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Single-window mode has absolutely nothing at all to do with why the GIMP GUI sucks. Switching to single-window mode is actually worse, not better.

It seems like 80-90% of the complaints regarding GIMP's UI are from people who won't be satisfied with anything but a full Photoshop GUI rip-off (e.g. the way LibreOffice mimics MS Office; Gimphoto and the defunct GIMPshop get close on this front). Their top issue is (well, was) the lack of a single-window mode. To shut them up, given how trivial it was to implement, it was added. I agree with you on the fact that the mode doesn't improve the UX, but it does shut down the #1 complaint, which is something.

What else is (independently) bad about the UI? I started my graphics career on Paint Shop Pro (a plugin-compatible Photoshop knock-off that I actually preferred due to better use of the right mouse button) and was able to seamlessly upgrade to Photoshop given the similar UI. GIMP therefore had a steep learning curve for me, but I have grown to prefer it over time (though I still have to hold back from certain ~hard-wired PSP keyboard shortcuts).

I think the real issue here is merely that GIMP is not a Photoshop clone and image professionals aren't as proficient with computers as professionals of other industries that spend similar amounts of time on computers. They took a very long time (running through tutorials and perhaps paid classes) to learn Photoshop, and there are no equivalents for GIMP (at least, not with the same polish, which these users need), not to mention the fact that it's a serious time (and often monetary) commitment. The only solutions for these uesrs are to make GIMP bi-modal (GIMPshop mode) or to both improve overall computer proficiency (which is happening over time anyway) and create highly polished tutorials and professional courses on GIMP.

Even then, GIMP would still need to absorb (or better partner with) the features currently relegated to the Separate+ and PSPI plugins.

As I've said elsewhere in this article's comments, GIMP is not really professional-grade, it's just close enough for people to make the comparison. LibreOffice has commercial backing, as does the Linux kernel, as does WINE. Perhaps what GIMP "needs" is a commercial backer, that implements new features within a non-free plugin suite (and/or a fork that somehow gets around the GPL) and expands GIMP's base to maintain compatibility, even slowly trickling their commercial features into GIMP over time so as to merely represent what the Free Software version will get in a release or two.

You only used one out of three, you guys are putting less effort into this as the years go by. Guess Gimp has been winning for a while now :)

Now who's not putting in enough effort? ;-)

http://cue.yellowmagic.info/softwares/separate-plus/index.html

Separate+ is the plug-in package that provides some useful color-management functions for the GIMP.
separate
        RGB to CMYK conversion / Softproofing plug-in (improved version of Alastair M. Robinson's "Separate" plug-in)
icc_colorspace
        RGB to RGB conversion / Profile management plug-in
IccButton
        Color profile selector widget for Gtk+ (experimental)

This might help with the CMYK stuff in GIMP, Separate+. I'm not a printer so I don't know for sure if this is the complete solution you're looking for though.

I'm no expert on color spaces, I suspect its a bit like high quality mp3 versus FLAC. Color spaces for the sense gifted (maybe we need some double blind tests.)

CMYK support for GIMP

CMYK support for the GIMP - Why you might not need CMYK support in the GIMP.

Separate+ CMYK separations plugin for GIMP -- And if you really need it, get this. Very nice. Supports ICC color profiles.

I don't see it anywhere in the release notes, though the potential for CMYK support was one of the reasons for the move to GEGL.

There is a plugin called seperate+, though I'm not sure if that still works properly with the new version.

There's also a potentially useful article on this on the Arch Linux wiki.

Gimp can support RAW with the DCRAW addon, as well as CMYK with Separate+

The key is that you can DO every THING in Linux that you can do in Windows. People say "But I can't play Halo 18, or run Office 2020, or Photoshop CS 12!" Yes, this is true, but you CAN play FPS (and other) games, and you CAN edit photos, and you can read and write office documents.

It may be different, but I still have yet to find something that photoshop or msoffice can do that can't be accomplished with GIMP or OOo. Especially with GIMP extensions...one of the big ones being CMYK support which is available with http://cue.yellowmagic.info/softwares/separate.html

I guess I should have elaborated... it supports it by plugin:
http://cue.yellowmagic.info/softwares/separate.html

It also has CMYK palettes that get converted to RGB.

FWIW, I consider the plugin method to be the best way to handle CMYK in any case -- CMYK should be displayed on separate layers.

You have some very good points! There are several plugins that provide CMYK support for the Gimp, like this one: http://cue.yellowmagic.info/softwares/separate.html I don't know how good they are, since I don't use the Gimp on a regular basis. But it might be worth looking into, if that's what you're needing.

You can create CMYK TIFF files with GIMP (Separate plug-in), doing a color separation based on the printer's ICC profile Shouldn't that be enough to get your work printed?

there is a CYMK plugin for the gimp called separate+ @

http://cue.yellowmagic.info/softwares/separate.html

it is, as many solo projects, has always been in beta, but it worked well for me (though I am not really a graphic artist).

And as screwed up as the whole patent system is, you still can't patent something like CYMK because it is something fundamental to nature. What would be patentable would be the process. Two things can have the same end result as long as they don't use the same method, unless of course that method is fundamental to nature.

So yeah and stuff. Enjoy.

What I really want to see in TheGimp is a Python script recording tool! Since the toolkit itself is the fundamental part of the program with a graphical front-end, shouldn't a macro recorder be insanely simple to implement?

Fortunately that functionality can be obtained through a plugin:

http://cue.yellowmagic.info/softwares/separate.html