On Fri, 1 Apr 2005 17:37:37 +0000 (UTC), in <comp.graphics.apps.gimp>, David
Marrs <David.Marrs@atmyrealbox.com> wrote:
>
[snip]
>
> I never understand the logic behind moving from a mature product like
> Photoshop to the GIMP when one /prefers/ Photoshop in the first place.
[snip]
Perhaps it would make more sense to you if you replaced "/prefers/" with "/is
accustomed to/".
There's a natural human tendency to judge all things by the yardstick of the
first example of that general sort of thing you became really familiar with.
And even when one is objectively aware of this, it can still color your
perceptions. To this day, I still consider WordStar to be my primary word
processor, probably in part for this reason (tho' I can also bend your ear
about the purely *objective* reasons, so don't get me started <~>).
Hence, a long-time PS user might well have perfectly valid or even compelling
reasons (such as to get off the perpetual-expensive-upgrade merry-go-round, or
to avoid the prospect of being raped by DRM) to seek out an alternative such
as The GIMP, yet find that transition more difficult than it needs to be due
solely to the UI differences. And regardless of any other pros/cons involved,
he might well see that difficulty as a failing on The GIMP's part, or at least
"wish" that this roadblock on his learning curve didn't exist.
For a somewhat similar personal example: I decided some time ago (about the
time WinXP launched) that, as a matter of policy, Microsoft was never going to
get any more of my or my company's money, even indirectly, period. It was a
decision that I had been working up to for quite awhile and did not take
lightly, in part because my business is largely dependant on supporting
Windows-users. But at the end of the day, I just couldn't *not* make that
decision, and keep looking at myself in the mirror. Now of course, I kept
using the MS products I already own (well, the ones that were worth using,
anyway). But since "the handwriting was on the wall" so to speak, when it
came time to build up a new "workhorse" PC for myself it was a given that its
primary desktop environment would be Linux of some stripe. To make a long
story somewhat shorter, I finally settled on Debian, after abortive
experiments with several flavors of RedHat and some encouraging (but
ultimately less than fully successful) ones with Knoppix, with KDE as the
primary GUI. In the course of doing the install/setup, I quite deliberately
chose all the settings which would make the machine the most "Windows-like",
for one very simple reason: I already had far more than enough other "stuff"
to learn, without the added complication of a less-familair-than-need-be GUI.
[Side Note: I wasn't completely "green" with respect to things *nix; I'd done
some work with Xenix back in the 8086-80386 era, for example. But it was
quickly obvious that things had changed a LOT since then -- and that I'd
forgotten most of what hadn't changed. <~>] I am absolutely convinced that
this decision has had a significant positive impact on my ability to
transition to a Linux desktop (a process which is still on-going, BTW, as can
be noted from the headers on this article). I've since looked at / played
with some of the other more "*nix purist" GUIs, such as Gnome; and I see how
they do indeed have something to offer. But for me, those potential benefits
are outweighed by the "baggage" of being relatively opaque, purely because
they are unfamiliar.
So yes, the "make it look/feel like Program X" plea *does* have merit, at
least to some significant portion of the (potential) user base.
--
Jay T. Blocksom
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