this post was submitted on 20 Aug 2024
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GIMP 3.0 has been more than one decade in the making as the port from GTK2 to GTK3, also transitioning away from Python 2 to Python 3 support, and a wealth of other improvements from the UI to lower down into enhancing this open-source Photoshop alternative.

The GIMP project announced on X/Twitter today that they have entered the string freeze for this much anticipated release.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 months ago (2 children)

can they unfreeze the name?

[–] [email protected] 46 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

I know people like it, but I agree.

And as silly as it sounds, I think the name is a big part of why businesses haven't ever wanted to touch the project or invest in it.

Imagine telling your average upper management guy or board member that you want your workers to use software called gimp. They're probably not gonna want to hear you out.

Anecdotally I know of a local NHS practice that refused to use GIMP, and was even sceptical of other subsequent suggestions of other FOSS due to the terrible impression they got from the GIMP name during a pitch to use more FOSS.

I get it's their identity, their project. Nobody has the right to dictate the name but them. But it's also fair to point out that they probably shot themselves in the foot by giving their software a juvenile and weirdly fetishy name.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Why doesn't someone just fork it and change the name?

Like, I dunno, "Super Human Image Treatment" or "Consistently Lovely Image Treatment Oriented for Real Imaging Stars"

[–] [email protected] 31 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Actually, someone did, changing the name to "Glimpse". They announced it as an explicit fork that would continue development under the new name.

As far as I know, that's as far as they got.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, if the fork sole purpose is to just re-label the software and make people that have irks because of the name start to use the software, who are we to judge?

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

People use Photoshop, but there is no shop and any photo in it at all (at least not when I was usin it, maybe they built in microtransactions already)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Shop as in workshop, presumably.

I don't think that's quite equivalent to having your name be gimp, which means, depending on definition, a fetishist in a full body latex suit who generally wants to be degraded or injured for sexual satisfaction, or a slur term for the severely disabled.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Eh, we can argue about language all we want but at the end of the day if it is still the same code just with a different branding, someone will be bound to automate the process eventually. It's FOSS, if someone is willing to put in the works to enable people who think the brand name is a hindrance for their change then more power for them no? We even change master/slave terminology in CS and many other field for the same reason (linguistic)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Uh huh. Yet somehow the NHS has no issue plastering its name next to Virgin.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Businesses around the world, who have no idea what a few people use the term gimp to mean, are no different. The name makes no difference to them. To most people around the world, gimp means that photo editor.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

A few people? It's a widely known term.

To most people around the world, gimp means that photo editor.

Lmao no it doesn't. Almost nobody knows about this project. People know Photoshop.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

People speak many different languages around the world. Gimp doesn't have a bad connotation outside small and sad group of people. A subset of English speakers only. People like that should not dictate what the rest of us, outside their bubble, do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Since it is FOSS, couldn't they just take the source code and just re-compile it with different naming? Like how Debian did with Iceweasel naming and branding, though I know in their case it wasn't due to not liking the Firefox name/branding.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Been tried, already died.

"Glimpse"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Why? Everyone knows what gimp is at this point

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

I think you're vastly overestimating how many people know about a random FOSS image editor. Gimp is not a household name.

When most people hear the word "gimp", they likely have something akin to this in mind (not an image editor):

IMO, that hinders adoption and certainly hinders financial support. It's an amusing name, granted, but it's not a good one if you wish to be taken seriously.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

TBF, "gimp" has many negative connotations, including as an ableist slur against the physically impaired.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Wow, you pulled some pup stuff, nice

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

I have no idea what you are talking about.

When I saw this image my first thought was "WTF?" I have seen people complain about the name before but when I try to look up gimp to see what they are talking about I just get gimp the software. What even is that image?

Edit:

I tried looking it up on Wikipedia and there was this page

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bondage_suit

That actually makes more sense although I'm pretty sure most people aren't into BDSM. Gimp stands for gnu image manipulation program so it has nothing to do with whatever this is.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Tell me you haven't watched Pulp fiction without telling me you haven't watched Pulp fiction 😁

[–] skulkingaround 3 points 4 months ago

Also it's specifically named as a reference to the gimp from pulp fiction as it originally came out around the same.

It's fine for a hobby project but GIMP is well past that now and it's a really bad look in a professional environment.

[–] priapus 5 points 4 months ago

You don't need to be into BDSM to know the term gimp suit. I've seen it referred to in media plenty of times before. I think it's less common now, but it's likely the first thought of many people who hear the name. That or the offensive term for a disabled person, which is not any better.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Yes, I know it stands for GNU Image Manipulation Software.

People in general don't know that.

When they hear gimp, they think of a fetishist in a gimp suit, or a slur for a person with a severe disability.

Both are bad. I also wouldn't have my software share a name, even as an acronym, with other slurs or fetish stuff.

Imagine you're a manager high up in a company. Someone comes to you and says "sir, I really think we should be using PAKI instead of [proprietary software alternative]", and have you considered PISSPLAY instead of [proprietary software alternative]?"

You wouldn't even look into it. You'd reject it outright. Or at least most would.

Again, it's the GIMP team's right to name it how they want. But the name is dumb, puts people off, stifles investment opportunity, and makes the whole project look like a joke at a cursory glance.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not everyone is an emglish speaker so not everyone know what gimp means.

The name isn't the problem, it's that gimp is hard to use and has a weird UI

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The name is definitely a problem.

They'd be much more likely to have adoption in the industry, increased development, more donations if they had a name that companies and governments aren't driven away by.

I know some people in the Linux world think branding doesn't matter, but it absolutely does.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I didn't say branding isn't important I'm saying that out of 8 billion people only like less than 1 billion has this issue. A lot of people, even in government positions of various countries, don't speak english (shocker I know), therefore they probably don't know what else gimp could mean, yet they still don't use that software, because it doesn't advertise itself and because it honestly isn't quite as good as other software.

[–] atzanteol 7 points 4 months ago

"everybody" would learn the new name quickly enough. It's a bad name.