Re: GUIs: Motif or ...? (was Re: tlug: Fw: Could Linux Kill NT?)

["Jonathan Byrne" <jpmag@example.com>]

>PSP is just a patched image converter with a batch command. JASC is

I can't imagine anyone who actually uses Paintshop Pro making such a
statement.  PSP is most certainly not some patched image converter.  It
is a full-featured, top-quality image-editing program on the same level
as Photoshop.  It seems there are few, if any, features that Photoshop
has that PSP does not also have. It can even use Adobe plug-ins. The big
differences I can see between them are price (PSP is much cheaper) and
ease of use (PSP is much easier to use).  Oh, and PSP also does
animations.

>constantly trying to catch up with the professional software like
>Photoshop.

What can Photoshop do that PSP can't do?

I use it mostly as a paint program these days, and it's a very good
one,and also an excellent photo editor.  Regrettably, I can't show you
any of my recent items because they're on a password-protected site.
They're also not good examples, because I was under instructions to make
them ugly.  Sounds weird, I know, but this was an addition to a web site
that had been done by another firm, and it's horrible (have you seen the
Budd Uggly site; almost everything on there can be found on actual web
sites in Japan!), so I'm actually kind of glad it's someplace where no
one can just stumble across it.  I'd hate to have people actually know I
did it :-(  When I have a chance to make something nice, I'll show it to
you.  I actually do have some stuff buried on my computer here
somewhere, but not on the web. It's also older stuff, from over a year
ago. I want to find time to do some things with PSP 5.

Gimp is, well, much better than it was.  But it ain't ready for prime
time yet.  It's one of those things that if you just ported it as-is to
Mac or Windows, no one would use it.  People use it on Linux because
it's 1) free, and 2) basically the only serious graphics program
available on the platform.  And I haven't even attacked it on Japanese
ability grounds yet, either :-) I'm not expecting versions of Photoshop
or PSP 5 for Linux anytime soon, so that is likely to continue.  But if
they do come out with PSP for Linux some day and it matches the features
of the Windows version, I'll buy it immediately.

The sad fact right now is that what passes for a cool graphical program
on Linux because of the scarcity of such things remains at a level that
few Mac or Windows users would touch.  I don't still use Windows 95
because it's a better OS than Linux, but it sure has better
applications.  That's one of the things that will make or break Linux in
the next couple of years as we try to really move into the mainstream.
The OS is nearer and nearer to prime time readiness, but the
applications base lags well behind the OS.

Do you know a program called Painter?  That's another thing I would love
to see ported to Linux.  Speaking of things graphical, does Linux
support any of those pressure-sensitive drawing tablets, such as the Art
Pad or Art Pad II?  That would be cool if it did.  I'd like to do some
work with one of those in the future.  Of course, that brings me back to
the software problem, but . . .

Cheers,

Jonathan

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