Posts by that one in the corner

Photoshop FOSS alternative GIMP wakes up from 7-year coma with version 3.0

YT telling you how to gimp your leather shoes - kinky!

You want to rename Theora Ogg? I wouldn't say that sort of thing out loud you only attract attention - hello Nanny, what was that? No, no, I said Theora was a lovely ribbit ribbit

Re: No I won't

The first MPU I owned was an RCA CDP 1802, and whilst it didn't have as good a collection as you've illustrated[1] it did provide the X and Y regs, with Set Y being SEY and ...

[1] not help by not having an assembler at all - hand-coded hex, 16 push keys and a "load" switch were all I 'ad (cue "keys? You had keys? You were lucky!" responses)

The UK is STUNNED! GIMP used to damage the minds of Primary School children!

> And you're suggesting that a program ... would be taught in primary schools?

Yes.

Bishopton Primary School used it to create images then used to spruce their school Created with GIMP (not a great gallery presentation, it is clearer if you directly search their site which picture they are highlighting).

Wheelers Hill Primary School downloads page says it isn't necessary for their teaching program, but may be useful for pupils to follow their own interests.

But the (surely, to your mind, evil, EEEEVILLLLL), Cawthorne Church Of England (VC) Primary School computing curriculum in YEAR 1!

Heavens, GIMP was even a recommended program back when BECTA was in existence, in the Before Times when they were just trying to get schools to indulge in all this tech and STEM sort of stuff: Using Open Source Software in Schools. So it is probably in so many schools now that it is just part of the day to day.

And once they get out into Secondary school, why, it is rife: CEA Using ICT Desirable Features for Key Stage 3 (KS3 - that is just one year out of Primary, isn't it? Whilst their minds are still - malleable - and we can bend them to our vile usage).

(It is the weekend, I'll stop at those citations, it is getting a bit tedious having to do the homework for people like Lord Elpuss.

Re: [citation needed]

True, but before then people would have complained that XIMP would be pronounced like ZIMP like CIMP like SIMP - and calling someone "a simp" is not exactly polite. Calling it - no, I can not bear to use that word, you know what it is - might be hailed as a great step forwards.

Although, looky here, googling for that shows the word "simp" has changed its meaning and now refers to someone who is too deferrent to women for a nearby misygonist to bear. A much lesser usage than what it used to mean.

FWIW I was introduced to GIMP at work, in a perfectly professional environment (those who ventured outside all wore suits, we all filled in the relevant due diligence forms etc etc, as well as getting to actually write code and do the good stuff).

Nobody ever really cared one jot about it, beyond "that looks useful, can I have a copy?" (at which point we'd just refer them, as I was, to the internal webpages[1] with instructions).

As grown ups, we just took a useful tool and used it. No snickering - or any other reaction, really.

Since then, it has just been around in all my later jobs - in one, which runs a security system that gets vetted by the MoD, engineering did have to put in a formal note to say we'd like to have it added to the list of available tools to which the response was - ok, fine, we'll virus check it for you the first time (later we had to tell them not to download it from SourceForge, but that is a whole other story).

[1] before the days of this "Intranet" malarkey

Re: names

You decided long ago to "move on" and not use GIMP - so this whole discussion is totally irrelevant to you and your work, all your examples of the hardship it will cause you are simply not happening, nothing that GIMP does or does not do, is or is not named, actually affects you in any way at all.

And you've made it clear that you're not going to actually try to do anything practical to alter the situation.

One could start to wonder about precisely why are you so desperate to hang onto that oldest definition of a word and declaim about it here.

Shrug.

Re: ah yes, the free graphics tool made by coders for ... coders (and not all bad for that!)

Have you had a look at the PhotoGIMP plugin, as TFA mentions?

It may make the UI Photoshop enough for you to get along with it. Even if you already get Photoshop for free, and don't really have any particular need to move across, it would be useful to know, from a Photoshop user's[1] p.o.v., how good (or bad) PhotoGIMP is.

[1] which isn't me

If you had wanted to use the software, as explained before, you are - and always have been - 100% at liberty to make the minor changes to the program to make it show any other 4-character name[1]

If it wasn't worth that minimal effort, then you aren't a potential user and your entire "argument" is a meaningless counterfactual.

It you believe it is worth some effort, then off you pop and do the renaming, put it into a project up on your favourite public source code server and then calmly, quietly, approach the project and say "hey, I have an itty bitty little script that just might be useful for some of you users, can we consider adding it in, it won't affect anything or anyone else at all" - and you may Be The Change You Want To See.

> Can you see that there might have been a problem if it can been called the Noncommercial Interactive Graphic Generation and Editing Resource - or would that just be an inconsequential name too?

Now you are just being silly - as has also already been pointed out, by multiple people, the name you object is not a universal usage, unlike your deliberately OTT example. Even the usage from the character in Pulp Fiction, as the original authors admit to doing, is a sexual reference, not an ableist one, and is clearly not considered beyond the pale by everybody.

[1] 4 characters needs a trivial amount of edting, more than that needs to be rebuilt from source.

I got busted?

When you have made no attempt whatsoever to provide citations as requested?

Oh, you are a card.

Re: [citation needed]

> The INVENTOR quite LITERALLY said that he started with the name The Gimp, inspired by the BDSM slave submissive character in Pulp Fiction, and then worked backwards from this to find a name that fitted the acronym.

From the words of the INVENTOR, as per link already posted: in their interview for The GIMP Gazette:

>> We knew we wanted an image manipulation program like Photoshop, but the name IMP sounded wrong. We also tossed around XIMP (X Image Manipulation Program) following the rule of when in doubt prefix an X for X11 based programs. At the time, Pulp Fiction was the hot movie and a single word popped into my mind while we were tossing out name ideas. It only took a few more minutes to determine what the 'G' stood for.

They quite LITERALLY said that he started with the name IMP[1], wanted ONE LETTER MORE, tried out an "X", *then* inspired by a word they'd heard in the film "Pulp Fiction".

> Which bit of this is difficult for you?

None of it. Let us turn that around:

Q: Which bit of this is difficult for you?

(apparent A: not being able to read, not being able to speak the truth)

[1] can *YOU* tell the difference between starting with "IMP" and starting with "GIMP" - note, *NOT* "The Gimp", just "GIMP".

> No wonder Linux for the desktop hasn't come yet ... Nobody knows what the hell it's called

"Linux". It's called "Linux". The clue is right there in your own words.

Go to a supplier and say "I would like Linux, please; I am not an expert, but I want to do X, Y and Z, can you supply me with that?". Just like getting hold of anything, they may get enthuasiastic and start spouting loads of other words, but all you have to do is politely interrupt and repeat that you are not an expert and are only interested in getting your tasks done.

This is really no different than anything else, especially if you encounter somebody who knows their subject - perhaps you have never been fortunate enough to meet such a person?

"No wonder the age of the automobile hasn't come yet" (have you tried buying a car? "Zetec"? What the hell is that)

"No wonder everybody still sews by hand" ("Feed dogs"? )

"No wonder bicycles aren't popular" ("Front Derailleur"? "Cassette sprockets"? So many different stupid names)

To the downvoter, who presumably couldn't be fagged to check:

Gimps and braids are flat decorative trimmings used to embellish the edges of soft furnishings, adding the perfect finishing touches to curtains, blinds, cushions and furniture pieces.

(AC: applaud your knowledge, but next time a citation, pretty please?)

> "GNU Image Manipulation Program" is clearly a backronym invented to justify an edgelord ableist slur.

> backronym

They were choosing ONE LETTER to go with the "IMP" they already had, rejected "X" and then remembered a word from a film.

> clearly ... invented to justify an edgelord ableist slur.

"edgelord" - (shakes head at the depths being plumbed)

"Justify a slur"? Citation needed. You have definitive proof that they were in a situation where the word was used as slur, that they knew that and that thery deliberately and willfully decided to go with that interpretation? Citation most definitely needed.

You *may* have had a reasonable case for saying "a group of people, I do not know how large it is but I am one, prefer not to use this word in any context and wish to see the program change its name".

But now you are making such unjustified and unproven allegations that you lose all credibility in this matter.

Re: [citation needed]

> So it was quite literally a backronym; starting with the BDSM term and working backwards until they came up with something remotely justifiable to fill it

Working backwards - ONE LETTER that they were deciding upon!

Apparently, the word started out as a slur, then it became used more often to refer to the sexual goings on and, of course, nowadays, is also used to refer to a pretty neat piece of software.

Words do change their meaning over time and we could just let the oldest usage slide into oblivion, but there are those who are determined to keep that in the forefront of our minds.

>> I have never heard it used in that way in the 54 years I've been on this planet

> (references in dictionaries)

> you should probably look it up first before commenting

There are many defintions of words in dictionaries, recording the myriad ways they have been used in the past and in the present; being able to demonstrate a dictionary definition of a word indicates nothing - not a sausage, nada - about whether somebody has ever come across that usage of the word.

> Saves you looking like a gimp.

As would responding to what somebody actually reported in their comment.

Re: ZERO attempt to make GTK4 backwards compatible

Whups - mouso. My comment (currently immediately below yours) was meant to be a reply to this.

Re: names

> It's just easier and less confrontational to choose a non-controversial name in the first place, especially with busy clients who make snap judgements and then move on - often without even telling you why.

If it is truly that damaging to you, yet still a useful enough program to have around that you feel the urge to complain so strongly, you are - and always have been - absolutely at liberty to make your copy no longer announce itself as "GIMP": a few minutes work with an editor on the binary will do the trick, and change the menu/shortcuts of course, if you do not feel up to rebuilding from source.

If you decide that you are going to distribute copies to your clients, all you need do to satisfy the licence is to put the editing into a little script (bash or bat or ..., depending upon your chosen platform) and supply that to them alongside the modified binary. You can even get together with like-minded souls and "start a project" - heck, so long as you go about it sensibly, you might even manage to get your little editing script added as an extra into the mainstream repo, to be used by anyone who wished to. After that, who knows - it may even become the norm to do so. Go on, Be The Change!

As you haven't claimed to have taken steps to fix "the problem" yourself - or I'm sure we'd've heard you complaining instead about the annoyance of having to do that - then it is starting to sound like this whole situation with your supposed clients is - vastly overblown.

Recompiling against a new major version number is expected.

Having to *finally* get around to removing your calls to those bits of the API that were marked as "deprecated" 4 years ago - yeah, ok, guess we gotta.

Looking through the API change log for Good Stuff (that we can put into our dev plan and take care to think about) we'll see a few more things that are *now* marked "deprecated" - ok, put those into the dev plan (but probably use the new stuff first, as that'll be visible to Users and justify our new release).

All of the above, fine and dandy.

But - well, that isn't *quite* the way that the GNOME people think. Have a look at the other comments here about the forced changes to the UI. And to illustrate just how "helpful"(!) GNOME devs are, have a read of their plans announced back in 2016: “Gtk 4.0 is not Gtk 4” … and that’s OK:

> Meanwhile, Gtk 4.0 will not be the final stable API of what we would call “Gtk 4”. Each 6 months, the new release (Gtk 4.2, Gtk 4.4, Gtk 4.6) will break API and ABI vs. the release that came before it. These incompatible minor versions will not be fully parallel installable

Yes, they were *planning* both API and ABI breakage with point releases, on a 6 month schedule. Doesn't seem like much of a reason to try and track point changes in your own app, you'll never get anything else done!

JASC did manage to slow PSP down with their - let us say, ambitions - but that is nothing compared to what Corel have done to the poor thing! I have a collection of PSP versions going back over the years, but managed to get stuck on PSP8 (far too new!) after being handed files that seem to need it.

IrfanView is definitely always the first call (when on Windows): double-click and - tada! PSP8 - how can it take so looong to start on this PC?! Did I really have that much patience back in 2003?

More fool me, I did buy a PSP 2021 licence - but at least it was from Humble Bundle, in the $1 bundle IIRC (higher tiers being Corel Painter etc - yikes!). For a giggle, I just clicked on the 2021 shortcut, waited, waited, waaaited - and then WinDbg appeared. Hokay. IrfanView it is.

Re: names

The best way to "defuse"[1] a word is simply to keep using it in another situation, one that clearly isn't in any way attached to whatever the perceived "bad" meaning is, until that is the first thing that comes to mind.

The people who try to ban or otherwise hide a word are (deliberately or not) only letting the word keep any power to insult that it (once, may have, in some part of the world) had.

[1] sorry, there must be a better phrase for that; it isn't "reclaiming", that has other implications, but it is the same basic mechanism at work.

Re: [citation needed]

At the risk of being pedantic (!) it started out as the "General Image Manipulation Program", a student project, it was changed to "GNU ..." after it started to grow and the authors talked to Stallman; this is all described in their interview for The GIMP Gazette in 1997 they "also tossed around XIMP (X Image Manipulation Program) following the rule of when in doubt prefix an X for X11 based programs".

All of the main points about this are still in the GIMP documentation on its website: A Brief (and Ancient) History of GIMP.

But, yes, the released versions have always been spelt the same way.

Re: GTK3!? Oh no!

It is sort of unfortunate that GTK is no longer under the control of the GIMP project - it is just weird hearing over so many years how GIMP isn't compatible with the latest versions of The GIMP ToolKit.

Trump orders all government IT contracts consolidated under GSA

Dismantling the Department of Education

From the EO linked in TFA:

> The Department of Education currently manages a student loan debt portfolio of more than $1.6 trillion. This means the Federal student aid program is roughly the size of one of the Nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo. But although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid. The Department of Education is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.

In other words, the DoE is 100 times *more* efficient than Wells Fargo[1] and in a move that is all about efficiency[2] it is the DoE who gets canned?

And as for "return authority over education to the States and local communities", well, the book bans in schools are just getting started and if you thought "Pi is to equal to 3" was stupid, wait until you read the Christian (i.e. Creationist) science textbooks!

Not being in the US and this not having an *immediate* obvious route to damaging international relations or finances (the coming Marching Morons still have to work their benighted way through the schools system) this isn't going to affect me & mine badly in the short term, but I'd like to look forwards to a few more Hollywood blockbusters in the coming decades: "Jack Reacher : Gospel Worth Dying For" does not appeal. Could be worse, though: so far I've not heard of[3] any push to go so far that we'd get James Bond in "The World is Not Flat Enough"

[1] yes, yes, I know WF does a wider variety of products, but then 100 times 1,500 is less than 200,000

[2] yeah, pull the other one

[3] please don't disabuse me, not until after the weekend at least

Central purchasing == you get the model *we* give you

And are grateful for it.

NASA are ok for the moment, but all too soon:

'No, you can't have a ThinkPad, how many times have we told you? What do mean, "this laptop isn't ISS validated"? It has Bluetooth and USB-C, that means it can do everything!'

Datacenters near Heathrow seemingly stay up as substation fire closes airport

Re: Questions will doubtless be asked

How could anyone forget that?

"Were you truly wafted here from Paradise?” “Nah, mate, Luton Airport!”

Weeks with a BBC Micro? Good enough to fix a mainframe, apparently

Re: Loud printers

> Zenith H-89 and Zenith Z-100 systems running CP/M with probably 4mb of RAM

4 milli-bits of RAM? Well, that wouldn't quite manage DOS, so CP/M it would have to be.

Sorry, couldn't resist. But 4MB would have been a marvel to behold on a Z-100 (max 768KB) let alone the Heath H-89/Zenith Z-89 (max 64KB)! Remember drooling over the Heath version in the catalogue, never got my hands on one. Probably all to the best.

Maybe we're so used to 32GB or more that 4MB sems so very tiny, we forget how little RAM is - was - *actually* needed to get useful work done.

Re: Typing Pools...

> I had to read that twice to spot even the first mistake

Lately, I've been missing so many typos, missing words, doubled words, etc due to "brain autocorrect" that my rate of proofreados has skyrocketed.

Re: hot plug

Hard lighting?

So the only thing Legion did to Rimmers light bee was to jimmy the microwave door?

Re: "I think that transducer has incorrect coefficients"

Or recognising the half-built Interocitor shoved in a corner.

Seriously, did *anybody* get the full set of screwdrivers needed for that thing?

Feds charge three over Molotov attacks on Tesla sites in multiple states

> FFS, it's not terrorism, it's just a crime.

Legal Eagle's latest Boycotting Tesla illegal? goes over this[1]. There is a reason why the charges are "labelled" as "domestic terrorism", they can only be charged with the actual crimes (damage to property, danger to life - using the appropriate wording) , the "label" is just there so Trump, the FBIS etc can say something super scary about them.

[1] briefly, it is only a short, vertical format and all :-(

Re: Why not ...

... just park your Tesla for a service or drive it around outside a few times?

Obviously, you want to avoid any harm to people, just to the buildings, so you take care to 'phone in and warn them that there is a Tesla nearby and the threat that poses. Except that making that 'phone call is an act of terrorism.

Which raises the question, how do you legally book a Tesla in for a service?

Re: Double standards?

> The protest at the Capitol was directed at the government. ... If you look at the First Amendment, it specifically states the right of the people to protest and petition the government for redress. It is there in black and white.

You seem to have missed out an important word there, so let's have a look are it in black and white (well, whatever colours your browser does hyperlinks in); emphasis added:

>> Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

("petition" means a written request, so again, peaceably - you aren't allowed to use the box of signatures as a literal bludgeon).

Accenture: DOGE's federal procurement review is hurting our sales

The GSA's guidance would determinate contracts

"Would make the contracts determinate" or "would set determinate limits/values/whatever on/in the contracts" or ...

Or do you think he has just said the the GSA would "terminate" any non-critical contracts?

With grammar like that they deserve all they get.

Oracle JDK 24 appears in rare alignment of version and feature count

Re: Lawyer safety

The JDK is dual licensed, one of which is GPL. The other is Oracle's commercial licence, which removes any "risk"[1] from using the GPL.

If you already have a copy under the GPL, you can keep using that copy.[2]

Oracle are at liberty to stop dual-licensing on a whim, for the entire JDK: the next point release need be nothing more than a licence change.

You old GPLed copy - gets older. As an individual, you may not care. Which is fine.

[1] Remember, it isn't LGPL, it is GPL - no linking your code to a library (or a JVM) unless you want to GPL your code as well. The "CLASSPATH exemption" may be sufficient, but be very, very careful checking that. Safest just to pay Oracle.

[2] if you intend to pass a copy on to another party, be sure to download everything you need to pass on to them - Oracle aren't responsible for letting them download any missing bits.

VA IT contract cancellation DOGE boasted about ... was due to end in 10 days anyway

> Libs sure are funny.

Exes are hilarious, dlls are satirical - but objs are miserable buggers and makefiles are obsessed with dependent relationships, it's no joking matter.

> It's a shame so many are in IT.

Well, we've tried setting them to work on the farms (build, that is), but now things are rusty, which causes its own problems.

Re: When they realise that DOGE cut out the meat

Scary idea[1], but OTOH the recruitment poster writes itself, assuming he wanted people with experience:

"Ex gov? GovX!"

Although that line would be the only good(ish) thing that could come from that idea.

[1] but believable, fitting in nicely with his current strategy of buying State governments one by one, then to be paid to own the federal government - and without all the fuss and bother of being elected. Which he couldn't be, of course.

Ubuntu 25.10 plans to swap GNU coreutils for Rust

Re: License @Rich 2

> One can't make someone put a license on their copyrighted code, just because they've put it in a publicly accessible place.

Very true. The problem is that Rich 2 is repeatedly saying *here* that he wants people to be free to do what they want with his code but he also states that he is explicitly *not* saying that in the code itself. Which just sems rather contrary.

> that's cause to contact the copyright holder and enquire as to what licensing terms might be granted

That can also happen, very true. But you also expect to see the author making that offer first, so it would probably have to be an exceptional circumstance where anyone would consider trying to make that contact. If they even have usable contact details.

> probably counts as "fair use"

Careful, that is not a universally accepted term (really, it is just a US concept and definitely has no meaning in the UK).

> that can not be changed after the fact..

I still use PS/2 keyboards every day, and have spares for when these go phut. With a tiny little USB converter on the plug.

A PS/2 to USB converter is - and always has been - way, way cheaper than getting a new keyboard of decent quality, the sort of thing that might be considered in need of future-proofing.

Re: License @Rich 2

As has already been pointed out to you, by placing a copyright notice on your code you have explicitly stated that nobody is free to use your code (bar for satirical purposes and other "fair use" cases - in those jurisdictions that provide for "fair use", which is not universal).

Having done that, the *only* way you can allow anybody to legally use your code is to give it a licence. Al of the cases I mentioned (and others) are simply those situations where the putative code user has to be deen to be acting in accordance with the law.

You have commented here in a way that makes it clear you have deliberately created this situation - and yet you then declare that wishing to be law abiding is some "artificial constraint". One can only pray that you do not hold a professional position, as that attitude could be very career limiting if you apply it at work as carelessly as you do for your code.

Tesla Cybertruck recall #8: Exterior trim peels itself off, again

Re: Glue?

Well, Musk has a good supply of those nowadays; just gotta stop Donald getting them wiped away.

Re: "environmental embrittlement"

Vertical rain? NO! Don't leave your cybertruck in the rain!

US tech jobs outlook clouded by DOGE cuts, Trump tariffs

Re: Spending

Just the simplest point, as I don't want to confuse you more:

> What contracts? We were talking about credit cards

When you are a Big Boy and learn about credit cards, you will find that they involve you in a contract.

> Again I have no idea what you are talking about

Go back and read your own posts. Ask an adult to help.

Re: Spending

> From the link in your post-

Did you not spot that that is the link from *your* post, all I did was add the hyperlink markup that so eludes you?

> Couple that with the the link I originally posted...

Which doesn't add anything extra, does it? Other than a straightforward statement of the issue: "Job cuts and economic uncertainty are hurting the local economy, the new analysis suggests."

> That seems to be the implication of DOGE reigning in the cards showing a visible economic effect on the local DC economy.

Ah, just so long as it is having an effect, no matter that the effect on the local econom

>> As indicated by DOGE's own silence over whether cancelling these is going to save a single buck: "The department, however, did not say how much money the federal government would actually save by deactivating these cards—a question that was asked over and over by X users responding to the department's announcement."

> Instead Bank of America has pointed the finger at DOGE cuts for the local credit card spending dropping enough to be economically visible.

Yup, just sidestep actually answering the question - have there been any savings made at all by DOGE's wasteful and profligate use of taxpayer's money to cancel these contracts?

> Awesome. And that <5% seems to have a noticeable effect on the local DC economy then.

Awesome? Government workers see DOGE spaffing funds on pointlessly cancelling these cards, which shows once more how little thought is put into DOGE's actions and causes, not surprisingly, Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt amongst those government workers - with the very predictable reaction that they are pulling back from spending on all but the very basics.

I could ask just *why* you are so happy that people are cutting back on such spending and the resulting damage that that has on the local economy - why are you happy that DOGE's actions are damaging the lives of the people who just happen to be working in the shops, the restaurants, the cinemas. Those people are The American People - aren't they the ones that DOGE is supposed to be helping?

Still, at least you've dropped your fantasy claims that these cards were only supporting spending above the government workers' wages.

Time to ditch US tech for homegrown options, says Dutch parliament

Re: @MiguelC

"Same with the climate change debate which the reg now doesnt have any debate"

How about we "Teach the controversy" then?

UK's biggest mobile operator starts 3G switchoff, hopes it won't catch out April fools

> in the north they don't use cellular

Too modern for us, cannae lad; if dipole is small enough to into t'attic, let alone in't coalhole, then we'll be having none of it.

Chimera Linux ghosts RISC-V because there's no time for sluggish hardware

You're confused?

Pity the poor Chimæra itself - made up of three different parts and the goat in middle breathes fire: must be hell on the other two if it snores!

Breathes fire: so that'd be the gaming goat, Devuan the bold lion biting into systemd, leaving - um, a snake in the grass distro, shedding its RISC-V skin.