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I thought I would post these for any of the newcomers, like myself, who might have hangups on open-source software for fear of the unknown, or because they want the support of a big-brand. I've spent the last several days using both of these programs, and these are my thoughts.
I loaded open office a few days ago after initially being very hesitant. After all, I can get MSoffice for 20 bucks through work, and iWork is only 70 bucks or so. I went ahead and tried it anyway, knowing that I could easily remove it if I don't like it. So I opened it, and low and behold it's actually fairly clean. If you are migrating from a newer office suite from windows, there may be a learning curve. I've been using office 2007 for a while, now, and got quite used to the ribbons, so I had to re-learn a bit. I found open office to be nearly identical to office xp, however. So if you are migrating from an older office suite, you should have little to no difficulting adjusting to this. Rather than having to select a separate program for each task, it just opens up a prompt asking what you want to do and will open the proper tools for you. It's not pretty, and personally, I find the ribbon system on office 2007 to work quite well, so you may not like that. It definitely has the looks of an older program. I'm personally about functionality, though, so it doesn't bother me that much. An office suite for free totally makes up for it.
Now, for GIMP. I was very apprehensive about this one. I'd read about having to jump through all kinds of hoops to use the X11 environment and what-not, and I wasn't sure I wouldn't rather go down to COSTCO and get photoshop elements 8 for uuber cheap (like 80 bucks). After I read that in snow leopard the X11 environment is already preinstalled, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. The first thing I noticed is that it is nearly identical to the older photoshop suites (photoshop 7 comes to mind, as that's what I have on my PCs). I'm not experience in the newer ones, so I'm not sure how it compares, there. One thing that impressed me from the get-go was that I could use the entire desktop without having to "cover" everthing up with a workspace window. Everything is there in designated tool boxes, allowing me to open and close what I need, while using the entire space of the desktop. Now, this may be a negative if you'd rather the sterile environment of photoshop or it's competitors with a clean and neat "blank slate," however, I like this approach much better. I found the features to be comparable to photoshop and has great results. It runs pretty much the same, as well, minus a few alterations to the environment. I'd be willing to bet you could look at a photoshop how-to or guidebook, and it would teach you how to use GIMP, as well. I do have a few complaints, though. When using sliders, such as the color saturation slider, it seems to lag a bit. This may be because I'm only using 2gb RAM, however. It's only a minor irritation, though. I didn't see an area, either, where you can type in percentages of saturation or hue, but I haven't explored it, yet, either. I imagine that it's there, but it would have been nice to be built into the balance box. Overall, it's a great substitute for photoshop, especially for your average, non-professional user. Adobe will be hard-pressed to get me to plunk down the 600+ for CS5 at this rate.
Overall, while I was initially hesitant, I'm completely satisfied with what I have. The GUI may not have that beautiful "WOW" factor going on for either one, but they are incredibly functional, and I don't see myself rushing out to replace them, any time soon. I'll eventually upgrade the office suite to one of the big names, merely for compatibility and upgraded function, but I'm not in a rush, now. I don't see myself ever replacing the GIMP.
I loaded open office a few days ago after initially being very hesitant. After all, I can get MSoffice for 20 bucks through work, and iWork is only 70 bucks or so. I went ahead and tried it anyway, knowing that I could easily remove it if I don't like it. So I opened it, and low and behold it's actually fairly clean. If you are migrating from a newer office suite from windows, there may be a learning curve. I've been using office 2007 for a while, now, and got quite used to the ribbons, so I had to re-learn a bit. I found open office to be nearly identical to office xp, however. So if you are migrating from an older office suite, you should have little to no difficulting adjusting to this. Rather than having to select a separate program for each task, it just opens up a prompt asking what you want to do and will open the proper tools for you. It's not pretty, and personally, I find the ribbon system on office 2007 to work quite well, so you may not like that. It definitely has the looks of an older program. I'm personally about functionality, though, so it doesn't bother me that much. An office suite for free totally makes up for it.
Now, for GIMP. I was very apprehensive about this one. I'd read about having to jump through all kinds of hoops to use the X11 environment and what-not, and I wasn't sure I wouldn't rather go down to COSTCO and get photoshop elements 8 for uuber cheap (like 80 bucks). After I read that in snow leopard the X11 environment is already preinstalled, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. The first thing I noticed is that it is nearly identical to the older photoshop suites (photoshop 7 comes to mind, as that's what I have on my PCs). I'm not experience in the newer ones, so I'm not sure how it compares, there. One thing that impressed me from the get-go was that I could use the entire desktop without having to "cover" everthing up with a workspace window. Everything is there in designated tool boxes, allowing me to open and close what I need, while using the entire space of the desktop. Now, this may be a negative if you'd rather the sterile environment of photoshop or it's competitors with a clean and neat "blank slate," however, I like this approach much better. I found the features to be comparable to photoshop and has great results. It runs pretty much the same, as well, minus a few alterations to the environment. I'd be willing to bet you could look at a photoshop how-to or guidebook, and it would teach you how to use GIMP, as well. I do have a few complaints, though. When using sliders, such as the color saturation slider, it seems to lag a bit. This may be because I'm only using 2gb RAM, however. It's only a minor irritation, though. I didn't see an area, either, where you can type in percentages of saturation or hue, but I haven't explored it, yet, either. I imagine that it's there, but it would have been nice to be built into the balance box. Overall, it's a great substitute for photoshop, especially for your average, non-professional user. Adobe will be hard-pressed to get me to plunk down the 600+ for CS5 at this rate.
Overall, while I was initially hesitant, I'm completely satisfied with what I have. The GUI may not have that beautiful "WOW" factor going on for either one, but they are incredibly functional, and I don't see myself rushing out to replace them, any time soon. I'll eventually upgrade the office suite to one of the big names, merely for compatibility and upgraded function, but I'm not in a rush, now. I don't see myself ever replacing the GIMP.
