Re: GIMP and Photoshop user interfaces

John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, 4 Jun 2025 23:14:33 -0000 (UTC)
Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
 

*Yawn* Or more likely, you took one look at an early version of GIMP
27 years ago, dismissed it, and have been complaining about it
without actually trying it again ever since.

 
That would be a convenient narrative for you, but no - I first picked it
up with v.2 when I was looking for a *nix-native Photoshop alternative,
and it was certainly the case then. I've been using it ever since (as
the version of Photoshop I had was clunky under WINE,) but I gave up on
getting any kind of comparable workflow going for digital art.
 
That became irrelevant as I moved to more traditional media, which
worked out for me, but it's illustrative of the GIMP team's overall
approach to UI matters: blindly copy what better designers do in a
surface approximation, without bothering to understand *why* or study
the details to get things really *right.*

Sounds a lot like when MS copies good UI ideas from other areas, then
half-asses their version in winblows.  And then, of course, a giant
horde of lacking-knowledge-users then espouse how great MS's half-assed
effort was.

which is why working professionals just trying to Get Shit Done are
still willing to put up with Adobe's draconian bullshit.

"Working Professionals" also apply a cost/benefit ratio process to.

They already "know" Photoshop inside out, so they know they can produce
one contract job every day with PS with no problems.

Or, they could save the Adobe draconian costs, switch to GIMP, and
spend a week (or two weeks) relearning how to be as productive in GIMP. 
But they just lost 14 contracts worth of pay in doing so.  And are
behind by the same number.

So most never see a positive cost benefit ratio (at least short term)
in the effort of making the switch.  Couple that with fears (reasonable
or otherwise) of GIMP failing to read/write PhotoShop files correctly
(resulting in trouble receiving/sending work to/from clients) and they
decide it simply isn't worth it to them.

Plus, should GIMP omit some critical feature they do use in PhotoShop,
then they are stuck with all that effort and having to continue with
Photoshop in the end anyway.