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While I can truly understand the need to smack down the ignorant among Slashdotters (there are so many, admittedly sometimes including myself) I don't really agree that I should've had to download the software and try it -- that is, in theory, what the "preview" was supposed to be for. If what you say is true, then the article really fails to mention that properly.

Besides, as the article says: "The highly anticipated version 2.0 of the GIMP, due out next month..."

I'm not willing to port the GIMP 2.0 pre-release to OS X (that's what MacGimp is for), compile it, run it, and try it out, just to comment on a Slashdot story about an article that was supposed to show me how it looks to save me that pain.

In closing, let me say that I really look forward to the new Gimp if it has a less clutterable UI.

and I'm a network analyst. When Apple asked for comments from PC users, I sent in my two cents. Never got a reply yet spent all summer looking at models, specs, features and prices. I am now the very proud owner of an iBook 14.x" G3 700 with the base 256MB RAM. I will boost the memory anyhow but I have yet to run out. Mind you I have not installed anything big yet, just War3. As a user experience, everyday I notice or discover something else and I think: "How neat that they thought of that". I almost purchased an extra power supply for nothing, thanks to the design of the one that comes with it, I don't need to buy another one when on the road. It really 'just works'. Very intuitive. I had done some dev work on System 7.0.x a long time ago, but I'm not lost even though I've used and supported all versions of Windows (station and server), many versions of Novell Netware, Solaris (Sparc and Intel), Slackware, Mandrake, Redhat, OS/2, GeoWorks, AIX, HP-UX (a little) and I must forget some. I did buy a Wacom Pen/Mouse pad for home, abd I admit to using the iBook mostly at home for now. But I've had to use a trackpad in the past and I don't mind them, but enough about that religious debate. I switched to Mac for the "Unix with a real desktop" experience and even though I haven't really dug into the Unix side, I'm impressed. Any time I want to know something about my system and might not assume that there's a gui app for it (and there usually is) I lauch Terminal and I'm right at home. The next step is to go get some of the apps I've become accustomed to and expect to use frequently. For example, due to financial constraints, I prefer to use Gimp rather than Photoshop. I've heard of MacGimp but it's slightly outdated and I didn't find anything about an upgrade path, so I'll be doing it the old way, which is an investment I don't mind to make since it'll pay off later when I want to install other X-Window dependant software or tools. Perhaps rpm-for-OSX would be a nice thing, haven't checked if that's in progress.

You could get Nethack running by installing XDarwin (thereby getting an X Windows Server on yer machine) and then using fink to install Nethack. It's a long download (mainly because you have to download all the dependencies), but all the compiling is done for you.

It's overkill to install XDarwin just for Nethack, but if you have any interest in theGimp or Civilization then it's purdy durned cool.

Then there is the warm feeling of being a Linux Weenie everytime you start up an X Windows session: priceless.

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Problem is, there appears to be no Ximian support for MY operating system

I just bought a copy of the MacGIMP CD-ROM . This supports the one major competitor for Photoshop. I hope to make this a permanent transition. Adobe's gone too far for me.
Now, if we could start raising a bounty to fund development of CMKY color support for GIMP. ...

Of course Mac OS X kicks Win2k's butt. With a fat core of pure UNIX (ask the Open Group)at its base, GNU/Mac OS X (as RMS would call it) has rock solid stability, great multitasking and all the GNU goodies Linux users have grown to love. On top of that is an interface that is so sexy members of the Mormon Faith have to get a waiver to use.

Want to talk about serving? Sure you do! Check out the $999 Server version of Mac OS X. Unlike Windows 2000, for $999 you get the whole shooting match -- no need for the those pesky client licenses that Microsoft lawyers love to sue over.

Worried that Mac OS X has no software available? Don't let your heart be troubled. Like X Windows with Enlightenment and Gnome? Mac OS X has got that. Need a good web server? How about Apache and Zeus. Want a browser that doesn't suck? We got those in spades, IE 5.1.1 (well it does suck a little), OmniWeb, Fizilla, iCab and Lynx. Need a word processor? We have Nisus Writer, BBEdit, Microsoft Office and every Macintosh users favorite, Appleworks. Need a rapid application development platform? Got those two, the free Project Builder from Apple and RealBasic. Need graphic apps? How about GIMP and Photoshop. I could go on and on, but I use Macs to make a livin' and not wastin' time on Slashdot.

Sure Mac OS X 1.0 is not the perfect OS. It has some bugs and some features are a little slow. But it is an amazing first step in the journey of putting UNIX on the consumer desktop. Linux developers can learn about an consumer OS by taking a long gander at this amazing first shot.

You mean by trying to install it on two iMacs that have OS X retail installed (which I did), or do you mean by verifing with external sources (which I also did)

From what I can tell, it non rootless if you compile it yourslef and currently doesnt work rootless at all.

My retail bought copy of OS X doesn't work with it and other peoples OS X final don't work with it.

Idiot.
W
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GTK rendering without relying on X.. is that a step towards something like porting GTK to aqua, as is necessary to run the Gimp and other GTK apps natively in OS X?

there's a short but informed discussion of such efforts at macgimp.com and i wonder if anyone here might be able to shed some light on whether this is helpful in that effort...