GIMP 2.4 Released | Fuzzy Tolerance

Several years in the making, the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) 2.4 has been released. The list of new features and updates is a mile long, with some of the highlights here, but the first thing you’ll notice when firing it up is the gorgeous new icon set.

I’ve been using GIMP for a while now, and I’ve gotten pretty handy with it. I do graphic design for web sites and publications as a matter of course and some hobby art as a matter of unartistic futility, and GIMP handles every task I throw at it. Between using it for bitmap editing and Inkscape for vector editing, all of my graphic needs are well in hand, and I use the same toolset on both Linux and Windows. A lot of people coming from Photoshop complain about GIMP’s interface, and some of those complaints are legitimate, but most of it is the same complaints I have when trying to use Photoshop - it’s a familiarity problem than anything else. An uber-Photoshopper or pro graphic designer can probably list a bunch of things the GIMP lacks, but for the rest of us, GIMP works great.

In any event, it doesn’t cost a nickel to give GIMP a whirl. You can download it here (and knock-on-wood 2.4 it will be in the Ubuntu repositories shortly).

If you do want to go head-first into GIMP, I highly recommend Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional.