GIMP and Photoshop user interfaces (was: Re: Distros specifically designed for children)

On 2025-06-03, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Mon, 2 Jun 2025 09:13:48 -0700, John Ames wrote:
>

GIMP is deeply frustrating because it's a lot of very solid technical
functionality married to a cargo-cult version of the Photoshop UI ...

>
That’s strange, isn’t it, since most of the Adobe-lovers who don’t like
GIMP primarily say it’s because its UI is too different from Photoshop.
>
You think it would be better if it were *more* different?

I'd say wanting to jump to a different program without having to learn
or read documentation is having unrealistic assumptions. Sure, you *can*
have programs designed to be "compatible" UI-wise, but unless that's a
main design goal, there are going to be differences.

(As if large parts of what is nowadays associated with the Photoshop UI is
in fact original with Photoshop ...)

What is even the GIMP UI nowadays? I haven't used it in some time, but
I've already gotten confused by changes, it seemed someone wanted to
make it more like a "main menu" and "main window"-driven program, so at
least at some point it did change.

Is it stable now, or has it embraced the Firefox approach to UI design?

--
Nuno Silva