[Gimp-developer] Developer-User Disconnect

[Guillermo Espertino]

>
> 1. TheGimp is no longer comparable to photoshop or corel.
That's very subjective. I'm a professional designer and I'm using Gimp 
for my everyday work.
I'd say it really IS comparable to Photoshop or Photopaint, but it 
really isn't the point.
And if comparison is the plan, Photoshop isn't comparable to Photopaint. 
I'd bet you could find the same number of differences between Photoshop 
and Photopaint than the ones you find when you compare them to Gimp.

Gimp has some rough edges, but as Martin said, the problem is that there 
are few developers and they can't address them all.

> 2. Multi-window interface:
Preferences aside, this is a longstanding request and once again, no 
coder seems to be interested in providing a solution.
Current layout is usable and has a lot of advantages. You find it out 
when you start using it and stop complaining (at least that was my case).
I wonder why if it's a so important issue nobody volunteered yet to 
change it. Maybe it is an issue for users who want to use Photoshop and 
not Gimp, but not such a problem for users who got used to the way Gimp 
works.
Don't get me wrong. It's ok for me if somebody codes an option to switch 
between multi window and window in window UI, but if it doesn't happen, 
Gimp is still a usable application.
Just change your desktop background to neutral gray and keep the icons 
in the menu instead of moving them to the desktop, and you will have the 
same you have in photoshop.
The icons-on-desktop way is the Windows way, and windows applications 
have those gray containers for hiding the desktop. You got used to that, 
so you think it's impossible to work without a gray container.
It's funny but multi window interface is considered a big problem by 
non-users, while Gimp users don't seem to be very worried about it.

> Please do something to get in touch with users, I could never honestly ever
> say theGimp could be a replacement for photoshop ever if this continues.
Gimp may or may not be a Photoshop replacement. That depends on the user.
For me, it's a replacement because since I'm using it I'm not using 
Photoshop. But certain people want to keep using Photoshop. If your plan 
is using Photoshop for free, then Gimp it's not for you. If you need an 
image manipulation program, be welcome.
If you want Photoshop for Linux, which is a valid desire, you should 
start asking Adobe to port it, not Gimp coders to create a feature by 
feature clone.

Anyway, I also think that a better communication between existing coders 
and users would be nice for certain situations.
But non-users-wanting-photoshop aren't gimp users. And I understand when 
a coder pisses off if one of these guys say "Gimp sucks because it 
hasn't X feature" and threatens not using Gimp if  the coders don't do 
what he wants.

Gez.