this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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As someone with no PS experience or other baggage weighing me down, I find the default UI to be insanely unintuitive. Im not even sure what the panels on the right or bottom are for, the left toolbar panel randomly disappears on me occasionally and I can never figure out how to get it back without closing and reopening GIMP. Things like Crop don't seem to do anything obvious. Painting with the brush doesn't work unless you first use the selection tool to draw a box around the area you want to use the brush. Etc, etc, etc. Some of this is obviously just because I'm a novice, and I manage to fumble my way through things, but at the same time it could be drastically simplified for simple tasks. It feels like a tool that was built for people who already knew how to use it.
I highly recommend you watch one of the free video courses, from the beginning, on youtube.
GIMP is a really sophisticated piece of software designed for maximum technical control and flexibility. If you can dedicate a few hours to learning it you can do basically anything, for free, forever. If you only need to do basic stuff it might be worth looking at something else like Tux Paint for example, which is faster to pick up. It also has sound effects and is great fun.
But the point they're making is that other editors are intuitive, and don't need a video tutorial
It was a long time ago now but I distinctly remember having to watch videos to learn how to do things in Photoshop.
IMO Gimp will always get flak about the UI not matching Photoshop, rather than the other way around, for the simple reason that users are always switching in that direction. I haven't heard of anyone ditching GIMP for Photoshop.