would steal a car if by stealing the car, the person who owned the car they got to keep the car. And uh, I would also steal a car if no one I had ever met had ever bought a car before in their whole lives." -- Mindy Kaling

I had no idea who this person was so I searched her name. Apparently she grew up in Massachusetts, went to elite private schools, and became a Hollywood actress and writer. Somehow I have a hard time believing she had to pirate Photoshop just to barely scrape by at any point in her life.
Post reply on HN