A Real Open Source Alternative to Photoshop

[The Wirefox]

I install the long awaited GIMP 2.8 on my Mac this afternoon. I have been holding off pending any reports of it being buggy...I needn't have worried. It is brilliant , major step forward and now a real alternative to photoshop. It is open source so it is free of charge. GIMP 2.8 features include

www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.8.html

You can download the Mac versions here...

gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Download.html

Windows versions here...

gimp-win.sourceforge.net/stable.html

A couple of notes for Mac installation.

GIMP requires XQuartz 2.7.1 to operate with OS 10.6 and higher versions. You need to download this before installing GIMP

xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/

Note when gimp is installed it takes a while to open first time around while fonts and plugins load. There is nothing to indicate this is happening be patient and wait a couple of minutes. After first install it is surprisingly quick to load. The user interface on the new version is far more like a windows app than an OSX app. This is no bad thing if you have used photoshop. This is a serious package of software for the photographer or graphic designer.



It is also fully integrated with UFRaw. This is a pretty slick raw file converter and allows seamless step through into Gimp.



PS I am not affiliated with GIMP in any way...I just love using it