GIMP vs. Photoshop – What still needs to be done?

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GIMP vs. Photoshop
GIMP vs. Photoshop

We all know that the GIMP is more or less the de-facto standard for image editing in Linux, where Adobe Photoshop is the standard on the Mac and Windows (and some Linux boxes using Crossover Office) The question is the following: Does GIMP have what it takes to dethrone Adobe Photoshop as the standard?

Right now, the answer is no.

But there is that distinct possibility in the future. This brings me to the point of this article. What needs to be done to bring GIMP to the forefront of the industry, and overthrow Photoshop in the same way that OpenOffice is starting to overthrow Microsoft Office?

Lets start at the biggest problem facing GIMP:

The Name:
Ok, sure, calling it the GIMP back in the early days of Linux was cute. It was an easy to remember package name. But now that the GIMP is starting to garner attention from professionals, and gaining professional-level tools. the name has to go. I don’t care what it’s called, but naming a professional level graphics tool after the derogatory term for a person who can’t walk is not smart business. Linux purists will certainly balk at this notion, however, if one steps back from the community to look at the big picture, it becomes plainly obvious that this is an inappropriate name. One would argue that Google is a silly name, or even Ubuntu, but at least those have a meaning behind the name. For example Google is a misspelling of the word “googol” which means 10 to the 100th power, which is a play on the number of search results you’ll get, or more recently, the amount of money Google has.
GIMP however, is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It basically is trying to be called GIMP. Change. The. Name.

CMYK:
Many professionals who work with Photoshop in a production environment use the CMYK color space on a daily basis. Any pro-level tool without this is destined to fail. It needs to be added, and I’m sure it’s on the list for inclusion. Actually, It might already be, but I havent tried the newest version recently.

Vector-Based Shape/Text support:
 This was one of the BIGGEST additions to Photoshop in terms of productivity enhancement. I know for a fact that vector support is being added to the GIMP, but its inclusion needs to be added soon for designers to really start taking GIMP seriously. The ability to freely scale vector shapes and text would be a huge help.

Layer Effects:
This is another tool in the Photoshop users cookbook that needs to be added to the GIMP. I know the GIMP doesn’t want to be a Photoshop clone, but the ability to add non-destructive layer effects like bevels, drop shadows, and glows without adding additional layers to already bloated projects is a god-send for Photoshop users. This should be yet another feature high on the list for GIMP inclusion.

Resizable Brushes:
Here’s a biggie. I shouldn’t have to keep 50 of the same brush in my brushes swatch just so I can have different sizes. Each of the brushes should be independantly resizeable at any time, possibly using the [ ] keys as hotkeys for resizing, similar to Photoshop. It will make painting with a mouse instead of a tablet much easier.

That’s my list of the biggest issues facing the GIMP. As you can see, it’s a fairly short list. If those few things can be solved, the world will finally have a free / open source replacement for Photoshop, which knowing the development base of the GIMP, will probably surpass Photoshop in a few years.

25 thoughts on “GIMP vs. Photoshop – What still needs to be done?”

  1. I totally agree with your points. The big issues are:
    Typography (OpenType)
    Vectorgraphics
    CMYK
    Usability (Palettes etc.)

    Considering the number of useless filters Gimp has, the
    development-priorities seem to be a little weird 🙁

  2. Resizable Brushes: Here’s a biggie. I shouldn’t have to keep 50 of the same brush in my brushes swatch just so I can have different sizes.

    Enough said. I can’t count the number of times this thought has crossed my mind while working with the GIMP! I hope to see this very soon. [-o<

    Vector based shapes/text and Photoshop layer effects are other biggies. The name can wait until it's ready to be adopted in the professional realm, so in the meantime I'm not complaining. But then, I'm not a graphic designer (hence I have no comment on the CMYK deal 😕 ).

    Though, on this topic, if these are the only things (I'm sure they probably aren't, but they're the MAIN things) to be improved on in the GIMP and it's still free software and such, I must say: freaking KUDOS to the development team! Seriously, who would've thought such a competitor to Photoshop was just waiting to be coded? The developers, evidently. Makes me think of the other large corporate programs out there just begging to be out-done by hobbyists.

  3. Resizable Brushes: Here’s a biggie. I shouldn’t have to keep 50 of the same brush in my brushes swatch just so I can have different sizes.

    Enough said. I can’t count the number of times this thought has crossed my mind while working with the GIMP! I hope to see this very soon. [-o<

    Vector based shapes/text and Photoshop layer effects are other biggies. The name can wait until it's ready to be adopted in the professional realm, so in the meantime I'm not complaining. But then, I'm not a graphic designer (hence I have no comment on the CMYK deal 😕 ).

    Though, on this topic, if these are the only things (I'm sure they probably aren't, but they're the MAIN things) to be improved on in the GIMP and it's still free software and such, I must say: freaking KUDOS to the development team! Seriously, who would've thought such a competitor to Photoshop was just waiting to be coded? The developers, evidently. Makes me think of the other large corporate programs out there just begging to be out-done by hobbyists.

  4. There is no purely technical reason why CMYK or even pantone support couldn’t be added tomorrow (okay, it would take a few weeks, but they could start tomorrow), the GIMP developers are not morons. However, to do so within the Corporate Reich of America is hard, because there are patent monopolies to be worked around. So it’s tricky, unless you want a feature-reduced “GIMP USA” and full-featured “GIMP Free World” forks.

    I totally agree about the name. It’s a deeply stupid name. Graphic design is ALL ABOUT appearances, you’d think it would be obvious to a graphically-inclined project that “GIMP” is a spectacularly stupid name.

    The user interface isn’t amazing, but I would note one thing: it works much, much better with a graphics tablet. It’s just not made for mouse users, and optimising it for mouse users would make it a much worse tablet interface (mouse users want stuff close by, tablet users want stuff out of the way and can navigate much faster).

  5. There is no purely technical reason why CMYK or even pantone support couldn’t be added tomorrow (okay, it would take a few weeks, but they could start tomorrow), the GIMP developers are not morons. However, to do so within the Corporate Reich of America is hard, because there are patent monopolies to be worked around. So it’s tricky, unless you want a feature-reduced “GIMP USA” and full-featured “GIMP Free World” forks.

    I totally agree about the name. It’s a deeply stupid name. Graphic design is ALL ABOUT appearances, you’d think it would be obvious to a graphically-inclined project that “GIMP” is a spectacularly stupid name.

    The user interface isn’t amazing, but I would note one thing: it works much, much better with a graphics tablet. It’s just not made for mouse users, and optimising it for mouse users would make it a much worse tablet interface (mouse users want stuff close by, tablet users want stuff out of the way and can navigate much faster).

  6. There are other problems as well. Two more off the top of my head that have not been so far mentioned are (1) the opaque file format (http://norman.walsh.name/2006/06/18/xcfBahHumbug – although it’s being fixed) and (2) working with CMYK well isn’t easy. For example, as it stands GIMP uses a naive algorithm to convert RGB to CMYK. A professional level program really needs to have a much more complex algorithm based upon the Neugebauer model to compare to Photoshop.

  7. The usability issues are more important. GIMP needs to be as good on both ground.
    Graphists learn the craft on photoshop, they don’t want to learn another complex tool. A photoshop-clone mode needs to be there by default (GimpShop is a step in that direction, but it is not enough).

    Because even if GIMP becomes more powerful the Photoshop, it won’t change much if people are still less productive with it.

    I have asked many time why graphists never used GIMP, each time the answer was : the interface is weird. They didn’t go farther, they didn’t have the mean to evaluate the power of the software, the interface was a barreer instead of an “enabler”.

    sad, sad, sad…

  8. The usability issues are more important. GIMP needs to be as good on both ground.
    Graphists learn the craft on photoshop, they don’t want to learn another complex tool. A photoshop-clone mode needs to be there by default (GimpShop is a step in that direction, but it is not enough).

    Because even if GIMP becomes more powerful the Photoshop, it won’t change much if people are still less productive with it.

    I have asked many time why graphists never used GIMP, each time the answer was : the interface is weird. They didn’t go farther, they didn’t have the mean to evaluate the power of the software, the interface was a barreer instead of an “enabler”.

    sad, sad, sad…

  9. I’ve written before about the usability of the Gimp. Here are a few serious issues that need to be addressed in my opinion…

    1) Make the program easy to download
    If you want to be popular you have to give it up easy

    2) Make it obvious how to draw a straight line.
    Things that puzzle me

    3) Include proper text support. The Gimp can’t underline text. I’ll say that again in case you missed it, The Gimp can’t underline text. Nor can it do bold/italics/strikethrough.

    If you are doing a comp for a website, you need to create a different layer for every different piece of text. If you want to italicize a word in a sentence you actually create a new layer. If you want to have one word a different color to the rest, you have to create a different layer.

    In short, the Gimps ability to handle text is stuck somewhere in 1994, and until that changes it’ll lose the web designer market. Thats a reasonable size market.

    Thats just three, I’m sure if they were fixed I’d remember the rest, but they’re the ones jumping out at me.

    Good post,

    All the best,
    Des

  10. I’ve written before about the usability of the Gimp. Here are a few serious issues that need to be addressed in my opinion…

    1) Make the program easy to download
    If you want to be popular you have to give it up easy

    2) Make it obvious how to draw a straight line.
    Things that puzzle me

    3) Include proper text support. The Gimp can’t underline text. I’ll say that again in case you missed it, The Gimp can’t underline text. Nor can it do bold/italics/strikethrough.

    If you are doing a comp for a website, you need to create a different layer for every different piece of text. If you want to italicize a word in a sentence you actually create a new layer. If you want to have one word a different color to the rest, you have to create a different layer.

    In short, the Gimps ability to handle text is stuck somewhere in 1994, and until that changes it’ll lose the web designer market. Thats a reasonable size market.

    Thats just three, I’m sure if they were fixed I’d remember the rest, but they’re the ones jumping out at me.

    Good post,

    All the best,
    Des

  11. I don’t normally like to shout, but:

    COLOR MANAGEMENT!

    Yeah, that should include CMYK and 16-bit channels…

  16. To “nobody”

    I don’t see anything there that implies any of the complaints listed here will be fixed anytime soon. They are looking for a Usability Architect, sure, they haven’t set any goals yet. The NEWS link doesn’t mention much about anything regarding this post

  17. To “nobody”

    I don’t see anything there that implies any of the complaints listed here will be fixed anytime soon. They are looking for a Usability Architect, sure, they haven’t set any goals yet. The NEWS link doesn’t mention much about anything regarding this post

  18. It’s so very easy to complain about features (or the lack thereof). Not so simple to help correct them. The GIMP could be one of the most under resourced development efforts in the Open Source realm when compared to the size of the user base.

  21. Yes! GIMP is very, very safe to download, You can use as well ’cause GIMP lead on top Open Source Graphic editor programs 🙂

  22. I need to cast an additional vote to do something about the name. As an IT manager working to get more open source software in my company, how can I expect any of our graphics design types to switch to a software whose name implies ‘lame’? (Aside from some of the other professional features it’s lacking, though I know is being worked on.)

    “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But try selling that same flower as stinkweed and see how far you get.

    If the GIMP project isn’t willing to change the name, then maybe a rebranding of the software is in order. If the GimpShop people had taken it one step further and given it a marketable name, then I’d have something I could promote.

  23. I need to cast an additional vote to do something about the name. As an IT manager working to get more open source software in my company, how can I expect any of our graphics design types to switch to a software whose name implies ‘lame’? (Aside from some of the other professional features it’s lacking, though I know is being worked on.)

    “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” But try selling that same flower as stinkweed and see how far you get.

    If the GIMP project isn’t willing to change the name, then maybe a rebranding of the software is in order. If the GimpShop people had taken it one step further and given it a marketable name, then I’d have something I could promote.

  24. Hi, is there any things that GIMP have and other don’t? Are you Justin? Because I found this article so popular and its author leave the name Justin.

  25. Hi, is there any things that GIMP have and other don’t? Are you Justin? Because I found this article so popular and its author leave the name Justin.

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