Ridiculous installation requirement

Slartybart said:

Mystere said:

.....
Second, as I mentioned, You can run Apache or other servers on Windows and many people do because they are using Java based software like forums or applications and they have Windows hardware. So just because it's not IIS doesn't mean it's not Windows.
....
The only people that claim The GIMP is an excellent imaging program are people that do not regularly use imaging programs to any great degree. It's complex, horrific user interface is badly designed and it simply lacks too many features to be usable by anyone other than amateurs, which is ironic because its interface is so bad that only a professional would be committed enough to learn it.
.....

What qualifies as Windows hardware?
and they have Windows hardware

I used PS when the company paid for it, it really is a powerful application. But now I use Gimp.
I think Gimp is a good graphics editor with enough power to do what I need. More than red-eye removal and autocorrect.
The feature set is broad enough, I probably only use 40-45% of it.

I guess I'm what you might call an amateur professional because I was committed enough to learn the interface.
There was pain and there was gain (free)

Don't leave me hanging ... what are some of the multitude of very capable third party photo, graphics, and structured drawing programs for Windows that you suggest?

Thanks,

Bill
.

GIMP is a great free program da yea for armatures
But I doubt any professional would use gimp for the obvious reason they probably would use a paid for program
But not everyone wants to spend a shit load of money for a hobby
There are still a hell of allot for free programs out there that can and do provide great graphic's results beside photoshop ...

I do all kinds of interesting things with Gimp. Here is my Bro in law at the Defense in Paris where he has never been in his life.

lehnerus2000 said:

Mystere said:

jimbo45 said:

The GIMP is an excellent imaging program which for most people covers around 80% of what Photoshop does and its FREE. For OFFICE you can use WPS Office for Linux which is free and far better than IMO Libreoffice and is pretty compatible with Ms Office.

The only people that claim The GIMP is an excellent imaging program are people that do not regularly use imaging programs to any great degree. It's complex, horrific user interface is badly designed and it simply lacks too many features to be usable by anyone other than amateurs, which is ironic because its interface is so bad that only a professional would be committed enough to learn it.

Sorry I totally disagree with this.

IMO, Adobe products have the worst GUIs of any programs I've used (even the awful "Ribbon" is superior).
For example you can't even:

• View all of the tools in PS (only two columns).
• Specify an exact location and size for cropping.

The only Adobe program (with that GUI) that I find easy to use, is Flash.

I was reading a comment from someone (on another site) ranting about how bad the W8 series GUI was.
He finished his rant by stating that he helped design the CS6 GUI, which (IMO) totally destroyed his credibility.

Mystere said:

But oh well. I'm not a huge Photoshop fan either, but PS is the defacto standard. If you have to have a terrible user interface, at least have the features you need. Gimp just gives you all the pain with none of the gain. There are a multitude of very capable third party photo, graphics, and structured drawing programs for Windows.. some of which exist for Linux as well, usually in some ancient version.

I generally don't work with photographs (only drawings and screenshots).

The only things that PS has going for it, are:

• Its advanced plugins/tools (especially photo tools)
• A lot of tutorials available for it

Unless I need some special Adobe feature (i.e. convert to Smart Object) I always use GIMP.
GIMP starts a lot faster and (IMO) the basic functions (selections, masks, cropping) are easier to use.

I will concede that if I'd used PS for the last 8 years, I'd probably think that GIMP was awful too.

The only major Adobe product I use is Adobe Acrobat Standard. I do not like the appearance of the GUI (looks too cartoonish without any color) but I find it easy to use.

Slartybart said:

What qualifies as Windows hardware?

Uhh... Computers running Windows of course.

Slartybart said:

I used PS when the company paid for it, it really is a powerful application. But now I use Gimp.
I think Gimp is a good graphics editor with enough power to do what I need. More than red-eye removal and autocorrect.
The feature set is broad enough, I probably only use 40-45% of it.

I guess I'm what you might call an amateur professional because I was committed enough to learn the interface.
There was pain and there was gain (free)

Don't leave me hanging ... what are some of the multitude of very capable third party photo, graphics, and structured drawing programs for Windows that you suggest?

You may not know this, but GIMP destroys the quality of your original images if they are high quality (32 bit). Up until version 2.8, GIMP only supported 8 bit internal graphics processing and 2.8 only supports 16 bit. Professionals use 32 bit RAW images and if you read these images into GIMP they are automatically re-scaled to 16 bit color depths, destroying their original quality.

That may be fine for your jpg based images that have already been degraded by lossy compression, but not so for any professional. Beyond that, lack of PANTONE colors, means lack of ability to quality publishing. So just on color support alone, the GIMP is a huge failure and always has been.

As for capable image editing in Windows with far better interfaces, here's a quick list off the top of my head:

Paint Shop Pro (always been a favorite)
Corel Draw
Xara Photo and Graphic Designer
PhotoImpact Pro (another favorite)
Corel Painter


This isn't even counting the ultra-cheap stuff like PhotoMate or DrawPlus.

Mystere, that's a good comment but for me it does not make any difference. I am half blind and happy if I see anything - in 16bit or 32bit, LOL.

Mystere said:

Uhh... Computers running Windows of course.

Of course. So Mystere please advise if a VM counts or not.

Microsoft have not defined what counts as a device yet but if you know better then please, go ahead..

Uhh... No apparently not.

Mystere said:

90% of the worlds servers are not running on Linux.

I can't say any of this photo editing stuff has anything to do with the thread here :/

On the topic of the thread I also can't say the install for a local account got any easier for someone to find,
With the second install options page no scroll bar is shown and the option is out of sight

Windows 8 has a more clear install for a local account than 10 and that is just wrong and hopefully that process will be more obvious in the final release,
Cheers.