Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Wed 1st Oct 2008 22:28 UTC
Graphics, User Interfaces The GIMP Project has released GIMP 2.6.0. Among some UI-based changes and additional fixes, it comes the long promised integration of the GEGL library. The promise of 16 bit per-pixel non-destructive editing goes back to 2002, but it's at last here. This means that GIMP is now ready for prosumer (and in some cases even professional) photographer's usage, and this can only be big news and a big win for the F/OSS movement. GEGL will also help in future releases with proper support of CMYK. UPDATE: I guess things are not as good as the release notes want us to think. GEGL was turned "on" in the Color menu as per instructions, but I still got a no-support message for high depth TIFF pictures. If GIMP can't read existing 16bpp pictures, the feature I earlier gave them so much credit for, is useless.
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Great news!
by -oblio- on Wed 1st Oct 2008 22:46 UTC
-oblio-
Member since:
2008-05-27

The Gimp community seems on a roll. After their new website, which looks great, GEGL started growing, and now it's starting to be integrated into Gimp too.

At the moment, I can't think of a freeware* picture editor, except for Paint.NET maybe, which can rival Gimp (actually, Gimp is better than Paint.NET for most tasks).

* I'm including the Free Software Gimp as freeware because this is Gimp's main attraction to average people, freedom as in "free beer" ;)

Edited 2008-10-01 22:56 UTC

RE: Great news!
by lemur2 on Wed 1st Oct 2008 23:48 in reply to "Great news!"
lemur2 Member since:
2007-02-17

The Gimp community seems on a roll. After their new website, which looks great, GEGL started growing, and now it's starting to be integrated into Gimp too. At the moment, I can't think of a freeware* picture editor, except for Paint.NET maybe, which can rival Gimp (actually, Gimp is better than Paint.NET for most tasks).


The one other contender would be Krita, wouldn't it?

http://www.koffice.org/krita/

With KOffice 2.0 (now in beta release) Krita 2.0 will gain significant capability, and also the ability to run on Windows.

It doesn't seem that far off to me, though I'm not really familiar with this application area.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 6

RE[2]: Great news!
by Finalzone on Thu 2nd Oct 2008 07:22 in reply to "RE: Great news!"
Finalzone Member since:
2005-07-06

Don't forget Cinepaint. It looks similar to Gimp but is more advanced, rich in features and used in industrial Studios like Dreamworks

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE: Great news!
by J. M. on Thu 2nd Oct 2008 04:09 in reply to "Great news!"
J. M. Member since:
2005-07-24

* I'm including the Free Software Gimp as freeware because this is Gimp's main attraction to average people, freedom as in "free beer" ;)

Freeware is proprietary software. GIMP is not proprietary. Therefore, GIMP is not freeware. If you want to say GIMP is available free of charge, just say it is free of charge, "price: $0", costless or even just free (as in price). Or anything with that meaning. The fact that some clueless people do not care about the difference does not justify or excuse lying. Truth is truth, whether some people care about it or not.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE[2]: Great news!
by pandronic on Thu 2nd Oct 2008 07:38 in reply to "RE: Great news!"
pandronic Member since:
2006-05-18

This may come as a shock to you but regular users couldn't care less about software freedom especially when the product is not very good.

Most would pay or risk pirating a commercial product rather than using something that kind of meets their needs.

Making this type of observations makes you look like a fanatic.

As for GIMP, I'm really glad that they started to change the UI. Now if they only changed the name, too.

Edited 2008-10-02 07:39 UTC

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 4

RE[2]: Great news!
by unoengborg on Thu 2nd Oct 2008 09:42 in reply to "RE: Great news!"
unoengborg Member since:
2005-07-06


Freeware is proprietary software. GIMP is not proprietary.


Strange, I thought GIMP was under GPL, meaning that it from legal point of view actually is propriatory. (Sombody owns it, and licenses to us through GPL)

I think, what you meant to say, is that GIMP is free software, where free means free as in free speach. What makes it free is that GPL allows you to:

-use the software for any purpose.
-study and modify the software.
-copy the software
-modify the software, and release the modifications to the public

The nice thing about free software licenses is that they uses copyright law to expand the rights of others rather than limit them.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 4

RE[2]: Great news!
by msundman on Thu 2nd Oct 2008 10:49 in reply to "RE: Great news!"
msundman Member since:
2005-07-06

Freeware is proprietary software. GIMP is not proprietary. Therefore, GIMP is not freeware.

Your first assumption is incorrect. Freeware merely defines the software as being available at no cost in itself. Free software, OTOH, does not define the price of the software itself, but some freedom-related aspects.
So, "freeware" and "free software" are not opposites, but orthogonal. GIMP happens to be both.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 8

RE[2]: Great news!
by Bully on Thu 2nd Oct 2008 14:59 in reply to "RE: Great news!"
Bully Member since:
2006-04-07

Freeware means exactly that: software that is free of charge.
It does not mean proprietary software, it can be and maybe often is proprietary, but it doesn't have to be.

So I think it's nonsense that you want to make him call it free of charge, "price: $0", costless or free (as in price)?

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2

RE: Great news!
by renox on Fri 3rd Oct 2008 07:59 in reply to "Great news!"
renox Member since:
2005-07-06

At the moment, I can't think of a freeware* picture editor, except for Paint.NET maybe, which can rival Gimp (actually, Gimp is better than Paint.NET for most tasks).

Depends on your definition on *better*: some tasks which I was never able to find how to do in Gimp, I managed to do them in 5 minutes with Paint.NET.
[I didn't read any doc these two applications and I don't *want* to]

So for the casual user, I consider Paint.NET as clearly better (note that the versions of Gimp I've tried were old), a professional willing to read documentation may have a different view.

Reply Parent Bookmark Score: 2