GIMP Dropped From Ubuntu 10.04

kai_hiwatari writes "It looks like the Ubuntu developers consider GIMP to be too powerful for a normal desktop user. They are removing it from the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04. Among the reasons cited are that the UI is too complex, it takes up room on the disc, and 'desktop users just want to edit photos and they can do that in F-Spot.''"

Comments

Only removed from default install

[Albanach]

Let's be clear - it's not removed from Ubuntu, it's removed from the default install.

It's still a click away in the package manager.

Sounds sensible to me. I'd imagine the vast majority of Ubuntu users are unlikely to use the gimp.

Re:Only removed from default install

[Clover_Kicker]

If you want Slackware you know where to find it.

Don't forget Paint.NET

[Nerdposeur]

On Windows there's also my personal favorite, Paint.NET. It does WAY more than Paint, it's fast, and it's free. It ain't Photoshop, but it's all I need.

Re:Don't forget Paint.NET

[ichimunki]

Plus it's written in [expletive deleted] .NET, so it will probably never be available for Ubuntu

That's funny, because Ubuntu is including F-Spot, which is written in C#.

Re:Where does this leave GIMP?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gimp was originally built on Solaris using Motif. I used to work with Spencer and it had nothing to do with demonstrating the power and flexibility of free desktop systems.

Re:Download size

[PixelSlut]

No, it's not moved to universe. It's still in main. It's only being removed from the install CD and the default install. Yes, it sucks that you now have to download it if you're really using it, but you also have to realize that the install CD is *extremely* packed already and it's getting very hard to find a few remaining bytes to add things that Ubuntu considers more important to the default install and experience.

Re:If GIMP is in universe

[0100010001010011]

Try Debian Unstable.
It's almost always newer than Ubuntu. Stuff is updated very regularly and you don't have to mess around with PPAs.

Re:They've got this one backwards.

[Eugene O'Neil]

No, what it's REALLY about is the amount of space it takes up on an install CD, and the fact that even your proverbial Grandmother could figure out how to install it off the internet with one mouse click using Ubuntu's amazingly slick package management interface.

This story should have been titled "Ubuntu speeds up install process for people who don't select Gimp", except that would make it too obvious that there is no story worth writing about here.

Ubuntu Studio

[kayoshiii]

Its worth noting that gimp will still be part of the default install for Ubuntu Studio. Should you require Gimp on a default install of some kind.

Re:Where does this leave GIMP?

[pugugly]

crap?!?

I confess - I've tried several photo suites. I would love for Gimp to be as good as or better than photoshop, and it's not.

It *is* 90% of photoshop, at 0% of the price, which is far more than any of the other (half-dozen) suites *I* have seen in various jobs. It has one major failing that they're working on in the palette issue (I happily concede having never been in a situation where that made the slightest difference. That said, sure I don't do desktop publishing, but I'm am not egocentric enough to go "Sure it's a major field but I don't use it so who cares!". Yeah, it's a major failing that doesn't happen to affect most users.)

But it's a great software application, it's simple/intuitive enough that my *mother* can use it (Admittedly, she wasn't ruined by using photoshop first), it does 90% of what it's strongest competitor does, 99% of what any standard user will do, it's a small (~35 mb vs 1 Gig(?!?!) required for CS!) install, it runs well (Let's not get into the *other* CS requirements), and it's, ah . . . not the price of a used car.

You keep using this word - I do not think it means what you think it means.

Pug