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Many open source apps I use are not well supported (Openoffice, Amarok, Gimp, Inkscape, k3b.

NeoOffice is a good Mac port of Open Office. And MacGIMP is also a Mac port. However if it's like GIMP it only has an 8 bit colour depth per channel. While that may be fine for the web, it's seriously lacking for print media. For print CinePaint aka Film GIMP is better. How well it's supported on OS X I don't know but I've be finding out rsn. If it doesn't do what I want though I may end up getting Photoshop CS3, which you can't get running on Linux without jumping through hoops. I'll also try Inkscape and Blender. The others I don't know about.

the OS X interface is awful

I guess it depends on your taste. Neither I nor many other Mac users have a problem with it. Of course my favorite OS was Amiga.

MacPorts packages didn't compile 50% of the time.

I haven't tried it yet but I'll go through to see what's available. If I find some good software I'll go ahead and try it.

Being a web developer who works from home, here's my short list of tools I like:

Web Developer Ext. for Mozilla: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/60/
MailTags: http://www.indev.ca/MailTags.html
FTP/SFTP Client: http://cyberduck.ch/
Text Editor: http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
OpenOffice: http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/
Image Editor: http://www.macgimp.org/

Macs are fine, but you will be spending more on Photoshop licenses and such in addition to the extra Mac cost.

Yea, I know PS is expensive. Because of that I checked some into other software and have used some. I have used GIMP as well as Paintshop Pro and I've been thinking about trying out Corel Painter. Before I do I'll at least check out MacGIMP, POV-Ray, blender, and/or others. What I may end up doing though is buying an old version of Photoshop, there are some shops in the area that sale and we occasionally have computer shows that displayers sale them as well, and there's a steep discount for upgrades to PS CS.

And yes, I'd like to do some graphic design as well as web design. I was in college until running into some problems almost two years ago working on a web programming degree (it's only a two year degree not a four year degree). However I met a number of student photographers on campus, I took a couple of photography classes myself as well as hung out in the photography rooms, and a few of them expressed interest in setting up online portfolios to showcase their work and sale some photos as well, so I've been thinking of combining both interests and designing websites for photographers.

there really is very little hardware that does not have Linux support.

I've got an HP Pavillion which I got specifically because HP was supposed to be Linux friendly. When I got it I also got a second hdd as well as another graphics card. The second hdd was to install Linux on and the new graphics card was so I could setup a dual head, er two monitors. I only found out later that the PC wasn't Linux compatible, checking out hardware compatibility databases I didn't find any distro that supported it. Graphics, the modem, ethernet, sound, and such were all built onto the motherboard. I even emailed HP tech support about it and they said a PC had to be ordered for Linux, that otherwise they didn't check to see if PCs were Linux compatible.

I do have two PCs with Linux though. The first one is a dualboot machine with a DEC Alpha cpu running NT 4.0 and Redhat. However as the builder didn't offer a modem with the 56k standard my ISP used, I didn't get the PC with one. Then because the cpu's an Alpha I didn't get much software installed so I haven't used it much and not at all in more than 3 years. Recently however, about 2 months ago, I did get a new PC with Linspire Linux preinstalled. I haven't really used it much directly, about all I've done so far is to use one of the hdds for storage. I keep saying I'll actually start using it but I haven't done anything more than play games. I got it because the PC I'm using now has been giving me troubles constantly crashing and needing to be rebooted, now I'm thinking I won't actually get to using the new PC seriously until this one finally dies. At least when it does I'll have all my important files on the new PC, which takes up about 150 GB.

Out of curiosity what is your disability?

It's a neurologcal impairment, I am a survivor of a TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury. And I do mean "survivor". That's what "we" are called, but also in my case while I was in a coma the docs told my family it would be a miracle if I lived. NOT!!! But that's another story.

Brands like MacGIMP and XDarwin have seen a lot of success with zero advertising dollar output. Who would have thought five years ago that you could reach 500,000 software product consumers without having to advertise? It's all in the product positioning and passive brand building methods. The market is pull, now, not push, folks. Just ask CraigsList.

I've used test builds of MacGIMP working on MacOSX for Intel. Works perfectly. If there was ever a time to eat Adobe's lunch with an open source alternative, this is it.

The MacGIMP web site has the download link for the MacOSX disk image here.

The MacGIMP web site has the download link for the MacOSX disk image here.

A fair number of those issues have been resolved with MacGIMP. You might give that a try. I know it puts the proper icon in the dock, and you install it via drag and drop etc., so it is a much more mac-like install.

MacGIMP approach is to minimize comparisons with Photoshop because the two pieces of software are just very different animals. As far as interface goes, once you get used to the GIMP way of doing things, Photoshop feels awkward, and since most Americans have prior experience with Photoshop, the accusation that the GIMP feels awkward seems to dominate the discussion. Outcomes of interface quality comparisons have a lot to do with what you first learned, and what you've gotten used to. So any balanced interface comparison should keep the inherent bias of familiarity in mind. Windows versus Linux-based desktops will face a similar challenge.

It wasn't mentioned which version the Web Page Design for Designers review used. Recent builds are now making use of GIMP Freetype plugin which has excellent support for anti-aliasing. For the record, Archei LLC does provide support (by a toll free number too) for anyone who purchases the MacGIMP product. Not sure how that support request slipped through the cracks, but the offer to help still stands: support@archei.com While we're on the topic, the MacGIMP forum is another alternative to getting questions answered.

Finally, even though a certain amount of disagreement will likely occur, discussions about open graphics software, especially when open and patent unencumbered file formats are promoted, are always to be encouraged. Hopefully this Slashdot article will have the net positive effect of making more people aware of the GIMP who had never heard of it before.

Sure, commercial users who are able to purchase $3,000 worth of hardware without bumping up the mortgage probably 'can't understand why anyone would want to go to so much effort for so little reward'. They probably do honestly think that at $99 Photoshop Elements is 'cheap, painless and produces high quality results'.

So who cares about the unwashed personal use throng?

The cost of obtaining a great quality Digital Camera has made all the difference over the last couple of years. It's one of those cases (like digital music) of people getting a chance to take a part of their real life and combine it with their interest in computers or email or the internet or even just a penchant for electronic wizardry, at a price and personal cost that really is cheap and effortless. My point here is that personal users do matter - more each day in fact.

Whilst I know I am not a GIMP zealot I have used the WIN32 off shoot (The GIMP windows version incidentally, doesn't have to be compiled in an end user sense it comes as an installer executable). As an end user however I am relatively motivated by the general ideas and beliefs of the open source commnuity and in that domain the GIMP is the anti-candle.

Then there is the issue of breaching the User License. For all you folks who don't taint your pure selves with the concerns of warez and all that - Adobe (for as long as I can remember) has always produced software that seems to be notoriously easy to crack. So I guess, sadly, that gives users such as myself another option, that no-one ever seems to acknowledge.

Hmm.. I guess no image editor war is ever going to start here (for the time being), right? Let's be honest - it's like comparing a foot massage with a ho down in the holiest of holies. Everyone knows that.

The article mentions the problem with the help system. (I vaguely remember discovering a fix at some point.. can anyone help?) In any case look no further than here for what I consider to be a remarkable effort, all things considered. It really sums up to me why I (but more importantly GIMP developers) go to all the effort for 'so little reward'. The author of the article says in respect of the MacGIMP that he thought he'd have a look. I guess then he thought he'd wipe his MacNIKEs on the hard and thankless labour of others. Have some respect fulla...

It's actually fscking amazing when you think about it. Can't believe how great it's coming along!

Looking forward to checking out the OS X preview after work this evening. here's the install page for Panther. Not too much to build.

They have a pre2 release candidate already as well...

There's a screenshot of the GIMP 2.0pre1 for Mac users here.

This MacGIMP Launcher script started it fine for me. Of course, I found this after I created the /opt/local/bin/gimp link in the X11 applications menu.

The GIMP has a pretty robust featureset and you can download it for Linux or buy it for Win32 or the Mac.

The GIMP has a pretty robust featureset and you can download it for Linux or buy it for Win32 or the Mac.

There is also a rudimentary plugin now which handles CMYK color separations here. Also, the MacGIMP site had a story on the SVG changes as well before it was posted on Slashdot.

The MacGIMP site is getting ready to release a GIF-enabled build of the GIMP at midnight.

I contribute to projects like MacGIMP as one way to fight their cowardice.

You can not only get Photoshop native for OS X. You can also get The GIMP for OS X.

Apparently you don't know much about MacOS X...

But if not, there is a nice
implementation of
GIMP on Mac OS X that is pretty easy to install and of course
the cost factor is a big plus for those of us
on a budget. I wonder if Adobe's slowness in
getting Photoshop out for OS X has resulted in
more MacGIMP converts.

The question is how lack of an Asian version of the product will affect the market. Will Chinese users, for example, start to use English or Japanese versions?

What's the Chinese word for "gimp"? Seriously, many people who have learned both GIMP and Photoshop Elements have commented that GIMP has a shorter learning curve than Photoshop Elements unless you already know Photoshop Elements. (Photoshop Elements is Photoshop 6 minus prepress.)

Does this mean that Chinese OS X users will be, literally, up the creek?

No.

Umm...I don't think the GIMP is a reason to use LinuxPPC instead of OS X.

If it runs on *BSD/ppc, either it runs on OS X now, or it will soon.

See this link http://www.macgimp.org/source/

Like he said, on new apples.

Another reason may be to do some serious programming (serious meaning developing other tools, things like Apache and Gimp), where there are tons of free already ported and tested dev tools.

Get your facts straight, both Apache and the Gimp run on OS X (and Apache comes with it). And if you want dev tools, maybe you should look on the dev tools cd that comes with OS X?

Photoshop, well, is Photoshop. Nuff said :-(.

I can agree with you to a point... but Photoshop is at least $600, depending on which package/deal you buy it with.

The Gimp is making great strides in not only catching up - but surpassing Photoshop by running as a Cocoa app in OS X. More information can be found at macgimp.org.

Photoshop, well, is Photoshop. Nuff said :-(.

I can agree with you to a point... but Photoshop is at least $600, depending on which package/deal you buy it with.

The Gimp is making great strides in not only catching up - but surpassing Photoshop by running as a Cocoa app in OS X. More information can be found at macgimp.org.

To read the latest discussion on Abiword development, check out this page.

I wonder how many people have tried MacGIMP because Adobe's taking so long to release Photoshop for OS X? Judging from some of the chat boards, I'm guessing a lot.

W
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Xfree86 is available now for OS X natively (version 4.1.0). They are working on rootless X, but I believe it's still in the testing phase. There are a lot of gimp people looking into rootless heavily over at Mac Gimp

What a great idea! I wonder why nobody has thought about doing something like that before?

(although abiword may run into trouble too.)
W
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Then install an X window package. A nice, free, rootless one is here. Generally, Joe Average User doesn't want or need X11 apps and the requisite X11 server. I'm starting to believe that Joe Average Whiney-Slashdot-Reader has a much harder time working through this than the rest of the world...

While I'm a bit disappointed by the speed and implementation of the current Finder, I think that Mac OS X rocks. I'm typing this from OmniWeb. I just installed rootless X Windows so I can use XEmacs (see macgimp.org). I installed MySQL and PHP a few weeks ago, but have yet to give it a spin.

Background:
I'm a Java/C++ programmer by day. I use NT4.0 and W2K at work, mainly using emacs/XEmacs, MKS Toolkit, Exceed to our Sun development machines.

I come home to Mac OS X (B&W G3), Mac OS 9.1 (TiBook, my "Classic" environment), as well as Mandrake Linux 8.0/Win98 on my home-built Duron machine.

It's already happening. You just have the parties reversed.

Qt/Windows and Free are inherently incompatible. Since the only version of Qt/Windows is non-Free, it can't be used to build Free software on Windows. In this case, Qt is a non-Free, third-party library. TrollTech leaves the cop out that you can use Qt/Free with X11 libraries and an X server for Windows. Why this is absurd is left as an exercise to the reader.

GTK+, on the other hand, is licensed under the LGPL. And that means all platforms, including proprietary ones, such as Windows, BeOS, and Mac OS X.

That killer app you speak of will get here, but as a Gnome app, not KDE.

We're not scare-mongering/This is really happening - Radiohead

...visit www.macgimp.org. Presently, it's all still a bit fiddly though - so be warned. A screenshot of the GIMP (running fairly happily, it seems) can be found here.

Imagine what market/mindshare inroads can be made, if while waiting for an OS X version of Photoshop, Apple users, eager to try out some native OS X software, download and start playing with GIMP for Mac. Or maybe Abiword will get a build of OS X into their hands?

Hopefully soon it will be as common to see apps all packed up for OS X as it is to find an .RPM today...

W
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I hope that they make a mac version. The folks at MacGimp.org have way too much work to do to get it to run, even under OS X.
This stuff could compete with Photoshop if it got more exposure.

Never trust a guy who has his IP address tattoed to his arm, especially if it's DHCP.