New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money

Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by SwellJoe on Friday October 03, 2008 @12:37AM (#322425)

How so? Since the thing that matters most is that the people who develop it, and the people who use it and get involved, are enjoying the software, I don't see how not having those users that pirate Photoshop is any negative.

I've been an Open Source developer for over 10 years...and while it's nice to have a lot of users (particularly if you want to make money on the software in some way), the kind of users you have is more important than the quantity. I'd take one good Open Source fanatic over a dozen Photoshop pirates any day. The pirates don't do anything and they have little respect for the developers of the software. If I were building the GIMP, why would I want them to use my software?

If the goal of the GIMP developers is "kill Photoshop", then I guess piracy is a negative...but if the goal is "make awesome software", then there's nothing pirates can do to impact them in any way. I kinda suspect the goal for most Open Source developers is "make awesome software" first, and stuff related to proprietary competitors is way down the list, or not even relevant. (Again, assuming money doesn't enter into the equation...in which case, the story is somewhat different.)

For what it's worth, I've been a GIMP user since the very first public release (I remember the first mention on Slashdot), and I haven't used anything else in that time...never needed to. Regardless, I think GIMP is clearly one of the great success stories of friendly, consumer-oriented, Open Source software...and it gets better and more successful with every release.

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Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by netcan on Friday October 03, 2008 @01:23AM (#322450)

You've already responded to my 'how so'. I would've said 'more users' you've said 'crap users.' Fair enough.

It's just that photo editing software has a relatively high learning curve. I think (anecdotal, I have no references for this) that due to the cost of photoshop many users start experimenting on pirated copies. Mostly kids & hobbyists. Years later they may buy a copy or take it with them to the workplace. By that stage, they're used to photoshop to the extent that it's the only option.

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Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by SwellJoe on Friday October 03, 2008 @01:51AM (#322466)

There's certainly validity to the theory that piracy helps protect market leaders. It's the reason Microsoft doesn't aggressively fight piracy in developing markets (and if they do address piracy, it is by making the software available for practically free through legitimate channels).

I'm sure there are some Open Source developers out there who do want every possible user, and want, more than anything, to oust their leading proprietary competitor. I'm only among them when I'm thinking like a business man, and trying to figure out how to make money from my software.

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Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by eru on Friday October 03, 2008 @03:35AM (#322525)

Microsoft gives away its most important products for free for students in Germany. I guess they would not pay anyway.

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Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by netcan on Friday October 03, 2008 @08:03AM (#322606)

I think there might be more to it then that. I'm not really a user of image editing software (Seashore covers most of my needs) so I can't really say this for sure. But I get the impression that GIMP want to do things their way, not the photoshop way. Getting young users using GIMP first gives them a chance to do that.

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Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by whatusername on Friday October 03, 2008 @01:45AM (#322459)

And so in the vein of your original comment - Adobe/Photoshop is one of the biggest beneficiaries of pirating software.

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Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by netcan on Friday October 03, 2008 @01:49AM (#322464)

Yes it is. Actually it's sort of a take on freemium. Available pirated for beginners. Available at cost to professionals/adults.

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Re:New GIMP 2.6 Gives Photoshop a Run for Its Money by wheels on Friday October 03, 2008 @02:08AM (#322470)

> Again, assuming money doesn't enter into the equation...in which case, the story is somewhat different.

Which anecdotally, isn't the case for the lead devel, since he started yesterday as the lead devel for a new startup around the corner from Directed Edge. :-)

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