Hello Carol,
On Feb 25, 2006, at 12:18 PM, Carol Spears wrote:
first thing. in keeping with the spirit of how gimpshop came to be, i
am curious if there are separate online resources for this
application.
they opted (probably for really good reasons) to go on their own to
provide software for what is probably a large group of users.
perhaps you could list gimpshop resources here so that the gimp users
can redirect the gimpshop questions to the proper place.
personally, i do not want to interfer with them. they filled a nitch
and did this without the gimp developers. i suspect they had really
good reasons to do this. it would be wrong, in my opinion, to
start to
help them now -- keeping with the spirit of their project.
From your writing tone, I sense a bit of a rift between Gimp and
Gimpshop. I find that odd given that I did not sense it at the
Gimpshop site. While there I heard nothing but praise and references
back to Gimp.org, but admittedly I didn't set out to find animosity.
From what I have read, Gimpshop is the Gimp with a "skin" to make it
a bit more like Photoshop. From using it myself I would have to say
that is a fair assessment. No question, Gimpshop is not Photoshop,
nor did I expect it to be. I expected it to be the Gimp with a
twist, which, as far as I can tell, it is.
For me Gimpshop is a way for me to introduce the Gimp to other
volunteers that I work with at a local non-profit. We take in old
computers, refurbish them, use them to teach under-served kids in
grades 4-8 how to use computers, and then give the computers to the
students at the end of the session which last about 8 weeks. The non-
profit already has a tremendous amount of material for teaching
Photoshop (my guess would be some pared-down version). Plus
Photoshop is something the existing volunteers are very familiar
with. However, because of technical, legal, and financial
constraints, we have decided to migrate to using and teaching Open
Source. The Gimp seems to be a natural choices for image
manipulation, with the Gimpshop providing a smooth migration path
given our existing Photoshop infrastructure. Sure, eventually we'll
migrate completely to the Gimp. But for now, it's baby steps.
For me Gimpshop is also a way to learn about image manipulation. I
know nothing about Photoshop nor the Gimp nor Gimpshop nor any other
image manipulation program. (Actually, I used to know PaintShop pro,
but that was over a decade ago, so it may as well be as though I know
nothing.) So, I decided to take an on-line course on Photoshop. But
instead of using Photoshop I'm using Gimpshop. So far, it has been
working pretty well. I can follow along pretty closely, although
Gimpshop does do some things a bit differently, which is OK. What's
really pleasant is that the forums have a nice mix of neophytes like
myself and pros, who help out us neophytes. And us neophytes can
come up with some pretty basic questions. But that's OK, too. After
all it is a beginning course on Photoshop.
Which brings us to resources. The only resource I know of that is
specifically about Gimpshop is the Gimpshop website, which appears to
be little more than a blog. There do not appear to be any forums or
mailing lists or IRC channels or on-line courses. Just a download
link and a blog. But as far as I can tell Gimpshop is not about
image manipulation, but rather about putting a Photoshop-like skin on
top of Gimp. By putting a Photoshop-like skin on the Gimp, all the
resources that one normally uses for Photoshop (books, on-line
tutorials, forums, courses, co-workers, etc.) all become available to
Gimpshop users. In addition to the Photoshop resources, in only
makes sense (at least it did to me) that all of the Gimp resources
become available, too, given that underneath Gimpshop runs the Gimp.
As for providing help, that is entirely a personal choice. If you
feel that by helping me you are helping them over at Gimpshop and you
feel strongly about not helping them over at Gimpshop for whatever
reason, then do not help me. That's OK. To me image manipulation is
just a hobby. It's fun. It's challenging. It's something new for
me to learn. It's something for me to show my family and friends. I
enjoy Open Source for the same reasons. It's fun. It's
challenging. It's a way to develop a community of users and friends.
In summary, I like Gimpshop and the Gimp and have come to understand
that this forum is perhaps not a friendly place to mention Gimpshop.
OK. Fair enough. Them's the rules. In the future I will refrain
from mentioning Gimpshop and make sure my questions and any answers I
give only pertain to the Gimp.
Regards,
- Robert
http://www.cwelug.org/downloads
Help others get OpenSource software. Distribute FLOSS
for Windows, Linux, *BSD, and MacOS X with BitTorrent
_______________________________________________
Gimp-user mailing list
Gimp-user@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-user
