Hands-on: new single-window mode makes GIMP less gimpy

I think that the single window mode is something that has been lacking for quite a while. Sure, it possibly means little to dedicated GIMP users, but to we "outcasts" (yep, I run Photoshop7 in Crossover Office, but that is a Windows legacy; I actually bought it many years ago, and have used versions of the software for about 10 years, so why waste it ?) a single window version feels very "comfy" and encourages one to look at the software a little more deeply. I think it is an enormous step in the right direction and should gain the GIMP quite a few additional users. What is nice, is that the "floating windows" format will still be available for "traditional users".

And for something that might start a rabid war of words: change the software's horrible, meaningless name. The word GIMP to a newcomer means nothing. To me, it is a venerable name that tells me it is a piece of software that is more or less able to do the same job as Photoshop version X, but but for those just entering the Linux world, I often wish it could be named in the same way that Photoshop is named: you pretty well intuitively know what Photoshop will do, just by looking at its name, but that isn't so for "GIMP". Just a thought, but why not ?

I have mixed feelings. I like the old interface as long as I dedicate one virtual desktop to Gimp. But when I have other apps open it gets messy. The advantage of the old interface is I can easily manage having multiple images open at once for editing. Guess I'll have to try the new one and see how it works.

Same here. I can see times when I'd like both interfaces. I'll have to give a try to the single-window mode when the new version shows up in portage.

I see you can switch between open images using image tabs, which is cool, but it'd be nice if they gave the option to "detach" one. So if you like the one-window mode, but sometimes need to yank one off*, you can.

* not a euphemism

Hey GIMP, stop destroying my metadata in JPEGs ... DigiKam (with Kipi plugins) and Gthumb don't do it, and you shouldn't either. Every photojournalist in the world embeds captions and credits in IPTC format. Your refusal to preserve or edit that data makes your otherwise excellent application a useless heap as far as I'm concerned.

No, I'm not a developer, and I can't hack at the problem myself. I just moved on to less-capable, less-destructive-of-data alternatives.

Have one window, have 3 windows, I don't care.