Economic considerations

[Carlos Ribeiro]

On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 23:49:24 -0300, Jorge Godoy <godoy at ieee.org> wrote:
> claird at lairds.us (Cameron Laird) writes:
> > Incidentally, my expert sources emphasize to me that GIMP still
> > has a long way to go before it effectively rivals Photoshop.
> 
< (snip)
> In fact, we might already have tools to do everything Photoshop does.
> The difference is that we try to keep it simple (KISS) and bundle
> several specialized tools, while Photoshop tries to be a swiss army
> knife, bundling everything together.

While true to a certain extent, this is not the problem. As I've
mentioned in another thread, this is a case where the closed source
application is simply superior in technical terms. It's not only
packaging -- it works better, more efficiently, and has better
algorithms specially when it comes to color mapping between devices,
and anything that involves perceptual color models and management.

> I'm hearing more the FUD of "I want to use Linux but then I have to use
> one thousand commands and programs to get the same results I get with
> <proprietary program> on <proprietary OS>".

With all respect, this is not FUD. It's based on fact. In *many* cases
the OS app is not conveniently packaged. Part of this is that most
people that use OS apps are used to (and even like) having to glue
everything together.

No we're going completely offtopic, but anyway, why not? :-) I think
everyone can relate with a joke about cars and people that work with
cars. Often we see people that work everyday with cars -- specially
mechanics -- driving cars that, from any reasonably perspective, are a
complete mess. Doors hanging semi-opened are not unheard of :-). But
the car works, and his owner actually likes that mess. I think we can
see some of this in OS apps. Those who know how they are implemented
derive a certain pleasure from the fact that they can look at the
inside whenever they can, mess up with settings, and stuff like that.
Those who want a car -- or an OS, or an application -- only for actual
use doesn't like this, and prefer something nicely packaged, that
hides all details, and simply works, and don't embarass them in front
of friends and family :-).

-- 
Carlos Ribeiro
Consultoria em Projetos
blog: http://rascunhosrotos.blogspot.com
blog: http://pythonnotes.blogspot.com
mail: carribeiro at gmail.com
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