Post #1958726
2026-04-24 22:48 UTC
Replies (31)
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@Craigp@mastodon.social 2026-04-24 22:50
And what do you put on your resume. "Put in 5000 hours developing GIMP!" "Proficient in GIMP!" And the companies - donate to RedHat? Sure. Donate to Fedora? Sure. Donate to GIMP? Why do so many people refuse to see this obvious, obvious issue. It's not theoretical, it's why GIMP died. Rant grumble rant grumble.
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@gilesgoat@toot.wales 2026-04-25 09:27
@Craigp@mastodon.social Still in Italy nobody ( well not seriously ) ever boycotted or refused to buy SEGA, despite being quite a well known slang word ..
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@larsmb@mastodon.online 2026-04-25 09:31
@Craigp@mastodon.social I think you've got to be a native speaker to know that it's an insult. What would stop me is the project being unwilling to rename after having been told. That's "not a great sign" for their governance - why would anyone want to be part of such a "community"?
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@nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social 2026-04-25 10:00
@Craigp@mastodon.social I am forced to agree with some of the people who said it had issues with an awful interface and etc. But, at the same time, you still have a point about the name also discouraging people from wanting to work on it. If people who had been contributing a while said "look, I know you like the name, but we're just going to have to change it" eventually the owners would have listened. But what I don't quite get is why isn't there just some major fork that takes it and simply changes the name? I mean, maybe there's something out there on Github or something, but nothing major as in people using it all over and recommending it every time someone says this. (I don't mean like Krita which I think does fork a lot of GIMP code. It is its own thing with a whole lot of big changes.)
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@kaye@cathode.church 2026-04-25 10:18
@Craigp@mastodon.social I'm still sad that the Glimpse project ended up sputtering out.
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@aanee@mastodon.online 2026-04-25 11:19
@Craigp@mastodon.social Maybe it's a native english speaker vs non-native thing? I've never experienced this problem nor meet anyone that really reacts to the name. But I live in Sweden.
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@hackersquirrel@kolektiva.social 2026-04-25 11:21
@Craigp@mastodon.social Yeah but GIT gets a lot of support.🤷
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@ROllerozxa@hachyderm.io 2026-04-25 11:25
@Craigp@mastodon.social MongoDB being named after an ableist slur with racist connotations hasn't stopped it from being adopted unfortunately
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@Phosphenes@glasgow.social 2026-04-25 11:30
@Craigp@mastodon.social I'm sure you're right in general, but I personally worked for a Federal contractor who used Gimp extensively for graphics in their requirements docs. The problem is that it's fun to shitpost your goofy app name when it's just you and 3 fans, until you've somehow scaled to 1M+ users and have to announce 'ButtBlaster' at a shareholder meeting.
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@martin@social.mdosch.de 2026-04-25 11:35
@Craigp@mastodon.social It is in our companies software catalogue, so whoever requests it will get it installed. I think no one ever questioned the name.
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@portaloffreedom@social.linux.pizza 2026-04-25 11:39
@Craigp@mastodon.social it's probably a cultural and language difference. I didn't even know that gimp had another meaning before learning of the controversy. In countries like Italy people will not know and it will not make any difference for them or people around them.
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@tess@mastodon.social 2026-04-25 11:54
@Craigp@mastodon.social I only use it when I have no other choice. The name sucks, and the team sucks for refusing to rename it.
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@distrowatch@mastodon.social 2026-04-25 12:16
@Craigp@mastodon.social This has crossed my mind several times over the years. There have been multiple places I've worked where they wouldn't even entertain the idea of installing the image editor because of the name. I'm guessing most people who claim they don't see a problem with the name have never worked in an office which had an HR department.
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@Leminski@tilde.zone 2026-04-25 12:29
@Craigp@mastodon.social Ah gimp. I tended to use its Christian name (as in no acronym) when talking to those out of the culture. Could have called it IMP. BLIMP. Nah. Gimp. As in a perverted stereotype, an ableist slur or catch all for a disability depending on where you are.
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@stefistarlite@tech.lgbt 2026-04-25 12:40
@Craigp@mastodon.social I like to think myself fairly open to unfamiliar UX and unconventional workflows in applications I try, but the name has always been a point of discomfort for me.
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@Wildragon@mastodon.art 2026-04-25 12:43
@Craigp@mastodon.social Recently I had someone on discord refusing to click a link to tutorial, just because of the name (ONLY the name) of the website: deviant art.
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@stigatle@activitypub.taildad4ee.ts.net 2026-04-25 12:49
We use it at our office, but we also always laugh about how stupid that name is.
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@terrance_shaw@mastodon.world 2026-04-25 12:54
@Craigp@mastodon.social @Wildragon@mastodon.art Back when I was a kid and I first started playing with Linux and heard of GIMP, I thought “lol” at the name. Then as an adult I thought “that’s not very professional”. Then I got a job in a DoD software shop where they make apps called things like “LMAO” and “DP” and “FML”, and realized we’re all just dumb children.
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@marzhall@app.wafrn.net 2026-04-25 13:41
@Craigp@mastodon.social My bet: they're developers (like me). They don't have to ask anyone to install something on their machine, they just install it. The concept of having to pitch a "new program" is alien to them. I've had my gimp/inkscape combo on all my work machines since I started dev in 2011, but it's because devs get leeway they probably don't realize other departments don't.
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@deetz@mastodon.social 2026-04-25 14:16
@Craigp@mastodon.social The thing is, the P in GIMP stands for Program. But nobody calls them programs anymore, they call them "apps" and everyone just calls GNU Linux, "Linux". So instead of the GNU Image Manipulation Program. Why not call it the Linux Image Graphics Manipulation App. Or LIGMA of course.
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@Mahxiac@esperanto.masto.host 2026-04-25 14:55
@Craigp@mastodon.social i am only vaguely aware of the term gimp being some sort of insult and have literally never heard or seen it used except as the name of GIMP.
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@patrick@retro.social 2026-04-25 15:09
@Craigp@mastodon.social No problem at all using it in a professional context in Germany. And probably other countries that come without knowledge of this particular English slang term. So yeah, the developers knew of the term and referred to it (see some of their release logos) and actively refused to reconsider because edgy-or-something. That's a problem. Randos on the net not seeing a problem with the name due to a different cultural background is not.
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@maxotaf@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-04-25 15:09
I have used gimp at work with several employers. I know what Gimp means but never thought twice about it. If I stopped at every double-entendre I can spot or other word association I can come up with, I'd never get anything done
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@bituur_esztreym@pouet.chapril.org 2026-04-25 23:33
@Craigp@mastodon.social oh shit.. never have known, nor searched what it meant. not my mother tongue. just checked in wordreference.com, and wow what a combo.. and searched can't be unsearched.. oh my..
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@seachaint@masto.hackers.town 2026-04-25 23:46
@Craigp@mastodon.social Any time I mention it to people I have to apologise about the callously insulting name, and I tend to recommend they use Krita or Inkscape first even though they're more specialised. It reveals so much about the whole philosophy of the GNU Imp devs - this isn't socially thoughtful tech, it's someone's CV.
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@ChasMusic@ohai.social 2026-04-26 01:38
@Craigp@mastodon.social Not saying it's okay but I live with it. I always spell it out instead of saying it as a word.
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@puukkotonttu@social.linux.pizza 2026-04-26 06:57
@Craigp@mastodon.social I have been in an office where my boss specifically told me to install GIMP to edit an image. I see that the replies actually have several people telling that they use GIMP in an office setting. Just because you have never seen it used doesn't mean it's universally true. Also the name is in all caps indicating that it must be an acronym. Anyone getting offended by that sounds more like they're digging for trouble just for personal amusement, instead of trying to help the world in any way. Especially the ones that have already heard what the acronym stands for. I don't know how dead you think GIMP is but they recently released a new version with big improvements and I'm still using it like I've always used it. What actually is dead is Glimpse, a project purely focusing on the name change. The latest commit seems to be 5 years ago.
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@azuli@furries.club 2026-04-26 09:36
@Craigp@mastodon.social gimp at least could have been extended to show the full name. GNU image manipulation... program? I still don't get the weird love fore reduction English speakers have, and neither the love to make joke names on actual tools and projects.
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@targetdrone@mastodon.social 2026-04-26 14:56
@Craigp@mastodon.social Imagine another blockbuster movie with a big name cast that associates some other popular open source name with some other fetish, such that the name enters the zeitgeist before most people have heard of the tech. "Wow, did you see that scene where they were having ubuntu?" "Oh my god I can't believe they showed it on screen!" Try migrating your servers off Windows after that.
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@bobmagicii@phpc.social 2026-04-26 22:44
@Craigp@mastodon.social im trying to imagine a world where the gimp "died"
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@thesargard@mastodon.social 2026-04-27 12:52
@Craigp@mastodon.social Krita is always better than gimp imo