even though we’re all in this journey seeking for it, not everyone is being held back by the same chains, all of us are at different stages of “freedom development” for different reasons. (age, sex, heritage, career path, etc.)
if the graphic design tool of your preference doesn’t limit your freedom, you can probably think of other things that do.

“you aren’t free if you don’t go all free software” is not an ideal, it’s a bumper sticker slogan.
(“LIVE FREE OR DIE” would be an ideal since it doesn’t require any particular implementation or brand of “free” as mandatory)

freedom doesn’t come in a gift box, there’s ALWAYS strings attached, there’s responsibilities, software can be “free as in freedom” and software can be free of charge, but freedom as in human liberty is NEVER for free.

actual people in the real world who are actually doing something to free themselves and help others be free acknowledge these realities instead of lecturing others with bumper sticker slogans.

that being said, I’m glad you like the GIMP, I have friends who wrote large chunks of code for it (you’re running that code when you use GIMP) but there’s a number of problems the GIMP doesn’t solve for me in my actual real world work.
(if there’s any doubt: humane real world work != software freedom)

I thought it was clear the topic of discussion was about “Desktop Virtualisation Today”. GIMP doesn’t need to be virtualised, so discussing GIMP here is besides the point.

millions of pros out there use Photoshop, and virtualisation is one very powerful tool that can help them to be ‘freer’.
(if not entirely free to your satisfaction, please bear with them)

I do use GIMP for simple tasks, but any professional artist will tell you GIMP is just not up to par with Photoshop.
acknowledging this reality is what moves us forward and make us work harder to achieve our ideals.

GIMP gets better all the time and it’s in wide use by thousands who aren’t professional artists, and that’s a good thing.
some others will just have to keep fighting the battles they have chosen and the wars they have decided they can fight with the best of their efforts.

LIVE FREE OR DIE
http://www.unix.org/license-plate.html

cheers,

vruz

thanks for dropping by !