This GIMP issue means nothing to me, and I refuse to let a puritan (almost The Handmaid’s Tale-like) crew dictate societal norms.
Great, now I can stop renaming it on business PCs
Might look edgy or funny to some, but at the least isn’t professional and is offensive to many.
Gimp / retard / spaz
I always went the other way and would loudly announce when I needed to open it for photo editing “Time to bring out the GIMP!”
That’s not how the word gimp was used. It was a cripple. Somebody with a gimp was somebody with a limp.
I think they should keep both names and just have WLBR be the “enterprise” version.
However, in non-English speaking countries, nobody has an issue with GIMP. And even my very religious and Murican MIL uses Gimp. She doesn’t even know.
If anything, those discussions further the association, as they come up when you google “gimp program sexual” or sth like that.
It’s short for GNU image manipulation program. I mean, you could short it to imp, or rename it to Picture & Image Manipulation Program (PIMP).
Gimp is really just a rare/archaic ableist slur anyway - like to refer to someone with a limp or otherwise a leg/lack of a leg that impedes their gait. I’ve never heard it used in my life.
The sexual usage is from gay bdsm subculture in the 70s that the large majority of ppl aware of it are only aware because of Pulp Fiction.
My vote is for pimp
It meant that stretchy plastic craft string when I was a kid.
Yeah, which I hear is also called lanyard string, or even boondoggle.
The sexual usage is from gay bdsm subculture in the 70s that the large majority of ppl who are aware of it are only aware because of Pulp Fiction.
I had heard gimp/gimpy used to mean “limping or is otherwise gait-impaired” often enough that I assumed the Pulp Fiction character was called the Gimp because of his posture and gait. I was completely unaware of any scene/subculture meaning until reading threads like these.
Full disclosure about my own experience: I am a disabled person who has no strong emotional reaction to the term. I do limp, some days worse than others.
I wonder if it’s a regional thing? I’ve only ever heard it in movies or older TV shows. Where I live people are much more likely to just say “crippled” or describe someone as walking with a limp.
I was confused when I saw Pulp Fiction as a kid because I was like “why is this handicapped guy in a leather suit and what does him being hadicapped have to do with his apparent hobbies” lol. But like I said, never really heard it used in other contexts.
Gimp is really just a rare/archaic ableist slur anyway - like to refer to someone with a limp or otherwise a leg/lack of a leg that impedes their gait. I’ve never heard it used in my life.
I’ve only heard it used that way once in my life. When I was in high school (about 20 years ago), I hurt my leg while playing basketball and was on crutches for a few weeks. This one kid in one of my classes constantly referred to me as “gimp” throughout my recovery.
He saw Pulp Fiction and thought he was clever
Ive heard people say something “was gimped” to mean it was bad, weak, reduced, crippled, etc, so I think it is still common enough near me
You have to set the WLBR_IS_GIMP env variable to get the new name. So I guess that might be what they going for, at least for now?
I get what you are saying but IMO the old name was hurting adoption. Imagine the headlines if say some city or government announced they are moving to GIMP from photoshop or affinity.
The terrible UI is hurting adoption.
Adoption in English speaking countries only. Why is adoption equally terrible internationally if the name is to blame?
Seriously, the ONLY reason I actually know gimp has other meanings is because of discussions of the program.
I imagine them being something along the lines of ‘Government organisation X moves from Photoshop to free open source alternative’ or if a journalist is feeling funny ‘Government organisation X moves from paid image manipulation software (PIMP) to GIMP’.
Anyways, I think it’s only a minor issue limited to English speaking countries, and only a issue for people who already have issues
Pimp it is then!
I’m partial to SIMP
I propose Scriptable Image Manipulation Program (SIMP)
SIMPly genius!
Scriptable High Resolution Image Manipulation Program
Scriptable Huge Image Tool
It must be something that can’t possibly be construed as sexual innuendo, like Linux Image Manipulation Program (LIMP)…
It’s a GNU program, not a Linux program. It runs on multiple platforms.
eg: the Windows Image Manipulation System
Not the strongest name. Sounds kinda weak.
Maybe “Photographic Image Manipulation Program”?
Windows
Linux
BSD
Ringo (apple)image editor.
Great app though.
meh, it really feels overcomplicated for the stuff I can use it for and not sophisticated enough to do the stuff I could do easily in Photoshop already 15 years ago. It’s stuck in awkward place.
Hear me out… Everything doesn’t have to be an acronym.
EDHTBAA, got it
I dunno, I was fine with GNU Image Manipulation Program.
Its gonna get a lot of people angry and sweaty, but this is probably a good idea, long overdue. GIMP is just just not a professional sounding name.
I gather Wilbur is the name of the mascot, so WLBR makes sense.
Sooo, basically they’re changing the name that’s somewhat bad in English to the name that’s terrible in all languages? Huh.
I hope they really commit to this. Keep gimp as an option for the obstinate among us, but make wlbr the default. Gimp is, even to people who don’t recognize it as a slur, an informal and rude word and it makes it hard for people who already don’t care about open source to not just dismiss it out of hand when they hear that name.
Do we have any actual documentation of anybody who might be called a ‘gimp’ actually being offended by the name? Or is this just more performant bullshit?
Every time one of these changes is made it creates confusion for thousands or millions of people. And it creates a reload on other software packages and dependencies to change the name.
It is no different than software changing and interface for the sake of changing it. You are forcing your users to relearn something they already know which has a real cost in time and potentially in dollars.
Gimp does not refer to people with movement disabilities. It stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. You want to make things less offensive, double down on what the acronym stands for rather than changing it.
Instead of “I don’t believe people when they say that this word is harmful to them” try “I think it would be nice if we can live in a society that more people feel comfortable living in.” This simple shift in mindset is extremely healthy if you give it a try
You misunderstand me.
If someone with a physical impairment says that using this word in software is harmful TO THEM, I will ABSOLUTELY believe them at face value and probably agree with the name change.
Can you find me such a person? THAT is what I was saying in my post. I don’t see any evidence of actual offense happening. I see people trying to avoid offense, but no actual disabled people taking offense.
Got it. So basically you want to wait until after the harm has been done rather than proactively try to prevent the harm.
The name has been there for almost 20 years. If harm was going to happen, it would have already happened, would already be happening.
Consider drugs- if I invent a new drug, I have to run studies to ensure it’s not harmful. But if the drug’s been on the market for 20 years with many millions of doses consumed, I can look at the people who’ve taken it to see if it’s harmful.
What you’re saying is the drug’s been on the market for 20 years, there’s no reported harm in that time, but we should pull it off the market anyway. That makes no sense.
Can you find one single person anywhere at all who’s said ‘I’m disabled and the name GIMP is offensive’? Surely if the name hasn’t caused offense in the last two decades, it’s unlikely to cause offense in the next two decades?
Do we have any actual documentation of anybody who might be called a ‘gimp’ actually being offended by the name?
You want documentation that gimp is offensive? Go call your boss a gimp. They’ll give you some documentation. Feel free to share it here.
Gimp does not refer to people with movement disabilities. It stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program.
Pretending to not understand when an acronym spells a word is a new one to me. Maybe you should be writing bill names for congress.
Or is this just more performant bullshit?
I dunno about you, but last time I used it, gimp was pretty performant.
See? That’s me intentionally misunderstanding something obvious in order to ignore a point you’re making. See how transparent and ineffective it is?
You want documentation that gimp is offensive?
‘Gimp’ as referring to someone with a disability, is offensive. That’s not the only use of the word.
Or are you on the camp that we should rename IDE connections ‘master’ and ‘slave’ because a dark-skinned person might have a problem with that?
Pretending to not understand when an acronym spells a word
I understand exactly what it means. I am pointing out that it has more than one meaning.
The point of my original comment (which you apparently missed) was that GIMP has been called GIMP for years/decades… if in that time nobody has actually been offended by the name, then why is it important to change it now?
Let me give you an example- let’s say I make a piece of software called Web Output Parser, or WOP. Obviously ‘wop’ is a potentially offensive term, as it was once a slur that refers to people of Italian descent.
If my WEb Output Parser is used by millions over 15+ years, and not one single Italian-descent person reports offense, am I under some obligation to change the name to avoid a future offense that hasn’t occurred in almost two decades? Does the fact that the pejorative use of the word has gone out of common vocabulary make any difference?That’s why I say it’s performant. Renaming GIMP would cause a problem for millions of people who use, modify, and distribute GIMP, all to avoid an offense that hasn’t happened in almost 20 years.
its a name
“WLBR”
…just rolllrrrs … lorrrs … rolls off the tongue!
I think it’s a deliberately bad name chosen as a Malicious Compliance type fuck-you to people who wanted it to sound “professional”.
GIMP is GIMP. It’s been GIMP for decades, and that name carries history, recognition, and a community that built something genuine. Rebranding it to WLBR feels like throwing all of that away for the sake of optics that most longtime users like myself frankly don’t care about. It’s not progress in any way, it’s unnecessary self-erasure. GIMP works, GIMP is known as such, and GIMP should stay exactly what it is…
Also, WLBR sucks ass as a name. Just call it Glimpse at this point.
LibreOffice managed to dethrone OpenOffice, but many people still call it OpenOffice even after all these years.
Glimpse is already taken by an abandoned fork that simply changed the name.
The fact that longtime users like yourself can’t see the value in anyone else’s opinion here is pretty on point in my experience with this community.
How is arguing for one side of the issue “not seeing the value of anyone else’s opinion”.
Because to you it’s virtually meaningless other than some weird nostalgia. For schools it’s the difference between a teacher being able to promote the software to 30 kids at a time or not. You may think that’s stupid, so does the teacher, it doesn’t matter.
Can you not put words into my mouth?
How else do you expect anyone to take this? 🙄
Rebranding it to WLBR feels like throwing all of that away for the sake of optics that most longtime users like myself frankly don’t care about.
You wrote
Because to you it’s virtually meaningless other than some weird nostalgia
responding to my comment. I didn’t take any side, let alone argued from with nostalgia; where does the “you” come from?
Actually… I have quite a negative perception of GIMP. I’m primarily a Linux user, but I just remember it as something that’s either always felt obtuse to use, missing something I need, or sluggish for the more narrow processing I’m trying to do.
AFAIK that perception is more pronounced outside Linux.
I don’t care about a brand either way. But if the GIMP project is ready, I think a “fresh start” to draw in users without any preconceived notions is a good thing.
At first I didn’t like the idea of a name change. But WLBR is perfect (because I’m a wilbur fan).
It took me reading the comments here to get that it’s pronounced Wilbur. I don’t get why it needs to be an acronym
As in the pig from Charlotte’s Web?
I suppose so. I’d rather they spell it out for simple readability. Like I don’t know what Krita means but easy to read. Kate text editor may mean something, I don’t know. Kdenlive is easy to read. Don’t know what the ‘den’ part is supposed to mean
Apparently it’s “KDE Non-Linear Video Editor”. At least kdenlive is easy to read in my opinion
I mean corporate names aren’t better meaning wise, they just have WAY more marketing behind them so they sound natural by virtue of being in your face until you capitulate.
What does 10^100 have to do with search engines? Also they spelled it wrong.
What does the biggest rainforest in the world have to do with shopping?
What do slight muscle spasms have to do with streaming?
What does a fruit have to do with shitty locked down phones and computers?
What does a colloquial superlative prefix have to do with taxis and food delivery?
What does the sound of a clock have to do with short videos? And before that it was a plant structure.
What does a reflective finish/coating have to do with web browsing?
All of those are pronouncable words.
WLBR isn’t a word, and the W makes it way too long to pronounce the letters separately in English. And Wilbur sounds old. It’s just not a good name, no matter which way you look at it.They should have gone with Imp.
Or better: GNU IMP
Krita means crayon in Swedish. Also “Rita” means to draw, so the name is well fitting for us.
And that’s exactly why it’s called Krita. Also it was previously called ‘Krayon’, so they just kind of kept the name.
One of the Wright brothers maybe? Still has nothing to do with image editing though.
No it’s the name of the mascot
It’s not open source unless the package name is a scabby dumpster fire.
Who is frail enough to have a problem with GNU Image Manipulation Program
It’s not about having s problem, but turning away or excluding people or even businesses that are used to more mature or serious names. WLBR is not great, in my humble opinion. On the other hand, I’m not very passionate about this topic as long as the software itself serves me well. And it does.
Fix your title. The answer is “no”. People are getting the wrong idea.
From GIMP team: We are NOT rebranding GIMP
Take a time to read the commit messages and the commit diff.
Too bad Krita sucked for my express purpose of shitposting when I tried that.
I feel like GIMP is (as of writing) the only good, still maintained thing still on “gn*me.org”
