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I have a hard time seeing anything named "Gimp" ever becoming a great alternative for Photoshop. Names have a lot of meaning, you think about it constantly, if

I have a hard time seeing anything named "Gimp" ever becoming a great alternative for Photoshop. Names have a lot of meaning, you think about it constantly, if you are thinking about a crippled person unconsciously even while developing software, maybe that is why Gimp is in the state it is. Many Open Source projects are just named damn stupidly, like with the KDE suite does it really make any sense naming your projects starting with "K" just to follow the KDE ? Or with Gnome you have so many stupid project names, beginning with the whole name "Gnome". All I can think is a forest gnome when I think about that desktop environment. Maybe it's supposed to be Ge-nome, but who thinks it's a good idea to call a desktop environment a small dwarf like bearded old person .. Combine that with Gnome Gimp, you have a crippled forest gnome handling your image editing, nice. Everytime I try Linux and it's modern desktop environments, the application names just make me cringe, it's like somebody just decided that "Yeah hey naming conventions for software don't matter, just call it the terminal emulator "Kerminal" or whatever shit that suites the stupid naming scheme.

victornomad 4y ago
You are writing this from your english centric world vision. The world is big and most people dont care what's the meaning or if it even has a meaning...
therouwboat 4y ago
I associate gimp with that full body leather suit. Its weird when people complain about minor things like multiple windows or name when actually doing something with the program is much more complicated.
- ChuckNorris89 4y ago
  >I associate gimp with that full body leather suit. Me too. As a non native English speaker I didn't think about that first, but then I saw Pulp Fiction.
  - asddubs 4y ago
    this is what gimp was named after to begin with (specifically in reference to pulp fiction). it used to even be called "the gimp" i believe. so it kind of stands out above the crowd of mediocre open source software names by being fully intentionally awful
    - formerly_proven 4y ago
      Easily beat by "MongoDB" and their Ruby interface "mongoid".
      - DonHopkins 4y ago
        Much worse is naming a database with that intentionally awful name "Oracle", which immediately brings to mind that intentionally awful company run by that horrible lawnmower. Oh wait. That's who makes it. I guess they spoiled their own name. Never mind. ...Somebody once called me the Emily Litella of the net. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLeaSWY37I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLeaSWY37I
Beldin 4y ago
For context: I am not a native English speaker. My command of the English language is more than adequate for writing academic texts in English (ie, research). I am aware of "gimp" as a derogatory term, but it pops up so infrequently, its primary connotation for me has become this piece of software. I imagine plenty of other non-native speakers would similarly only have a loose connotation to the meaning as an insult. In other words, while names may sometimes be important, I think this case is not an instance of that for the majority of people on the planet.
- bildung 4y ago
  > I am aware of "gimp" as a derogatory term, but it pops up so infrequently, its primary connotation for me has become this piece of software. This is also the way our language perception generally works: The word is just the signifier, a variable. The meaning, the significate, is not inherent in the word itself. If enough people say "gimp" and mean the software, that becomes the default inference.
  - trombone5000 4y ago
    You'd never get to the end state you describe if people are uncomfortable recommending the software because of the name. Word-of-mouth fails when the literal word is something you won't say. They should change the name; it's difficult to understand why the maintainers are so attached to something so self-defeating.
    - Beldin 4y ago
      That was my point: while you may have some/strong inhibitions due to this name, I don't. To me, "git" is far worse - probably because of gaps in my English, but still. You don't get why they don't change the name; I would rather folks spend effort on improving Gimp than changing its name. (Same for git btw.) I think name changes are like bug fixes: the later in the life cycle you go for it, the more expensive. Whether that is worth the cost... in the case of Gimp and git: for you maybe yes, for me decidedly no. Doesn't mean either of us is more right than the other, but does say something about how we feel about using and talking about these pieces of software.
ognarb 4y ago
This sort of comments really annoys me. Google call it's mail client gmail and everone is fine with it, kde does the same a few years before and call it's mail client kmail and people complains about the name all the time. Same thing with apple and it's i-names scheme for their hardware and software products. I'm not sayint that the k-names are great and new kde applications try to avoid using it, but then a big company does it and has a big marketing budget, nobody minds it.
- jcelerier 4y ago
  > This sort of comments really annoys me. Google call it's mail client gmail and everone is fine with it, huh? it's absolutely not, it's goofy as hell. I regularly have contacts / clients / etc... be like "gmail ? that's not serious".
  - TheCapeGreek 4y ago
    Because it's a free product mostly intended for personal use, not because of the naming. One expects a name@company.com style structure for professionals. It being called Gmail is not relevant.
  - Shorel 4y ago
    Are all of your clients/contacts boomers? Old school jocks/bullies? Honestly, picking up about Gmail name in 2022 is a bit anachronistic.
  - jeltz 4y ago
    That is not my experience at all. Tons of big companies use Gmail in my country. Obviously they have their own domains but they use Gmail.
- HKH2 4y ago
  I think the point is that it's cheesy to use the letter as the start of a word, like spelling 'c' words with a 'k'. That's why I think 'Krita' is a good name, and 'Konqueror' not so much.
Ygg2 4y ago
> I have a hard time seeing anything named "Gimp" ever becoming a great alternative for Photoshop. Name is least of Gimp's concerns. Backronym it to GNU/Gnome Imp, presto. Bigger problem is they took so long to add CMYK support.
- crote 4y ago
  What's wrong with its current acronym, GNU Image Manipulation Program?
  - Ygg2 4y ago
    I said it's the least of its concerns. Some people consider gimp to mean some kind of bdsm latex freak. Rebrand it as GNU imp, put some wings on mascot, presto. Problem, solved.
zo1 4y ago
As an aside, I don't think it's the "content" of the word GIMP that's the problem necessarily. Just that because it's a single syllable, people don't instinctively recognize the pattern of sounds. Especially for non-native speaker, or people that don't know what you are talking about off the top of their head. As opposed to Gee Mail or Eye Tunes. Don't think either would do so great as "Gail" or just "Tunes". One thing I noticed in a foreign country is that our brains fill in the details a lot when listening and that extra syllable really narrows down the possible words and sounds that you might be hearing.
happymellon 4y ago
> like with the KDE suite does it really make any sense naming your projects starting with "K" just to follow the KDE? iTunes iMac iPhone iPad iPod Okay, this is a Linux thing.
- HKH2 4y ago
  There is a difference between 'KMail' and 'Konqueror'.
  - happymellon 4y ago
    Okay
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- inDigiNeous 4y ago
  Well, if you think about it "iMail" can be thought of combining "I" or "Me" and "Mail". So, "My Mail" or "Mail for Me". How does "KMail" sound like phonetically ? KayMail ? KeiMeil ? It just doesn't give the same vibe. The designers at Apple know that "iPhone" means something to the user. Even gPhone would be better, but Google has that covered already. KDE doesn't really stand for anything or it's phonetical counterpart doesn't communicate anything meaningful to the user. I just looked it up and, K used to stand for "Kool", but already that is not a real word, doesn't look good or even sound good, at least to my ears or thinking. Also iMac came from "Internet" back then, so it had multiple meanings behind it.
peoplefromibiza 4y ago
> Many Open Source projects are just named damn stupidly Stupid like "windows" for a windowing system or "word" for a word processor or "mail" for an email client or "iMessage" for a messaging system, or Pages, Numbers, or everything starting with an "i" from Apple, or everything g by Google or the endless stream of startup named like their name was created using one of those "startup name generator"? I am a non native english speaker, if I had not discovered much of the software I know of,including Photoshop, in the late 80s when I was a kid and didn't know English I would have thought software companies were run by idiots. But lucky me (and them) Photoshop now for me it's just a name with no actual meaning. Is Krita worse than Photoshop as a name? Is Blender worse than Maya? are Chrome or Safari or Edge really better than Firefox? I'm not sure.
fragmede 4y ago
I just say it's called GIM Paint and move on.
aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago
And then you whip out gdb to debug an ELF executable with DWARF symbols… The horror!
- saturn_vk 4y ago
  You are forgetting a very important step. You need to get the source by cloning with git
tigerlily 4y ago
Get over it.
factorialboy 4y ago
You are out of touch with the latest Gnome app names. See this https://apps.gnome.org/ https://apps.gnome.org/
- hiccuphippo 4y ago
  Are those their real names or just what they are called in the menus? The Console one is still gnome-terminal.
  - factorialboy 4y ago
    Real names, i.e. you search for these names (in the menu) and they show up.
    - diffeomorphism 4y ago
      So not at all real names. The search for obvious reasons also works with descriptions and a label "File Manager" is much easier to understand and search for than "nautilus".
  - Joeboy 4y ago
    I don't care too much what the names are, but it annoys me that apps have secret, hidden true names. Want to launch an app with a command line argument? Time to start grepping system files.
  - janc_ 4y ago
    Gnome Console and Gnome Terminal are not the same.
- inDigiNeous 4y ago
  I'm happy to see that they have taken this direction. So much more clear and better than previously. Now I wish Gimp would be one of those softwares taking direction from that. Still, the whole "Gnome desktop" sounds silly.
rglullis 4y ago
> you think about it constantly Wait, really? The name of the tool is something to think about "constantly"? Why?! To me, seriously dismissing a tool because of the name is like failing an IQ test. It is a sign of someone that wants to be spoon-fed by any sort of shit that is offered by the big companies, as long as it is packaged in nice colors.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- inDigiNeous 4y ago
  Why? Because if you use the application, you are thinking about the name of the application. You think about "Launching Affinity Photo" for example. What if the name of the software was CripplePhoto, I mean that wouldn't be too nice to think about, or "ShitSoft FecesEditor". Or even more not so extreme examples, for examples let's say your music player would be called "Brown Juice" or something like that, would you be happy about that application, vs for example "iTunes" or "Soundamp" or whatever. You know these are extreme examples but just show you that the power of words is very clear in what kind of images they create in our thinking, I bet if Gimp would change their software name to something like "GNU PhotoEdit" or something like that, more people would be willing unconsciously to work and improve it also vs working on this "Gimp" that still uses that silly logo with the Gnome Mascot. It's very unprofessional and you wont attract the best designers or developers if you don't think about the big picture. That's just my view on the thing. The package and nice colors matter, but of course the interiors and working of the software is that matters more, and on that frontend Gimp just doesn't cut it. What I'm trying to say is that maybe they could make the software better by changing it's name and design. I mean, no professional uses Gimp for photo editing, at least I don't know anyone besides some hobbyist who rarely use photo editing, they might use Gimp. Or am I wrong ?
  - rglullis 4y ago
    > What if the name of the software was CripplePhoto Argumentum ad absurdum. > I mean, no professional uses Gimp for photo editing Perhaps because the lack of CMYK, the limited architecture for plugin, or the outdated UI have more to do than the name? If the name was the real bottleneck for adoption, you can be sure that you'd see someone creating a fork with different branding and being widely successful. Oh, wait. It has been tried already! [0] [0] https://github.com/glimpse-editor/Glimpse https://github.com/glimpse-editor/Glimpse
Mordisquitos 4y ago
If naming is such a crucial point for free software adoption, how do you explain the success of a widely used version control system whose name is a slang word for "a foolish or contemptible person"?

victornomad 4y ago

You are writing this from your english centric world vision. The world is big and most people dont care what's the meaning or if it even has a meaning...

therouwboat 4y ago

I associate gimp with that full body leather suit. Its weird when people complain about minor things like multiple windows or name when actually doing something with the program is much more complicated.

ChuckNorris89 4y ago
>I associate gimp with that full body leather suit. Me too. As a non native English speaker I didn't think about that first, but then I saw Pulp Fiction.
- asddubs 4y ago
  this is what gimp was named after to begin with (specifically in reference to pulp fiction). it used to even be called "the gimp" i believe. so it kind of stands out above the crowd of mediocre open source software names by being fully intentionally awful
  - formerly_proven 4y ago
    Easily beat by "MongoDB" and their Ruby interface "mongoid".
    - DonHopkins 4y ago
      Much worse is naming a database with that intentionally awful name "Oracle", which immediately brings to mind that intentionally awful company run by that horrible lawnmower. Oh wait. That's who makes it. I guess they spoiled their own name. Never mind. ...Somebody once called me the Emily Litella of the net. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLeaSWY37I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLeaSWY37I

Beldin 4y ago

For context: I am not a native English speaker. My command of the English language is more than adequate for writing academic texts in English (ie, research). I am aware of "gimp" as a derogatory term, but it pops up so infrequently, its primary connotation for me has become this piece of software. I imagine plenty of other non-native speakers would similarly only have a loose connotation to the meaning as an insult. In other words, while names may sometimes be important, I think this case is not an instance of that for the majority of people on the planet.

bildung 4y ago
> I am aware of "gimp" as a derogatory term, but it pops up so infrequently, its primary connotation for me has become this piece of software. This is also the way our language perception generally works: The word is just the signifier, a variable. The meaning, the significate, is not inherent in the word itself. If enough people say "gimp" and mean the software, that becomes the default inference.
- trombone5000 4y ago
  You'd never get to the end state you describe if people are uncomfortable recommending the software because of the name. Word-of-mouth fails when the literal word is something you won't say. They should change the name; it's difficult to understand why the maintainers are so attached to something so self-defeating.
  - Beldin 4y ago
    That was my point: while you may have some/strong inhibitions due to this name, I don't. To me, "git" is far worse - probably because of gaps in my English, but still. You don't get why they don't change the name; I would rather folks spend effort on improving Gimp than changing its name. (Same for git btw.) I think name changes are like bug fixes: the later in the life cycle you go for it, the more expensive. Whether that is worth the cost... in the case of Gimp and git: for you maybe yes, for me decidedly no. Doesn't mean either of us is more right than the other, but does say something about how we feel about using and talking about these pieces of software.

ognarb 4y ago

This sort of comments really annoys me. Google call it's mail client gmail and everone is fine with it, kde does the same a few years before and call it's mail client kmail and people complains about the name all the time. Same thing with apple and it's i-names scheme for their hardware and software products. I'm not sayint that the k-names are great and new kde applications try to avoid using it, but then a big company does it and has a big marketing budget, nobody minds it.

jcelerier 4y ago
> This sort of comments really annoys me. Google call it's mail client gmail and everone is fine with it, huh? it's absolutely not, it's goofy as hell. I regularly have contacts / clients / etc... be like "gmail ? that's not serious".
- TheCapeGreek 4y ago
  Because it's a free product mostly intended for personal use, not because of the naming. One expects a name@company.com style structure for professionals. It being called Gmail is not relevant.
- Shorel 4y ago
  Are all of your clients/contacts boomers? Old school jocks/bullies? Honestly, picking up about Gmail name in 2022 is a bit anachronistic.
- jeltz 4y ago
  That is not my experience at all. Tons of big companies use Gmail in my country. Obviously they have their own domains but they use Gmail.
HKH2 4y ago
I think the point is that it's cheesy to use the letter as the start of a word, like spelling 'c' words with a 'k'. That's why I think 'Krita' is a good name, and 'Konqueror' not so much.

Ygg2 4y ago

> I have a hard time seeing anything named "Gimp" ever becoming a great alternative for Photoshop. Name is least of Gimp's concerns. Backronym it to GNU/Gnome Imp, presto. Bigger problem is they took so long to add CMYK support.

crote 4y ago
What's wrong with its current acronym, GNU Image Manipulation Program?
- Ygg2 4y ago
  I said it's the least of its concerns. Some people consider gimp to mean some kind of bdsm latex freak. Rebrand it as GNU imp, put some wings on mascot, presto. Problem, solved.

zo1 4y ago

As an aside, I don't think it's the "content" of the word GIMP that's the problem necessarily. Just that because it's a single syllable, people don't instinctively recognize the pattern of sounds. Especially for non-native speaker, or people that don't know what you are talking about off the top of their head. As opposed to Gee Mail or Eye Tunes. Don't think either would do so great as "Gail" or just "Tunes". One thing I noticed in a foreign country is that our brains fill in the details a lot when listening and that extra syllable really narrows down the possible words and sounds that you might be hearing.

happymellon 4y ago

> like with the KDE suite does it really make any sense naming your projects starting with "K" just to follow the KDE? iTunes iMac iPhone iPad iPod Okay, this is a Linux thing.

HKH2 4y ago
There is a difference between 'KMail' and 'Konqueror'.
- happymellon 4y ago
  Okay
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
inDigiNeous 4y ago
Well, if you think about it "iMail" can be thought of combining "I" or "Me" and "Mail". So, "My Mail" or "Mail for Me". How does "KMail" sound like phonetically ? KayMail ? KeiMeil ? It just doesn't give the same vibe. The designers at Apple know that "iPhone" means something to the user. Even gPhone would be better, but Google has that covered already. KDE doesn't really stand for anything or it's phonetical counterpart doesn't communicate anything meaningful to the user. I just looked it up and, K used to stand for "Kool", but already that is not a real word, doesn't look good or even sound good, at least to my ears or thinking. Also iMac came from "Internet" back then, so it had multiple meanings behind it.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago

> Many Open Source projects are just named damn stupidly Stupid like "windows" for a windowing system or "word" for a word processor or "mail" for an email client or "iMessage" for a messaging system, or Pages, Numbers, or everything starting with an "i" from Apple, or everything g by Google or the endless stream of startup named like their name was created using one of those "startup name generator"? I am a non native english speaker, if I had not discovered much of the software I know of,including Photoshop, in the late 80s when I was a kid and didn't know English I would have thought software companies were run by idiots. But lucky me (and them) Photoshop now for me it's just a name with no actual meaning. Is Krita worse than Photoshop as a name? Is Blender worse than Maya? are Chrome or Safari or Edge really better than Firefox? I'm not sure.

fragmede 4y ago

I just say it's called GIM Paint and move on.

aaaaaaaaaaab 4y ago

And then you whip out gdb to debug an ELF executable with DWARF symbols… The horror!

saturn_vk 4y ago
You are forgetting a very important step. You need to get the source by cloning with git

tigerlily 4y ago

Get over it.

factorialboy 4y ago

You are out of touch with the latest Gnome app names. See this https://apps.gnome.org/ https://apps.gnome.org/

hiccuphippo 4y ago
Are those their real names or just what they are called in the menus? The Console one is still gnome-terminal.
- factorialboy 4y ago
  Real names, i.e. you search for these names (in the menu) and they show up.
  - diffeomorphism 4y ago
    So not at all real names. The search for obvious reasons also works with descriptions and a label "File Manager" is much easier to understand and search for than "nautilus".
- Joeboy 4y ago
  I don't care too much what the names are, but it annoys me that apps have secret, hidden true names. Want to launch an app with a command line argument? Time to start grepping system files.
- janc_ 4y ago
  Gnome Console and Gnome Terminal are not the same.
inDigiNeous 4y ago
I'm happy to see that they have taken this direction. So much more clear and better than previously. Now I wish Gimp would be one of those softwares taking direction from that. Still, the whole "Gnome desktop" sounds silly.

rglullis 4y ago

> you think about it constantly Wait, really? The name of the tool is something to think about "constantly"? Why?! To me, seriously dismissing a tool because of the name is like failing an IQ test. It is a sign of someone that wants to be spoon-fed by any sort of shit that is offered by the big companies, as long as it is packaged in nice colors.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
inDigiNeous 4y ago
Why? Because if you use the application, you are thinking about the name of the application. You think about "Launching Affinity Photo" for example. What if the name of the software was CripplePhoto, I mean that wouldn't be too nice to think about, or "ShitSoft FecesEditor". Or even more not so extreme examples, for examples let's say your music player would be called "Brown Juice" or something like that, would you be happy about that application, vs for example "iTunes" or "Soundamp" or whatever. You know these are extreme examples but just show you that the power of words is very clear in what kind of images they create in our thinking, I bet if Gimp would change their software name to something like "GNU PhotoEdit" or something like that, more people would be willing unconsciously to work and improve it also vs working on this "Gimp" that still uses that silly logo with the Gnome Mascot. It's very unprofessional and you wont attract the best designers or developers if you don't think about the big picture. That's just my view on the thing. The package and nice colors matter, but of course the interiors and working of the software is that matters more, and on that frontend Gimp just doesn't cut it. What I'm trying to say is that maybe they could make the software better by changing it's name and design. I mean, no professional uses Gimp for photo editing, at least I don't know anyone besides some hobbyist who rarely use photo editing, they might use Gimp. Or am I wrong ?
- rglullis 4y ago
  > What if the name of the software was CripplePhoto Argumentum ad absurdum. > I mean, no professional uses Gimp for photo editing Perhaps because the lack of CMYK, the limited architecture for plugin, or the outdated UI have more to do than the name? If the name was the real bottleneck for adoption, you can be sure that you'd see someone creating a fork with different branding and being widely successful. Oh, wait. It has been tried already! [0] [0] https://github.com/glimpse-editor/Glimpse https://github.com/glimpse-editor/Glimpse

Mordisquitos 4y ago

If naming is such a crucial point for free software adoption, how do you explain the success of a widely used version control system whose name is a slang word for "a foolish or contemptible person"?