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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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
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.
Member since:2005-07-24
"Proprietary software is computer software on which the producer has set restrictions on use, private modification, copying, or republishing. Similar terms include "closed-source software" and "non-free software".
Proprietors may enforce restrictions by technical means, such as by restricting source code access, or by legal means, such as through copyright and patents."
...
"Proprietary software includes freeware and shareware."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprietary_software
Member since:2005-07-06
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.
Member since:2005-07-24
Freeware, in the 21st century, universally means non-free, closed-source software. Originaly, some 20-30 years ago, freeware could mean any software that was available for free, but since the arrival of Free Software and Open Source in the 1990's, freeware always refers to proprietary, closed-source, non-free, binary-only software that sets restrictions on its use (like, you cannot decompile, modify it etc.) Free software, on the other hand, gives you right to use the software for any purpose, unlike freeware.
GIMP is not freeware, GIMP is free software. You can also call it open-source software, because GPL is both a free sofwtare license and an open-source license. But is is not a freeware license. GPL was made by the Free Software Foundation and the Free Software Foundation explicitly says it has nothing in common with freeware.
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)?
Member since:
2005-07-24
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.