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I get why people take issue with GIMP, but I'm glad that it exists and has existed. Back in the day I got a lot done with GIMP for both fun and school work, an

I get why people take issue with GIMP, but I'm glad that it exists and has existed. Back in the day I got a lot done with GIMP for both fun and school work, and it was great that it worked both on Windows and Linux. Better tools are around now, and GIMP has failed to live up to a lot of its promises, but I don't get why people need to shit all over it. No one is making you use GIMP. It's honestly amazing that people can even come close to making this kind of software as FOSS and keep it going for this long.

TylerE 4y ago
- pessimizer 4y ago
  GIMP is amazing, and diminishing what they've accomplished is gross.
- matkoniecz 4y ago
  GIMP is not completely terrible. It was useful several times, and it at least works unlike some other graphics software.
hackyhacky 4y ago
> GIMP has failed to live up to a lot of its promises, Which failed promises are you referring to specifically?
- lilgreenland 4y ago
  I have a 2 year old desktop apple computer and GIMP gets about 2 fps for simple tasks like using the pencil to draw. (maybe it's better on linux or PC)
  - JayDustheadz 4y ago
    It's, sadly, a LOT faster on a Windows machine. Performance (especially boot times) is horrid on even more powerful Macs (M1Pro f.ex).
- ravenstine 4y ago
  Eventual CMYK support was announced back when I had hair. Today I'm pretty sure that CMYK still isn't supported, though I think there might have been some recent advances in that area. Non-destructive editing was supposed to also become a thing with GEGL, but that never really materialized.
  - ofrzeta 4y ago
    This has been discussed in a recent thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31419928 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31419928
  - buildsjets 4y ago
    I needed this the other day. CMYK output is in the 2.99.xx nightly builds and works fine. Export only, can’t work in cmyk natively.
    - prox 4y ago
      So it took 27 years to add CMYK support? Well there is progress I guess.
      - oblio 4y ago
        It's in nightly, so it might be in prod 5 years from now :-)
throwme_123 4y ago
Yes. Gimp is forever a major part of free software history and deserves total respect for that. Everyone is free to use it today, or just get some of the better implemented alternatives... that's the beauty of open source.
lmm 4y ago
What frustrates me is that it somehow sucks all the oxygen away from e.g. Krita, which is better in all the ways that matter. And frankly most of the whole Gtk/Gnome umbrella is like that. I don't know if it's just americans not wanting to touch a European project or what, but it's just infuriating.
- RubyRidgeRandy 4y ago
  I've never looked at Krita because it's always been referenced to me as a painting application primarily and not an image editing / photo manipulation tool. I understand there may be some cross over in functionality, but aren't they essentially built for different purposes?
  - lmm 4y ago
    I don't know; a lot of people say something like that but they never seem to give a concrete example of what the different things they need are. Krita has always been able to do all the photo editing I ever wanted to.
    - RubyRidgeRandy 4y ago
      Looking into it, Krita does seem very capable. I don't think we should really be mad at healthy competition existing in these spaces though, they should lead to better tools for end users.
      - lmm 4y ago
        Only if better tools are actually getting into users' hands though. I don't know what exactly has gone wrong, but somehow it's the Gimp that keeps getting recommended to those end users.
        ipaddr 4y ago
        It's installed by default in some linux repos. Getting that changed would go a long way. Thanks for the information I will check it out
thrillgore 4y ago
I think GIMP is still pretty important because it at least gave you options over buying or pirating Photoshop. Nowadays, I use Affinity Photo over any of them, but the importance of choice matters, because piracy doesn't impact Adobe's reach. It further entrenches it as the norm. Today, with Krita, Affinity, Pixelmator and the like, I would never suggest its "morally right" to pirate Photoshop, because you will still inadvertently support an Adobe monoculture. The morally right choice is to use anything else, and the competitors are functionally capable of supporting 95% of Photoshop's features. Also, GIMP did give us GTK, which solved a very real issue with open source desktops -- none of them were actually open source at the time. Gnome still conducts the very important work of supporting GTK.
- hypertele-Xii 4y ago
  GIMP has always claimed to be a replacement for Photoshop, and has always failed to live up to that claim when I've tried it. After being lied to, I'm not eager to try again and see if I'll be lied to again. I'll just use Photoshop because it has always worked where GIMP never has. If GIMP has truly, finally achieved their stated claims of replacing Photoshop (presumably through feature parity), then I'm glad to hear it for all those still willing to try it, but I've no interest in wasting any more of my time verifying that claim than I already have in the past.
  - jacob019 4y ago
    I love GIMP. I don't care for photoshop.
  - hallarempt 4y ago
    Except that GIMP never has claimed that. Sure, some users of GIMP have made that claim, and many reviews in magazines (back when those still existed) and on website have made that claim, but the GIMP people have always made clear that they are making their own thing, not an X-replacement.

TylerE 4y ago

pessimizer 4y ago
GIMP is amazing, and diminishing what they've accomplished is gross.
matkoniecz 4y ago
GIMP is not completely terrible. It was useful several times, and it at least works unlike some other graphics software.

hackyhacky 4y ago

> GIMP has failed to live up to a lot of its promises, Which failed promises are you referring to specifically?

lilgreenland 4y ago
I have a 2 year old desktop apple computer and GIMP gets about 2 fps for simple tasks like using the pencil to draw. (maybe it's better on linux or PC)
- JayDustheadz 4y ago
  It's, sadly, a LOT faster on a Windows machine. Performance (especially boot times) is horrid on even more powerful Macs (M1Pro f.ex).
ravenstine 4y ago
Eventual CMYK support was announced back when I had hair. Today I'm pretty sure that CMYK still isn't supported, though I think there might have been some recent advances in that area. Non-destructive editing was supposed to also become a thing with GEGL, but that never really materialized.
- ofrzeta 4y ago
  This has been discussed in a recent thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31419928 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31419928
- buildsjets 4y ago
  I needed this the other day. CMYK output is in the 2.99.xx nightly builds and works fine. Export only, can’t work in cmyk natively.
  - prox 4y ago
    So it took 27 years to add CMYK support? Well there is progress I guess.
    - oblio 4y ago
      It's in nightly, so it might be in prod 5 years from now :-)

throwme_123 4y ago

Yes. Gimp is forever a major part of free software history and deserves total respect for that. Everyone is free to use it today, or just get some of the better implemented alternatives... that's the beauty of open source.

lmm 4y ago

What frustrates me is that it somehow sucks all the oxygen away from e.g. Krita, which is better in all the ways that matter. And frankly most of the whole Gtk/Gnome umbrella is like that. I don't know if it's just americans not wanting to touch a European project or what, but it's just infuriating.

RubyRidgeRandy 4y ago
I've never looked at Krita because it's always been referenced to me as a painting application primarily and not an image editing / photo manipulation tool. I understand there may be some cross over in functionality, but aren't they essentially built for different purposes?
- lmm 4y ago
  I don't know; a lot of people say something like that but they never seem to give a concrete example of what the different things they need are. Krita has always been able to do all the photo editing I ever wanted to.
  - RubyRidgeRandy 4y ago
    Looking into it, Krita does seem very capable. I don't think we should really be mad at healthy competition existing in these spaces though, they should lead to better tools for end users.
    - lmm 4y ago
      Only if better tools are actually getting into users' hands though. I don't know what exactly has gone wrong, but somehow it's the Gimp that keeps getting recommended to those end users.
      - ipaddr 4y ago
        It's installed by default in some linux repos. Getting that changed would go a long way. Thanks for the information I will check it out

thrillgore 4y ago

I think GIMP is still pretty important because it at least gave you options over buying or pirating Photoshop. Nowadays, I use Affinity Photo over any of them, but the importance of choice matters, because piracy doesn't impact Adobe's reach. It further entrenches it as the norm. Today, with Krita, Affinity, Pixelmator and the like, I would never suggest its "morally right" to pirate Photoshop, because you will still inadvertently support an Adobe monoculture. The morally right choice is to use anything else, and the competitors are functionally capable of supporting 95% of Photoshop's features. Also, GIMP did give us GTK, which solved a very real issue with open source desktops -- none of them were actually open source at the time. Gnome still conducts the very important work of supporting GTK.

hypertele-Xii 4y ago
GIMP has always claimed to be a replacement for Photoshop, and has always failed to live up to that claim when I've tried it. After being lied to, I'm not eager to try again and see if I'll be lied to again. I'll just use Photoshop because it has always worked where GIMP never has. If GIMP has truly, finally achieved their stated claims of replacing Photoshop (presumably through feature parity), then I'm glad to hear it for all those still willing to try it, but I've no interest in wasting any more of my time verifying that claim than I already have in the past.
- jacob019 4y ago
  I love GIMP. I don't care for photoshop.
- hallarempt 4y ago
  Except that GIMP never has claimed that. Sure, some users of GIMP have made that claim, and many reviews in magazines (back when those still existed) and on website have made that claim, but the GIMP people have always made clear that they are making their own thing, not an X-replacement.