No problem. If you can get a hold of the latest dev builds (2.9 series) I believe they've also finally incorporated 16-bit editing, which is another big thing a lot of people want. Still a work in progress though.

Thing is though, in photoshop you aren't constrained by a single window for images either. In CS6 at least, images are at first tabbed but you can tear off a tab like you can in a browser, and the image will appear in a standalone window, not constrained to the main photoshop window at all. So it seems like you're in agreement with the photoshop developers anyway.

But both GIMP and Photoshop provide a single-window mode should people want it. All I use a bitmap editor for is for making the occasional avatar, messing about with photos and fairly often for taking a high-res image and cropping/adjusting/resizing it for a suitable desktop wallpaper. You can call me a noob if you like, but noobs like me are widespread and for US at least, it helps to keep things simple with a single window. But like I said, the option is still there.

Maybe you were just worried that UI development seems to be heading away from power users like yourself, and I understand. It's my pet peeve with desktop UIs nowadays, particularly in Linux. So long as options exist for everyone though, I think they should be embraced, particularly if it means more people can use computers to do something creative for a change without things being more difficult than they have to be.

If you're opening lots of images, they'll all just get tabbed neatly in the main window (plus from memory you can switch between images easily using hotkeys). If you're just working on one or two images at once though (so likely most people) a single window mode is great.

HOWEVER... I appreciate that some people prefer multiple windows, and guess what? That feature is still there and likely won't disappear any time soon. So I don't see what's so bad about the fact we have the best of both worlds now in GIMP.

It's certainly easier that it used to be. The only reason I can put up with it now is because of the single window mode. People were ranting and raving that adding this was somehow bad because it would be pandering to the limitations of Windows... even though it ends up making life so much simpler for those of us who don't care about operating system fanboyism and just want to be able to work without having to manage multiple windows in the world's most popular operating system.

No, I mean he could be messing around with a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino, something like that. The knowledge gained from such things (Linux, registers, I/O) would be far more valuable than that from endlessly tweaking hardware.

You might want to consider doing something more useful with your life. Nothing against playing games of course (I do it too), but if you're gonna waste time overclocking/watercooling/SLIing shit, question if you'll regret the wasted time spent playing games when you're older and have more wisdom.

I understand your point and think it's articulated well.

To round out the discussion though, I'll provide two irrefutable examples of why word processors are still important:

1. When I was hunting for a job about two years ago, I noticed that for a large portion of online applications the instructions often suggested submitting one's resume/CV in .doc format (same thing with recruiters). Someone told me this because macros can be run across the uploaded files and pre-fill things like names, addresses and work experience details from the expected labels people uses in CVs into the applications themselves, or to a database of applications at the target. Some places were more flexible and allowed RTF/PDF as well, but .doc was still quite prevalent as the preferred format. When you've been looking for work for a long time, it's hard not to give them what they want.

2. My wife is doing a Masters by coursework. She uses Word and submits her reports and assignments online using the University's uploader in .doc format. She COULD learn how to use LyX and export to PDF and that might still work... except that she's also a teacher and so the use of MS Office is prevalent anyway. She'd probably see no advantage in using LyX/LaTeX over Word, and I'm not crazy enough to tell her otherwise.

The point is that all the bloat and legacy stuff that people give Windows crap for is the very stuff that allows someone to play these older games because legacy support is important, at least for a user-facing operating system. There's a balance of course between legitimately removing a subsystem because it's no longer useful to anyone, and removing a subsystem because it's old. Microsoft knows this because of its large userbase it has to (try to) keep happy, but most Linux distros don't have that legacy to deal with, so they don't.

And unlike some others here, I fully accept that. Unfortunately I doubt Adobe is gonna recommit to the Linux world any time soon (still bitter over them abandoning the Flash plugin).

And how am I suppose to appreciate this fact when the alternatives aren't standing out as an o.verall improvement? LyX/LaTeX for example seems to be useless if you don't use a class/template file to match what it is you want to do. If you just want to freestyle the layout, a word processor seems to be far easier and more flexible in terms of changing things on the fly. For my thesis at least the University provided one, but there were times I wanted to made modifications to the layout and the inflexibility of LyX at least was annoying (though I know, you're not supposed to be messing with the layout in LaTeX, that's the whole damn point).

Perhaps I'm just confused by the fact that the rest of the world uses Word, the world seems to keep on spinning despite this, and yet you're telling me this is wrong for some reason. I don't have to do what everyone else is doing, sure. But it sounds almost like grumpy-old-man syndrome coming from you (said with the best of intentions).

Oh God... maybe YOU'RE my supervisor! Hi Greg! :)

Unfortunately I feel the same way. I know it's stupid - we want Windows to suck so we'd have a motivation to move to Linux, but Windows 7 doesn't (not really anyway). However, I still try to future-proof things by sticking to games that have (or are likely to have) Linux builds because I don't expect to be running Windows forever, and I'd like to have an "exit strategy" so that I can go back to Linux with the least amount of pain and the greatest amount of compatible software, should I decide that it's counter-productive to stick with Windows any longer. Windows 8 might be the first step, but it's gonna take a while.

Sounds like you're more concerned about the purity of the task rather than the outcome. If Word can be used to write a thesis (completely with diagrams, tables and other elements), then it has done its job. Doesn't matter if LaTeX was a better option for this sort of thing - Word is easier, more accessible and more approachable (partially due to its pervasiveness, and partly due to its interface). It still gets the job done, and if your thesis is approved and published and you get your Ph.D out of it... then it did its job properly too.

I wrote my thesis using LyX (a LaTeX GUI frontend for, well, humans) because my supervisor told me to, and said if I write it in Word he would "kill me". That was the only reason I did so - without prompting I would have gone onto use Word like almost everyone else in my department. I doubt he'd literally destroy me (I hope anyway), and LyX to be honest is quite nice and capable and I finished the thesis just fine using it. But... Word would still have worked. Nowadays I would have used LibreOffice just because I like FOSS, but the same point remains.

You can argue about how things should be, but the OP's issue is with regards to how things are. I know you're right, but ultimately any issues I've had between version of Office pale in comparison to the failure to parse .doc/.docx files in say, LibreOffice. LO is getting better all the time of course and they kinda have their hands tied, and I appreciate the work they do to provide an alternative. But it's still a Microsoft world and using what everyone else does (so MS Office) is pretty damn useful.

What's with the double-quotes around "alternatives"? People have poured a ton of development time and effort into things like the GIMP such that even if it isn't appreciated by those who probably pirated the Creative Suite to begin with, it's still of significant value particularly as a cross-platform bitmap editor.

Maybe I'm just wired differently, but I see using things like GIMP to be somewhat liberating, as it means I'm not tied to Adobe's whims and licensing bullshit, plus I know my files will be accessible on Linux even if I don't use Linux right now (so they're future-proofed). The feeling of knowing you can create great content with open tools is pleasant. All one needs to do of course is learn them, just like one learns Photoshop.

Having said that, I'm just defending the alternatives from blanket dismissal. It's quite possible things like GIMP cannot do what you want, in which case sticking with Windows sounds perfectly reasonable. Except for Nero - good God man, that cannot be defended!

Xcom 2012, Civ 5, Elemental Fallen Enchantress, Fallout New Vegas, Battlefield 3, and Medieval 2 Total War

Umm... well...

We have OpenArena, will that do? :)

Ok, well it sounds like there's no reason to move to Linux for you (and to be fair to OpenArena it's not that bad, it's just not what you'd want). To be honest I'm trying to eliminate my love for gaming because it's a huge time-sink and I fear I'm addicted to it (I want to do more productive things in my free time, otherwise I'm gonna regret all the gaming I did when I get sufficiently older). So if I have to give up certain games I will not feel to bad about it. But not everyone feels regret over spending so much time playing them, so I do not judge those who won't move because of it.

Still, your comment "I find Linux more frustrating to use" is gonna piss off some as apparently this is impossible - Windows is supposed to be the frustrating OS, not Linux! :)