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GIMP 2.2 Splash Screen Contest Revisited

As reported here earlier, the GIMP team asked artists to submit their artwork to be used as the official splash screen for GIMP 2.2. The reaction was overwhelming. More than 666 splash screens have been submitted. You can look at the submissions in the gallery or download the movies, grab some popcorn and enjoy... Once you've seen all splashes, you may want to help the judges to pick the best splash by voting for your favorites.

45 of 382 comments (clear)

  1. bias article? by Major_Small · · Score: 2, Funny

    More than 666 splash screens have been submitted would that be a conservative estimate?

  2. Obsessed with evil? by Folmer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Someone seems to be obsessed with the mnumber 666.. why not say 670 or whatever number it really is, instead of "more than 666"...

    1. Re:Obsessed with evil? by sarlen · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Your logic is infallible. But, again, The Bible is a book based around something we can't prove to exist, so I think your argument can be applied more generally.

      My point is people who believe 666 is evil aren't obsessed with evil, or stupid (as the previous post's utterly simple logic would imply) but that they're CHRISTIAN.

  3. Evil Word Play by AsnFkr · · Score: 2, Funny

    666 submissions? The name "the gimp" in general. What are these developers up to?

  4. 666... by mu-sly · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... the number of The GIMP? :-S

  5. Dijjer links to movies by Sanity · · Score: 2, Funny
  6. Who needs splash screens anyway? by DoktorTomoe · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Splash screens suck. No, they really suck. They use ressources and are pulling down usability of the system in general when an application is loading. Some splashscreens are even always on top, rendering the system useless until the application is loaded (OpenOffice.org is my scapegoat here :). Where is multitasking here?

    Personally, I really would prefer some status indicator in the users menu or in some kind of applet (KDE already does that, blinking mouse cursors and similar), but please, PLEASE do not use splash screens.

    1. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by wine · · Score: 2, Informative

      You should vote for this one then ;)

    2. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by tunah · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Splash screens are irritating, but in most cases a long delay with no splash screen is worse.

      --
      Free Java games for your phone: Tontie, Sokoban
    3. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by GauteL · · Score: 3, Insightful

      While some splash screens are a waste of resources, a simple splash screen is not.

      If an application takes more than a few seconds to start, the simple fact is that many, many users will click on the icon again, starting two instances of the program.

      Slight visual feedback is very often not enough.

      If a splash screen is done properly, there is no reason to hate it as much. It should behave like other windows and there should be an "--no-splash" option, which Gimp already has.

    4. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by Handyman · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes, a long delay without a splash screen is irritating as well. But there is nothing as irritating as a splash screen that is always-on-top. What were they THINKING making the OOo splash screen always-on-top? They already have a reputation for being the slowest starting office product out there, must they rub it in your face then?

    5. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by calibanDNS · · Score: 3, Funny

      For those of you who can't see it because of the slashdotting, this splash screen looks like a browser dialog box and says "The connection was refused when attempting to connect to www.gimp.org". Amazingly, the artist behind it is using the same window decorations and color sheme as me!

    6. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by Guillermito · · Score: 4, Informative

      OpenOffice splash screen is not always-on-top anymore. Check the latest version.

    7. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by Erasmus+Darwin · · Score: 2, Interesting
      "If a splash screen is done properly, there is no reason to hate it as much."

      Yeah, but they never, ever seem to get done properly. Even if the splash screen isn't one of those obnoxious ones that insists on always being on top, it's still blocking a good portion of my desktop. The result is that I can't get to the icons of other programs that I want to also start during a time where I'm otherwise stuck twiddling my thumbs.

      On a related note, with Unreal Tournament 2004, I found a bit of a nifty workaround. The splash screen is just a bitmap stored in the Help directory. Also, the size of the splash screen isn't hardcoded into the application. So I replaced the splash screen with a white 10x10 square, which is enough to give me feedback but which doesn't get in the way of anything.

    8. Re:Who needs splash screens anyway? by Curtman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But there is nothing as irritating as a splash screen that is always-on-top

      I second that. They should do like the Gnome splash screen, and make it dissapear as soon as you click on it. Occasionally it hangs around until you click on it though, maybe skip that "feature". ;)

  7. I like this one by wine · · Score: 2, Funny
  8. Nice ! by selderrr · · Score: 3, Funny

    I really like the default one that you see when clicking the article link : a splashscreen that looks like slashdot, but with this funy little spinning cursor.

    luvley !

  9. Sorted results by popularity are now available. by vasqzr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sorted results by popularity are now available.

    Is that a good way to do it?

    "You might as well not bother voting for your favorite, since it only has 13 votes."

  10. Why splash screen? by stivi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting contest, however, why is there a need for a splash screen? Would not it be better to change the application, so the startup sequence will be very short and the application will be immediately useable?

    What about lazy initialisation/lazy loading of modules? I doubt that for common tasks you are going to use all modules/scripts/filters whatever. I think that it would be sufficient just to load list of modules and necessary information (such as icons or descriptions...). Then load module on first use.

    Same can be used for other applications (OpenOffice?).

    I do not believe that a modular application with good design can not be changed to use lazy initialisation/lazy loading. Perhaps I am wrong...

    What do others think?

    --
    First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
    1. Re:Why splash screen? by Twirlip+of+the+Mists · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As a matter of fact, they are. One of the biggest complaints about Photoshop 8 (the whole CS series, in fact) is that launch times are too long even on the fastest hardware. That wouldn't be so bad, because on a Mac the user can launch Photoshop then toggle over to some other application to keep working for the ten seconds or whatever it takes. But the giant floating splash screen gets in the way.

      So yeah, basically the Gimp guys took the thing most Photoshop users are most unhappy with and went "Pretty! Must have now!"

      --

      I write in my journal
  11. It's a downside to Open Source by winkydink · · Score: 2, Informative

    What drives feature development with Open source isn't market demand or anticipated market demand, it's the whims of the individuals developing it, which may or may not be related to market wants/needs.

    --

    "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

    1. Re:It's a downside to Open Source by mutterc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This contains its own upside, though: only OSS can put work into features without worrying about pissing off corporate backers / interests: the best examples I can think of are Mozilla's early inclusion of pop-up blocking, and MythTV's early inclusion of commercial detection.

  12. Re:what really matters by GauteL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What a troll this post is. Adding a different splash screen is almost zero effort from the programmer and this kind of competition is just made for two purposes:

    1) Promote Gimp and get publicity
    2) Make the non-programming community feel involved, by letting them make a splash screen.

    What is so freaking wrong about this? 16-bit support will come eventually, but could be really hard work that none of the volunteers that make it, have gotten around to yet.

  13. So many by northcat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So many posts criticising the use of the number 666... Looks like noone on slashdot has a sense of humour. The only acceptable jokes are old, unoriginal, non-innovative, stereotypical ones like "netcraft confirms it" and "in korea only old people...".

    1. Re:So many by maxwell+demon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Netcraft confirms: Slashdot humor is dying. In Korea only old people criticise the use of the number 666.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  14. Re:Just pointing out the obvious by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Funny

    The HTML: 150KB
    Images: around 700*around 5KB each

    So, they're trying to serve 3.5MB big webpage (plus the overhead for every transfer) to the Slashdot horde. As the latter is pretty good at knocking down about any servers, ...

    It smells like the contest will teach them that splash screens _do_ suck resources after all :p

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  15. So many images so few mb/s by steveyT · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Youch, I think we broke that one.

    I really like Gimp however splash screens are lovely but shouldn't they be concentrating on making it an effective commercial alternative to Photoshop.

  16. Change the Name! by thrills33ker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is just retarded. Do the GIMP developers actually want their software to gain wider acceptance? It does not need a new splash screen, it needs a NEW NAME! Imagine trying to get someone to try the GIMP:

    User: Can you get me a copy of Photoshop?
    Advocate: No, but I can give you a copy of The GIMP, its a free alternative to Photoshop, and its really good!
    User: The GIMP? What kind of a name is that? I'll get hold of Photoshop thanks!

    I mean come on, GIMP developers - we all know its a great piece of software but you have to admit that marketing matters. Look at FilmGIMP - they changed their name to CinePaint. Why? "This change will present a more professional name", it says on their site.

    The GIMP team would be much better off holding a new name contest than a splash screen contest.

    1. Re:Change the Name! by roye · · Score: 2, Informative

      I believe the .org part was added because of an existing product called Open Office. However, the first few pages in a Google search only reveal hits for Openoffice.org and related sites so I would assume that .org part would not matter any longer. On Topic: The GIMP name should be changed.

    2. Re:Change the Name! by Mornelithe · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You know what else is retarded?

      The fact that in every single story even remotely related to The Gimp, there is always at least one comment by some dude who's freaking out about the name of The Gimp, and a whole slew of posts about how The Gimp's interface is dog shit compared to the all hallowed Photoshop (ignoring the fact that The Gimp looks closer to Mac Photoshop than Windows Photoshop does, yet no one complains about Mac Photoshop's interface). And they're always modded insightful and interesting, instead of '-1: We've heard this 10,000 times already and you really have nothing new to say on the subject,' like they should be.

      --

      I've come for the woman, and your head.

    3. Re:Change the Name! by Mornelithe · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, sorry.

      Most people who are unsatisfied with The Gimp's interface say that the correct interface is Photoshop's. Well, Photoshop originated on the Mac, so it's original, and, presumably, intended interface is more like the interface The Gimp has than the Windows interface of Photoshop.

      The Windows interface of Photoshop is, primarily, an attempt to get some of the features of the Mac (Upper-left screen menu, top screen toolbar, etc) that can't be had in a similar GUI on Windows. The only way to get those UI elements on Windows is to wrap all your smaller windows in one big window. But that's not the best way to do it.

      I don't have a problem with fixing UI problems with the Gimp. What I have a problem with is using the same UI kludge as Photoshop uses on Windows when there are better solutions out there. But people would rather the Gimp developers clone the Photoshop interface because they can't be bothered to consider that an alternative to their favorite program might be good.

      As for installers, well, several flavors of Linux have excellent package managers. Anyone who claims that 'installers suck' on Linux either hasn't tried a modern Linux distribution, or is so ingrained in the Windows way of installing software that they can't look past it to see that Linux package managers are in fact, frequently better than anything on Windows, and possibly on the Mac as well. They are good.

      There are several great Linux package managers, and there are lots of people who really do like The Gimp's interface, even more than Photoshop or anything else. So don't claim I'm trying to use other weaknesses as scapegoats. In some cases these aren't problems at all, except with the people who can't break their old habits to see something that is, in fact, good.

      --

      I've come for the woman, and your head.

  17. Re:666? by calibanDNS · · Score: 3, Funny

    Someone should demand a recount, citing insufficient hardware at the voting site...

  18. Re:what really matters by julesh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Actually, I think the reason for a contest for designing the splash screen was so that the programmers didn't have to spend their time designing one.

  19. In other news... by pavera · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Gimp team was forced to file for bankruptcy and cease development after its main supporters decided to cause a DDoS attack on their web site by simultaneously downloading a massive number of pictures and movies from their site.

    SCO commented: "This attack is further proof that the Open Source community is largely a terrorist organization that cannot be trusted. They seem to be even as we speak cannabalizing their own allies. This behavior proves that we own linux."

  20. Re:More than 666? by lazybeam · · Score: 2, Informative

    RE Gimp: Haven't you seen Pulp Fiction? ;-)

    "Bring out the Gimp!"

    --
    --
    no sig for you. come back one year.
  21. I really want to win.. by kid+nickng · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can I use Photoshop to draw the splashscreen?

  22. Splash Screen Movie by SeanEParsons · · Score: 2, Informative

    To help distribute the load, I have mirrored the full movie on my website. Please go here to view it.

  23. Re:gimp dot org by maxwell+demon · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... or 37x18 pixel thumbnails.
    (No, the numbers are not arbitrary :-))

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
  24. Re:More than 666? by tuffy · · Score: 5, Funny
    But more than 666? Why?

    666 clearly means the contest is readable and writable by the Gimp's owner, people in the Gimp's group and everybody.

    --

    Ita erat quando hic adveni.

  25. Winner's Prize by J+Mack+Daddy · · Score: 3, Funny
    What does the winner of this popularity contest get by way of reward?

    Let me guess... a free copy of The Gimp! :)

    --

    Jiggity

  26. Kudos to Joshua Estes for his photo but... by wazzzup · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm thinking that, while a nice picture, an upside-down phallic mushroom with mud on the end of its stem is...well let's just say there are less subliminal options presented.

  27. Re:How about NO splashscreens by JakusMinimus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What is even worse is how programs with splash screens tend to be Java, meaning this splash screen stays on top for many seconds, perhaps up to 30 seconds while the program loads.

    Eh, not really. While not attempting to deny you the fun of yanking random opinions from your ass and stating such as facts, I would have to disagree; splash screens cover the spectrum of apps out there.

    As to sucking, I generally disapprove of gratuitous splash screens but I really dig the apps that incorporate progress indicators such as naming modules being loaded or the ever-ubiquitous progress meter. Oh, and since the Gimp is a tool primarily for artistic endeavors, it would seem reasonable to show off a little work that can be done with the tool while said tool loads. I always look forward to Gimp's new splash screens.

    --

    You can be an atheist and still not want to succumb to some weird cross-over sheep disease -- AC
  28. Splashscreens the Gimp way by brockill · · Score: 3, Funny

    In other news, following GIMP tradition, all 666 splash screens were accepted by the developers and will appear in 666 separate splash windows when GIMP is started.

  29. Re:More than 666? by cmstremi · · Score: 5, Funny
    666 clearly means the contest is readable and writable by the Gimp's owner, people in the Gimp's group and everybody.
    Shame nobody can execute it.
  30. 16 bit is very important for two reasons. by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 2, Interesting

    1) Most prosumer/professional digital cameras, scanners, and frame grabbers have at least 10-bit, and sometimes 12-bit channels. These are usually cast into 16-bit values in various compatible file formats (i.e. TIFF).

    2) More importantly, it is critical that any blending or intensity mapping operations are computed (and have intermediate results stored) in 16-bit to avoid unnecessary banding and clipping. You cast down to 8-bit when exporting to an 8-bit-only file format. Otherwise it's better to keep the precision around to avoid artifacts.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON