This is unfortunately a very real phenomenon. You're telling me you've never worked with/for a company that went gung-ho on some half-baked pile of junk of a system because some sales guy wowed the execs with some flashy "whitepapers" and pretty demos? If not, then you're luckier than I've been, that's for sure.
But that's not how it works with open source, because I can simply choose not to use your garbage. Do you see the difference?
Libre office added ribbons etc as an option. It is not forced on anybody.
The "small GUI change" was a big fuck you to existing users who've gotten GIMP to the level of visibility it's at today. The existing users just weren't flashy and high status enough.
The "small GUI change" was the GIMP devs pushing a file format absolutely nobody uses in order to attract professional users that aren't going to migrate to GIMP anyways.
Meanwhile actual pro features like CMYK support (because it's more difficult than mangling the UI), tablet support on Windows/Mac (because porting to GTK3 is less important than mangling the UI), and cryptographically signed binaries (because nothing screams professional product like getting binaries from an unknown developer).
Mangling the save/export workflow was done purely out of spite and to minimal/no benefit. And now we have a new version of GIMP on an old version of GTK slowly chipping away at the supposed competitive advantage that GIMP's own format has. Meanwhile integration with actual professional products like Lightroom will continue to be more awkward than necessary.
Kudos.
We do not push any particular file format. We push a safe workflow.
Before 2.8, we got a ton of complaints about saving to JPEG and then not finding layers and other extras upon reopening. Doesn't seem to happen nearly as often with 2.8 and onwards. I wonder why... :)
> Meanwhile actual pro features like CMYK support
Done in the backend, will eventually be done in UI.
> tablet support on Windows/Mac (because porting to GTK3 is less important than mangling the UI)
I have no idea what you are talking about. Care to elaborate?
> and cryptographically signed binaries (because nothing screams professional product like getting binaries from an unknown developer).
DMGs for GIMP are signed since version 2.10.10. What the hell are you talking about? :)
> Mangling the save/export workflow was done purely out of spite
In a fantasy world maybe.
Classic open source community. Sorry to say it.
This is the exact reason Libre Office looks like it's from 1996 and it stops normal users from using it.