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Comment by smtddr | Hacker News Reader

GIMP gets a bad rep, but really it's pretty good if you get over the fact that it doesn't do everything like photoshop. That being said, I am aware that Photoshop has several advanced features that are simply not present in GIMP right now... and I'm still waiting for GIMP 2.8 to be the default install so everyone can stop complaining about the floating windows.

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And unfortunately some more basic features. :(

I've been using GIMP for the last eight years now, and I still run up against:

* Bad text handling. Can't kern individual letters, just coarsely set tracking for the entire block; this is particularly bad given Linux's decidedly average font rendering.

* Fuzzy Selection needs a lot of manual cleanup.

* CMYK. I have to jump over to Adobe tools on the Macbook whenever I want to work with things destined for print.

I'm not a professional graphics/design guy; I'm a mostly-backend web developer who dabbles in graphics and print design on occasion. I want to love GIMP, I really do. :(

(I'm running GIMP 2.8 on Ubuntu 12.10; I've been a Linux user since Red Hat 7.2, so it's not a Noobuntu issue.)

It's the UI that's the worst aspect of gimp. I must admit I hate photoshop as well - it's just as bad. I much prefer paint shop pro for doing light graphics stuff - it's much more intuitive for the most part, and takes a lot less time to do stuff.

GIMP is terrible for text input, but then it's a raster graphics app and so I don't really think it's a major use case. I tend to use GIMP for photo editing mainly and then use those raster elements in Inkscape for composition and anything vector-y.

Inkscape is pretty good for text but there are still some things that trip me up on it. It could use some of the multi-page elements from Scribus IMO.

At first I was thrilled Gimp 2.8 added live text input. But I don't use it because when I make text, naturally I want to do Layer Styles to it like Photoshop and I can't. For 11 years now I've been waiting for GIMP to get those features that would make it usable for me. It's always just a tool to play around with every month or so.

I think in the next 5 years Linux will get a port or a new graphics app that will take Gimp to the cleaners.

And most people don't use most of those features. The hardest thing for many people about Gimp is that it's different, not that it can't do the job or is harder in any way.

text handling and CMYK support are not essential? Personally, I find lack of non-destructive color adjustments ie adjustment layers a deal breaker

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