It's hopeless

I needed to edit some images on a laptop that doesn't have Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements, which is a great app). So I figure, it's been a few years, let me download the open source image editing application "Gimp". Maybe it's technically called "The GIMP", I'm not sure. There's probably a recursive acronym in there, but clearly this is the work of a group whose branding efforts would probably name a PowerPoint clone "The Retard". Sheer incompetence. But I digress.

I downloaded the oddly-packaged .zip file that makes up the prerequisites for the application on Windows. Fortunately, I knew enough to look for a Windows-optimized distribution of the app, otherwise it would have been hopeless. Interestingly, they split the prerequisite GTK libraries (whatever those are) from the actual program download, so you have to download two files instead of one. All this so cut download size from 11.5 megs to about 8 megs. I am pretty sure that's less than a minute of my time. Thanks, The GIMP team!

They have a little message that says "If this is the first time you're installing The GIMP, you will also need GTK+ 2 Runtime Environment below." How 'bout you just include that crap and then detect if it's needed? I'm barely more competent than a monkey, and I know how to do that kind of stuff in Windows installer.

Having deduced that I was on the right path, I had to CHOOSE A MIRROR. I know what that means, but most people who have either 1. been exposed to sunlight or 2. experienced sexual congress with another human probably will not.

After basking in this lunacy for a while, I ran a couple of pretty normal Windows installers. Setup, click click, that sort of thing. And then the true lunacy began.

Here's step four of the Windows installer's screen:

(n.b. The seizure-inducing color scheme is the default selected by the program's creators; This is for a product designed to be used by people who work in the realm of aesthetic expression.)

The most amazing thing is that we're manually asking people to manually configure "the so-called 'Tile Cache'". No, what's truly amazing is that they made a drop-down control so that you could choose the UNITS OF MEASURE FOR YOUR CACHE SETTINGS .

(*)@$#(*#%(#*&%(*&#%(*&##(*%&

Holy crap that makes me want to plotz. Track this team down. Find the boy responsible. Bring him to me.

I will try to refrain from reviewing the actual application later. And Mark, you can advocate all you want . Those of us who give a shit about our quality of life would rather suffer eventual data loss and the potential for our formats not lasting in perpetuity than endure this burden. Honestly, my cat pictures aren't that important.

Welcome, Daring Fireball readers! Please note, this was a late night rant to my friends about an app that was driving me crazy. I supports lots of open source efforts, and I know the Gimp isn't made for profit, it's a labor of love, and I'm sure it's a really great app, but this was just me making a funny, no need to send the flame emails. In fact, if you want, fix the silly drop-down on setup and we'll call it even. Cool?