do you think Adobe is nervous about open source graphics ?

[Espermaschine]

This year is a big year for open source graphics software like Gimp and Inkscape.
Once both programs have included CMYK support, they will be a serious alternative for professionals to Photoshop and Illustrator.

[rich2005]

It will take a lot to shift professionals to Open Source anything. For one thing cost of 'renting' is passed on to the client in the price, so that is not an issue.

Ad*be profits rocketed with the introduction of the 'renting' model.

Then there is the insidious M$/Ad*be free/cheap provision to college/university staff and students. They then graduate and assume nothing else is suitable. (although there is/was an Australian University which handed out CD's of OpenOffice to new students)

A friend of mine is a university archaeology lecturer, has to use M$ Office for documents (university requirement) and Illustrator for drawing/diagrams (professional norm). That is what archaeologists use. End of argument, I was told when Inkscape was suggested.

When it comes to CMYK, I can not understand why that is so far down the priorities. Even a decent third party plugin. The old Inkscape 0.48 had a slow but workable CMYK extension, no worthwhile support, so it died. I suppose in the meantime there is Krita, IMHO horrible interface.

[Ofnuts]

Eventually all commercial applications become fairly common technology and can be reproduced by skilled programmers. I wonder what there is in AI that puts it above InkScape (besides perhaps a more polished UI). There is only so much you can do with Bézier splines. PS/LightRoom may still have an edge because they use fairly advanced algorithms (even if Gimp and the "raw crowd" have their own that sometimes are better, and sometimes precede the Adobe implementations (in-painting, etc...). But the current Adobe pricing strategy is really making people look for alternatives. With an up-to-date PSD support Gimp 2.10 would be a killer.

We were discussing this at lunch, and Office will be the only one to survive because it contains Excel and Excel literally rules the world: despite all the ERP applications, in fine all the company management (even in the Fortune 500) is held in gigantic spreadsheet with VBA macros. Ironically, a colleague of mine was working as a consultant in a project to fight "shadow IT" in a bank, and the project itself was managed with an Excel sheet

[Ofnuts]

(05-03-2018, 06:10 PM)rich2005 Wrote: It will take a lot to shift professionals to Open Source anything. For one thing cost of 'renting' is passed on to the client in the price, so that is not an issue.

Renting is mandatory. Purchasing was optional

[rich2005]

Just remembered a visit to our local newspaper office (when news was printed on paper )

All the articles, compositing, done in M$ Windows, except for one little corner where the graphic artist lived, surrounded by MAC hardware and software. Because that is what they use.

[Espermaschine]

(05-03-2018, 06:17 PM)Ofnuts Wrote: I wonder what there is in AI that puts it above InkScape (besides perhaps a more polished UI). There is only so much you can do with Bézier splines.

Not much. Obviously its a bit more advanced and refined, but paths manipulation, for example, is god awful.
You need four (!) tools for manipulating paths and anchorpoints.

When it comes to node editing, Inkscape is superior in every way ! Easier, more intuitive and powerful.

Im not the greatest fan of the Inkscape developers. It seems they lack a real connection with their userbase.
Lots of the tools seem untested by real artists or lack what is really needed.
And it lacks proper support for assets like gradients and patterns.
Everything is still very minimal.

Also you can not paint with Inkscape like you can with AI.

Never the less im confident that Inkscape will improve a lot with the next big release.

[drutgat]

Not sure if Adobe is nervous about open source graphics or not, but when it comes to competitors for AI, I used to use CorelDraw's Version 9 Suite (years ago - used it for years).

Once I got past the initial learning curve, because I was new to Vector and Raster creation and editing, I really like its eases of use.

Having started using Inkscape in the last few days, I find I like the look and layout of the interface, but that it is a bit awkward to use. GIMP, which I have also started to use in the last few days, seems to reward time put into it (for me) more than Inkscape - I initially thought it was going to be the other way around.

Anyway, my experience of that older version of CorelDraw was that it was easier and more logical in use than Inkscape, as a vector program. I do not know if others have had that experience, whether of CorelDraw, or AI, or other vector based programs, but I would imagine that kind of thing would have a significant impact on encouraging or discouraging people to move to Inkscape.

By the way, I do not think that my preferences were influenced by becoming familiar with how to use CorelDraw - I can whiz around in a few Digital Audio Workstations, but I still have definite preferences because of other factors; and I absolutely hate Microsoft Office, despite knowing it like the back of my hand.

[techie1484]

Thank god for open source softwares.

Not jus image manipulation but in general technical fields.

I use GIMP for personal requirements(such as avatars,forum signatures,Deviantart account).

[GimpUsers]

Free software always lacks the functionality available in paid products.
In fact, Gimp is an example, the functionality of Adobe Photoshop is much broader.
Yes, and large corporations mostly buy software, since paid software always has reliable support.

[Ofnuts]

(06-11-2019, 03:18 PM)GimpUsers Wrote: paid software always has reliable support.

Not my experience...  I used to maintain a server based on a rather expensive product (several hundred thousands euros per year...). We hit a bug that prevented us from doing "hot" code updates (so code updates suddenly required three hours of unavailability... if we were lucky). We could never get it fixed. In addition, said product had a lifecycle of 5 years before it was deemed unsupported. Considering that you start development on the new middleware about 6 months after it is out (better leave it to other to weather the first big bugs) and development of a sizeable application takes 18months, you are left with 3 years of useful life before you have to consider migrating the thing to a new version. 

OpenSource has a reliable support. If you have the money, you'll always find someone to fix it for you.