[Gimp-developer] Developer-User Disconnect

[Guillermo Espertino]

>
> But if I'm understanding you right, you're 
> suggesting that users shouldn't hope for gimp to be as feature-filled as 
> photoshop.  But why not?
No, I'm not suggesting that. But ranting publicly and saying "Gimp 
sucks" won't make new features appear.
It more likely will piss people off and will generate more reticence to 
the requested features.
I'm not against features, but demanding for other program's features 
just because the other program has them and without providing an 
explaination on why it should be added (common usage references, things 
that cannot be done without that tool, etc.) won't drag the developers 
attention.
People seem to put the "you can't compare with photoshop if x feature 
isn't there" argument before the real need.
Most of the requested features have a workaround. May be more convenient 
or faster using the PS technique, but they are already possible in Gimp 
using an alternative workflow. People say our workflow sucks and PS' 
rock, and start complaining that Gimp will never be Photoshop.
And that doesn't help.
Anyway, I'm not saying you can't compare. There are positive 
comparations that aim to illustrate convenient ways to address a 
problem. But don't tell developers "do it that way". Try to show why a 
method is better than the existing (and meanwhile, try to get used to 
the alternative method to realize if it really is worst or it's just 
that you aren't used to it).

> I'd rather spend my time doing that 
> than getting a proprietary software package ported to linux by Adobe 
> (not gonna happen!)
I think it will happen eventually. There's a wrong perception that 
professional software will never be ported to linux because Adobe 
haven't showed *yet* any intentions to port its software to linux.
But pro software isn't just Adobe. You have Maya, Houdini, XSI, Nuke, 
Fusion and Shake that already run natively on Linux. Those are 
professional packages and it seems it made sense to them to port their 
software. And Adobe will do the same sooner or later.
So it's not a crazy dream to brag for the port if you're interested. It 
may work.

But if you prefer to stick with free software and try to get more 
developers interested in Gimp, great!