I didn't mean to beat up on GIMP so much, but they were the most obvious example of the issues with FOSS. I'm aware they're working on GIMP 3.0 which should hopefully solve a lot of issues with GIMP. At the same time, it's taken them decades to deliver on basic features like adjustment layers. Wish the devs the best though, all love ✌

I don't care who the algorithm recommends, I will NOT spend millions of dollars on photoshop.

GIMP is not a competitor to Photoshop; Photoshop is an image manipulator while GIMP is a puzzle-based image modifier.

Blender is a perfect example of open-source working as intended, I hope more open-source software moves that way.

OBS over here as the final boss of the Internet, single-handedly fueling an entire modern entertainment medium.

Okay for open source, but how about buying commercial software that doesn't require "subscriptions"? Why can't I just OWN anything any more?

I think its ironic that Blender's biggest proprietary competitor Maya, suffers from the 90's UI that Open Source software is known for

meanwhile here in the gamedev world, blender is already an industry standard (i was taught in maya and zbrush but now use blender professionally), krita is irreplaceable when it comes to seamless textures thanks to wraparound mode and godot is getting better and better and what we are using for the current project

I don't think open source developers tend to "make something different just because they can" when it comes to UI, it's also a way to prevent lawsuits.

OBS is one of the few that doesn't have a proprietary equivalent.

I remember posting a bug report on GIMP forum. There was an issue in a way it hadled Czech diacritics in text. One guy posted ten replies about me being a total idiot, who can't setup my language settings properly and angrily closed the issue as being stupid and irrelevant. 16 months later another guy reopened it and said they've fixed the issue in the latest release and they thank me for my feedback. I love open source, but you are right about the communication sometimes being a little difficult...

And then there's Blender, just casually being the industry standard.

3:25 "git a **simple** command line tool for version control" KEKW

The whole internet runs on free and open source software. It's not that "open source alternatives are bad", but "these specific FOSS alternatives do not do the same as the prorietary thing".

The big issue is people not donating to their favorite opensource projects.

The fact that he used Inkscape as an example along with GIMP. AT LEAST INKSCAPE IS ACTUALLY GOOD

0:07 Bro had the audacity to call Audacity bad

I remember back in the day at uni a classmate asked the teacher why they were teaching us photoshop and illustrator instead of open source tools since we probably didn’t have the money to adopts the licenses after graduation. The teacher just replied “man who cares, just pirate it unless your employer pays for your license” 😂

I also used to hate Blender for how clunky and unintuitive it used to be…. … and then came Blender 2.8 with the UI overhaul. I never needed to look back to Maya ever again since then

You say Thunderbird's UI looked "dated", it was a "subpar email client", lagging "behind almost every other email client". Care to elaborate? Why is a UI that hasn't drastically changed over time (which throws off existing users, often makes common things a bit more tedious etc.) bad, other than "changing for change's sake"?`I quite dislike the new default UI Thunderbird has, and am happy I can keep a mostly-same version of it including support for the theme I paid some other guy for. What other email clients even are there, other than data-harvesting Outlook? Also, why that Filezilla jab? I'm not even aware of another stable FTP client out there, closed- or open-source.

"In the open source world, the nineties never truly ended." This was a hard statement.

The takes in this are weird. I especially like when the video casually states "Anyone with an app idea and a little bit of programming knowledge can create an app over the weekend, monetize it with Stripe, and make thousands of dollars a month." Totally glossing over how difficult it actually is to create a unique app, penetrate an over saturated market, maintain and update the code to work with later versions of the OS. And thats not even mentioning the headaches that can happen if the app relies on a third party library, service, or api. GIMP may not be a Photoshop killer but I sure appreciate their and the open source community's efforts.

People don't want to learn GIMP, people want free Photoshop.

So i got u bro: There isn't a built-in way to select multiple layers with a click-and-drag motion in GIMP, like some other image editing software. However, there are a few effective methods to select multiple layers: 1. Shift-Click: Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard. Click on the desired layers one by one in the Layers panel (usually on the right side of the window). This will add each layer to your selection while keeping the previously selected layers active. 2. Rectangular Selection: Click on the rectangle selection tool (the square icon) in the toolbox. Alternatively, press the h key on your keyboard. In the Layers panel, click and drag the selection tool to encompass the desired layers. All layers completely within the rectangle will be selected. 3. Select All Visible Layers: In the Layers panel, right-click on any layer. A context menu will appear. Choose the option Select > All Visible Layers. 4. Select Linked Layers: If your layers are linked (which groups them for transformations), you can select one linked layer and the entire group will be selected. To link layers, right-click on a layer and choose Link Layers. These methods offer flexibility for choosing the layers you need in GIMP.

My mom has been using Photoshop for product brochures (large package hoists and cranes) for over 20 years (She's 60). She bought the lifetime license a few years back, not expecting Adobe to rescind all lifetime licenses or turn it into a VERY expensive subscription service. She taught herself to use GIMP in an afternoon with some YT videos, and has been using it since for over a year. Love's what it can do for free. TLDR Skill issue

A lot of the criticism here is valid, however, you are wrong about one thing; Successful Open Source projects are usually not a hobby project, even though they may start as that. I work in industry on embedded software. You are probably using the project my employer pays me to work on for a daily basis, but it is a small utility project embedded in something you don't even think of (think control software for an elevator, though it isn't actually an elevator). This code is open source because it costs us less to submit half a developer to contribute to the code base each month, than it takes paying licenses to a specific company. The code is mature so not much new development is happening, it is mostly making sure newer platforms are supported. This model has unfortunately yet to reach a bigger software house like, say, Dreamworks. If Dreamworks paid three guys to contribute for five years to Gimp, that software UI would be much improved and Dreamworks would in the end be in a much better spot paying a lot less to Adobe. Instead of renting code, Dreamworks would be owning code. Sadly, most suits do not understand this.They believe software is like nails - why build a nail factory when you can just buy them by the dozen?

Everything is open source if you're a reverse engineer.

"Ah yes, I am a normal person looking for a non-MS operating system" "What the fuck is GIT?"

Shotcut is a pretty solid open-source editor. It has the basic features you need for editing with a pretty simple UI.

"If buying isn't owning-" Nah. Everything is open source if you try hard enough.

Funnily enough, Outlook's ""new"" design is basically just a copy of thunderbird's UI. We've gone full circle

2:12 was this intentional?

The title should say something along the lines of "Why So Many Open Source Alternatives Fail Against Giants", with the thumbnail showing GIMP and Blender with two captions, respectively "Why did this fail?" and "When this succeeded?" Right now the current title seems not only clickbait-y, but also biased. I know that's not the point of the video, but both of it's presenting factors, thumbnail and title, indicate otherwise. It would invite much more people to watch the video, and potentially subscribe and stay for longer, if the forefront presentation seemed less criticizing and more explanatory (is that a real word? did i just make it up? lol). The suggestion I gave is just what first came to my mind, sure the title doesn't sound as catchy and is too long, but the important thing is that it doesn't give a bad first impression. You make some good points in this video, but with the current title most of the audience you're inviting (that is going to watch it, not just leave a reaction and leave), are either those that have no stakes in open source projects, or those that are up for defending open source projects against what they assume to be an attack, not a good-hearted criticism and feedback, which the video is in reality. Sometimes generating less impressions but getting the video watched by relevant people is more important than getting more impressions from clickbaity title, but alienating some of the actual targeted audience of the video. Wish you good luck in the future.

its not "FOSS is bad", its more like "FOSS is not being taken seriously enough, and get little support because of that" things like godot and OBS is a sign that people will absolutely support something if they are truly useful, and, in general, i think people are caring more about the software that are FOSS

I think just not being open to criticism plays a big role. For a counterexample, the creators of MuseScore made a big show of responding to all the criticism Tantacrul threw at them, eventually just hired him to overhaul the UI himself, and now it's the literal actual best score composing app out there. Attention GIMP developers: THIS COULD BE YOU.

Tools like Inkscape and GIMP were not made to replace professional software or used by professionals. They were free and meant to be used by everyday people. However, bloggers and KZfaqrs started calling them "alternatives," making people think they could be used instead of paid software.

I think your point about open source tooling being very aimed at developers, and issues with trying to design a ux for open source projects, is a very good point

Inkscape, Blender, Krita are amazing. GIMP needs help from the community. We all need to chip in.

Blender did a UI overhaul and suddenly it's insanely popular and rivals industry giants. This is literally all you have to do. Swallow your tech pride and make a useable UI so those "disgusting normies who don't even know how to use a terminal" can work with your software.

For me, the main issue with Gimp isn't just how clunky the UI is, it's how SLOW it is.

Why do people make misleading, manipulative, ridiculous statements disguised as questions?

While I agree with the broader points, I don't think Illustrator vs Inkscape is a fair comparison. Inkscape is more of an "svg editor", and its features are very tightly coupled to the svg spec. I use it to enhance manual .svg manipulation rather than draw art.

Honestly I tried to watch this video with out being negative about it because I agree that "just switch to open source" isnt always a viable alternative, but this literally feels like one of those "content for contents sake" videos.

I hate the new Thunderbird UI. I set mine back to the old UI.

Open source software is on average better than its competition. Examples of open source software that are better than any direct competition: VLC, Inkscape, OBS, Kate, (95% of the GNU and Linux command line utilities), most Linux shells(there are like 2 that suck), GCC, Git, KDE Plasma, Firefox (Personal preference may apply), Linux print drivers, Linux keyboard drivers, Metasploit, Nmap, and the Linux Kernel.

Being a programmer myself kinda cursed me because when I use open source software I think "this was obviously done by someone that is a programmer but has no idea about usability and user experience". It creates a whole class of problems when the UI doesn't comunicate well with the user, and it happens a lot with people that go from Windows to any Linux distro and can't figure out how to use stuff and specially solve problems. I see people who are Linux beginners having problems that I can't help but think "this whole struggle would simply not exist if they were using Windows" and this is the reason why.

Another problem I have observed is when programmers get emotionally attached to their “product”. I have pointed out legitimate UI issue to be told I’m wrong or not using it properly. No amount of discussion will change them from the line “this is the best of all possible designs”. I always cringe at a release when developers gush about how “beautiful” their interface is.

i love OS but it doesnt help me if my web browser (firefox) constantly and randomly crashes under linux/nvidia with memory read and write errors.

You are entirely correct in beating up on GIMP. GIMP is like a database administrator read a vague description of image editing software and decided to write their own.

Wdym open source software isn't as good as closed source software that backed by multi billion dollar companies 😂

FOSS is a hobby thing. For 99% of consumers, "It's open source!" Is NOT a selling point by any margin. Most probably don’t know what that means

I have recently switched to Linux, after having been on Windows my entire life. I never thought I'd ever be able to record video/audio or even produce a video on Linux. But all of that was easily achieved, after a couple of days of initial frustration (learning the new OS), which quickly made place for a very pleasant working experience with Linux. It runs super stable, no software crashes and even with me never working with Kdenlive before I could really quickly adapt. I don't produce the best content in the world, but the videos that you do I could easily edit in Kdenlive. And I have always used GIMP. I have also never seen an image where I did not know how to reproduce it in GIMP. But I also agree, that the Linux OS is not intended for graphic designers or the mainstream. But I am actually happy, that the paid versions are still being used and not many people are using Linux. For the same reason, why I tell people Mexico is very dangerous and still enjoy living here ;)

I once considered making a language-controlled version of GIMP, but looks like Microsoft with Paint + Copilot might already be pursuing this.

Gimp isn't particularly good, but I think the main issue is expecting Gimp to do the exact same things as Photoshop. Both Photoshop and Gimp used to be primarily photo editors; i.e. virtual darkroom stuff, colour correction, photo manipulation etc. And we had separate software for other kinds of graphics like Illustrator or Inkscape for vector graphics; but at some point they started adding a bunch of illustrator features into photoshop and Illustrator got harder to use while Inkscape kept improving. So if you want to work with text and vector type graphics; just use vector based software. With filters you can even do a lot of raster-like effects in Inkscape too, so if you're mainly combining pre-existing elements like photos and text with graphical elements, it's way more efficient to use Inkscape than try to do it in Gimp. If you primarily want to do digital painting and drawing, just use Krita, that's what _it_ is optimised for. I haven't used photoshop myself for about 20 years, but my impression of it from seeing people use it is that it has become a very complex and bloated software trying to do everything that you'd normally use several different programs for. And while I get that it's sometimes nice to use software that can do several things at once; I'd much rather prefer to use software optimised for the kind of work I'm currently doing. I'm a web frontend programmer, so for work I mostly use text editors for my SVG needs, though if I need to change something that is awkward to do directly in code I will use Inkscape. I also have Gimp, but I very rarely use it, mostly just for scaling down large images once in a while. At home I use Krita for my digital paintings. I have Gimp and Inkscape too, but I very rarely use it. But if I want to do some classical photo manipulation, rubber stamp tool etc. and filters I might use Gimp; and if I wanted to do some layout stuff (more complex than what I could easily program in HTML) for print etc. I probably use Inkscape.

Easy answer is these applications are designed by programmers, rather than... product and UI designers

So what are the problems with Filezilla, and what closed source FTP application should I be using that's so much better?

As a Linux user, developer, and open source advocate.. I couldn't agree more.

i am just thankful we have these good alternatives compared to these corporate shit products

Programmers tend to hate UI, so that's not news. In many ways I agree with the sentiment, since a commandlines and hotkeys are often way more efficient when you learn them. But for software like Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve, and others that require an intuitive UI, commandlines and hotkeys won't suffice.

As someone who started out opensource with blender+gimp back in 2009, went to university to become a 3D artist, and now over a decade later, is a senior 3D artist... You lose a lot of illusions as you grow. I was just about to say: Blender is the one exception, in that it handily beats some of the biggest 3D softwares (lightwave, 3DS MAX (easily lol) and Cinema 4D) while even rivalling the big one; Maya. In many many ways. Maya is still industry standard in a lot of places, but that's simply because of many integrated plugins. A lot of companies the coming 5 years will start asking themselves; Why are we paying Autodesk a 4000 dollar license fee (per person) and then 1k per year to keep that license alive, when we can do "most things" we need in Blender to satisfactory result? That's what Ubisoft did and now they're rendering all their cinematics in Cycles. Money talks.

I think mentioning FileZilla is a bit strange in this video. It's not meant to be grandiose, it's literally only meant to do one thing: copy/delete files from and copy files to a remote server. What about it would you streamline? I could maybe think of a few small details, like maybe the server list, but nothing significant. It isn't really an "end user" type of software, so it doesn't have to be pretty, just functional.

Can't outline text in Gimp? That's weird, because I've been doing exactly that for years.

Open-source projects works like a charm until they require a dedicated GUI of some sort, because that requires designers. There's too many good OSS projects like linux, git, tor, and even almost all the programming languages. As soon as we look at projects which require a GUI, they start falling apart unless & until there's big corporations/govt donating to the cause. If you see, most of the donations that comes in for these successful open-source projects like mozilla or tor are from corporate or govt. Sadly, its hard to keep a GUI project alive for long just with public funding.

Open Source isn't always open contribution. That is orthogonal. A good example is SQLite. It is public domain, which is as open source as it gets, but has really strict guidelines for accepting, requiring you to have a signed affidavit on file with them. There are even open source projects with OSF approved licenses that don't accept pull requests or contributions at all.

bro i dont get why someone would use kdenlive on linux when u got davinci resolve for free

Basically FOSS projects are worse because they ARE hobbyist/side projects unlike of most propietary commercial software, the reality is that blender is not a hobbyist project like gimp like you pointed out, the same as thunderbird and firefox

Whats your opinion of the fediverse/mastodon?

2:11 thanks for spelling me

Businesses have enough money to gaslight customers. "Did you know that software crashes are a sought after feature? Advertisements enhance the user experience."

6:50 oh, you actually say it! Yeah, I was gonna comment, it’s usually a lack of designers that make FOSS so clunky. Let me tell you though, as a designer, Inkscape is definitely better than Illustrator now. I still prefer Affinity Designer, but probably not for long now that they’ve been acquired, and because Inkscape is still improving.

I agree. Even whole operating systems feel clunky and unsafe, like a car made up with wooden sticks you found in the back of your house. Everything crashes.

Why didn't you mention DaVinci Resolve?

I find that Krita is just like Blender in that aspect, is very noticeable when the ones working on a project are designers AND programmers. While i hated using Gimp, I am totally in love with Krita, is just so well crafted, didn't feel like using CSP or Photoshop anymore.

If any fellow GIMP users need some outlined text: use the drop shadow filter, 0 blur radius.

Because open source is just people being generous compared to someone trying to pay rent. It's just a different motivation.

Make your menu's and settings and everything else searchable.

What?? Multi billion dollar software is slightly better than open source software??? How could this be!! Golly GEE!!

I've been trying to help them improve but here's the issue: UX design isn't priority. Paid software provides better UX because there's someone invested in your adoption of the package. The open source software's teams are usually impossible to find - they use obscure communication channels that are hard to get into, and their contact info is out of date. And even if you do get in touch with them, they don't respond or are too busy to deal with your query. You can't even volunteer well. And any participation areas are not user friendly to get into.

I struggled to draw a circle on gimp and finally moved to photopea

Davinci Resolve's biggest problem is that their program crashes without a word, if it even starts, and the installer still glitches

The problem is proprietary youtubers

"open source alternatives are bad" >blender >krita

Really? Not mention of krita? It's used a lot on professional level, despite being made by the exact same development group as kdenlive

Honestly, I think the big driving debate between closed source and FOSS was only briefly touched upon here: are you comfortable with being the product and having telemetry constantly collecting information about you? The big monolithic corporations feel like they can get away with anything, as evidenced by Adobe's recent ultimatum of "allow us to train AI models on your projects, or never use our software again." The decision then becomes "slight inconvenience and slightly worse software" versus "targeted ads for a pellet grill that a friend mentioned once in passing over lunch."

bad? i use mostly only open source programa not because they are open source, but because I feel that they are better and more complete (and free, I prefer to donate to the creator instead of pay monthly for a program)

At some point I stopped using non-open source software, and now I don't have the knowledge to compare open source and closed source software.

If someone argues that "it's just a different work flow," all that does is betray that they're NOT an end-user who depends on the software for anything they have a real stake in. Anyone who really depends on software as a tool for getting a job done, rather than tinkering with software for its own sake, knows that work flow is _all that matters._ A "different" work flow can be a better work flow, or a worse work flow, but almost never an equal work flow, and a better or worse work flow to get the same result is the difference between viable competitor and useless trash. To dismiss that as just "different" with an implication that it doesn't matter is an incredible lack of awareness. That's why this stuff doesn't get better. It's made by amateurs who don't realize that it matters.

Um...yes you can outline text in GIMP....I do it all the time. You right click on the text layer and click "Text to Path". You then create a new layer below your text layer, do Select -> From Path; then Select -> Grow... to specify the outline size; then Edit -> Fill with BG Color.

Bro used gimp "for years" and still haven't learned how to use it 💀

There is actually a pretty major reason why gimp can't just do what photoshop is doing: Patents.

idk what you talking about open source is good and often better

computer programs are still pretty new as time goes on, the essentials will slowly be covered by FOSS, even if the premium products still have newer or better features

On that note, Shotcut has been the only open source video editor that i didn't get dissapointed in.

As a hobbyist programmer with a small team, I can tell that it's hard to manage people all the time. I guess as the team grows to infinity (and beyond) - it's unbearable and results into a huge mess. Listening to all of the opinions is hard, especially if software is only made by lots of random, though skilled programmers rather than a team which have a director/designer or similar roles, leading the development ideas and defining the project vision. I heard multiple times takes like "an authoritarian leader can make the open source work" and it kinda makes sense in the end, Linux is a great example, but I believe that the root of the problem is still in the whole core team and lack of the final vision, feedback, experience in the topic (not related to programming skill) and interest in doing anything but programming. And hey, refactoring and reworking the old software is hard, so that adds up too.

Government investment in software plays a role too. Local governments use windows, schools use ipads & google classroom. For all kinds of projects they hire proprietary for-profit companies where open solutions exist. The foss world could see so much investment if local governments worked together to fund and contribute to and use existing foss.

As someone who just uses Pixlr E instead of Photoshop, and Olive instead of Premiere, I know I'd rather use the proper ones...

I don't get it ... What's the purpose of this video ?

I do like videos like this, however sadly when it comes to Gimp it can do more than what you think. First thing you mentioned about it was "Can't outline text" Select text, Click filters > Drop Shadow Set both X & Y to 0, Blur radius to 0, grow radius to 1, Colour (To whatever) & then Opacity to well whatever too. you can do this but slightly modify to make it glow. I know this is only one thing, but in order to fairly criticize all these apps you have to be able to use them all to their fullest potential.

So are C++, Java, C#, Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust and Kotlin worse than their proprietary alternatives? Like which ones?

Krita is a better editor than gimp. Also Blender is used by render houses. Gimp is crap and at least we have DaVinci resolve. However that isn’t open source but Linux compatible