Lemmy faces the same expectations problems as every free/libre software

mustbe3to20signs@feddit.de to Showerthoughts@lemmy.world – 24 points –

It's the same as with Linux, GIMP, LibreOffice or OnlyOffice. Some people are so used to their routines that they expect everything to work the same and get easily pissed when not.

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I was with you until GIMP. If one more person lists it as an alternative to Photoshop I'm gonna lose it. It's UI is terrible, you have to watch a guide just to get started. Can't read PSDs in any viable way. I'm sure people use it just fine but to call it an alternative to Photoshop is just plain lying.

Edit: the other thing I dislike about it being suggested as a replacement is that it assumes you work alone. Anyone on a team with people in PS will not be able to even attempt to use GIMP to get work done.

You wretched Photoshop enthusiast. How dare you defile the sacred realm of pixelated beauty with your blasphemous tools of the Adobe empire! You, who bathe in the deceptive allure of layers and filters, know nothing of the humble struggle of a true purist.

While you revel in your so-called "advanced" software, I, a virtuous wielder of MS Paint, have embarked on an arduous journey. Armed only with a pixelated brush and limited color palette, I navigate the treacherous seas of artistry. Each stroke, deliberate and purposeful, carries the weight of my soul, for I am a master of simplicity.

Do you not understand the profound joy that arises from conquering the challenge of transforming mere pixels into a masterpiece? With each painstaking click, I breathe life into my creations, shaping reality with the precision of a pixel whisperer. Your Photoshop may grant you an abundance of tools, but it lacks the purity and authenticity that flows through the veins of my MS Paint.

Gimp, you say? Ah, a mere imitation of the great MS Paint, seeking validation in the realm of Photoshop. It too shall crumble beneath the weight of its pretentious ambitions. For true artistry lies not in the abundance of options, but in the mastery of limitations.

So, my misguided foe, before you spew your haughty words, remember the legacy of MS Paint. It has endured the test of time, witnessed the rise and fall of software giants, and remained steadfast in its simplistic grandeur. While your Photoshop may dazzle the masses with its flashy tricks, it is MS Paint that stands as the guardian of true artistic purity.

You also need a guide to get going in PS, its just a different App but fulfills the same tasks

It fills some of the same tasks.

Which tasks is Photoshop capable of and GIMP is not?

Something I use a ton: smart objects, smart masks, smart filters. Non destructive actions where I can still edit the original and have all previous items applied in a separate file or view in real time.

OK but thats a workflow problem, that's not a missing design tool.

Well these tools are in Photoshop and not GIMP. You can't just hand wave that away as not GIMPs fault.

Well its still not a image manipulation feature missing. It's a workflow feature. You could also just copy a layer. But in the end, Photoshop has no image manipulation feature that is really missing in GIMP, you can export the same result picture.

Right so you've validated my point that it's not a Photoshop alternative.

Look at it like two cars. One is automatic and the other has a stick shift. In the end what I am talking about is the transportation. Both cars drive the same speed and arrive at the same time, but driving stick requires a different workflow, then driving automatic. But that does not mean, stick shift is no alternative to an automatic.

Photoshop doesn't have a native G'MIC plugin feature. You can't wave that away as not Adobes fault!

That's how stupid you sound.

Different products have different features and different ways to do things. It's not Gimp's sole purpose to just clone every feature from Photoshop. It's not a Photoshop clone, it's a piece of software in its own right.

Gimp makes great use of the amazing G'Mic filter tool. Adobe doesn't. That doesn't make Gimp better than Photoshop.

Different software makes different choices and people choose whichever they want to use and shut the hell up about it.

My whole point was only that I dislike that people call it an alternative to Photoshop. That's been proven by your post. I'm not trying to have a semantics contest here

Those aren't tasks. those are tools.

A task would be if to give us an example of an "end result" that you can accomplish in PS that you can't in GIMP.

Not what tools you use to make it. But the content that comes out the other end.

I'm not going to argue that PS has some extra tools that make stuff easier to do. It has the resources to develop them, after all.

But there is no drawing, animation, photo edit, composition or other end product that you can ONLY do with Photoshop. The only people who say that are people who have never used any alternative.

So my point is still valid that GIMP is not an alternative to Photoshop. It would be like saying this screwdriver is an alternative to this toolset. People coming from Photoshop aren't looking at the singular goal of image manipulation.

The better alternative to Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign is Affinity. And yeah, while itโ€™s not actually free, you only have to pay once and everything is yours.

Or for quick free edits, Photopea.

The problem with GIMP is not its features, it's how they were implemented. The software isn't intuitive like Photoshop.

I 100% agree, I actually hate GIMP almost as much as I hate Photoshop.

Paint.net is a significantly better software for light to medium image manipulation, and Affinity is what I'd say is an actual replacement for Photoshop. Affinity isn't by any means FOSS but you can't win them all.