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<title>GIMP - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>

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<p class="edu-breadcrumb"><a href="/education/education.html">Education</a> → 
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<a href="/education/edu-software.html">Educational Free Software</a> →
GIMP</p>
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<h2 class="c">GIMP</h2>

<h3>Description</h3>

<p>GIMP stands for “GNU Image Manipulation Program”, 
a self-explanatory name for an application that processes digital 
graphics and is part of the GNU Project, meaning that it follows the GNU 
standards and is released under the 
<a href="/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html">GNU General 
Public License</a>, version 3 or later, to ensure maximum protection of 
users' freedom. It can be used both as a simple tool for basic painting 
and drawing and as a powerful program for complex tasks such as advanced 
photo retouching, digital image composition, editing and animation, as 
well as authoring of original art. Apart from the usual features 
included in similar programs, GIMP displays an array of highly 
sophisticated options aimed at computer graphics professionals. It is 
also multi-platform, and it handles a wide range of formats plus format 
conversion.</p>


<p>To learn more: <a href="http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/GIMP">
FSF Directory</a>, <a href="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP Official 
Website</a></p> 

<h3>Who's Using It and How</h3>

<p>The GIMP is used by a large number of artists, amateurs, Web 
developers, educators. At school it is a handy tool that assists students 
and teachers in the preparation of graphic materials for slides, handouts, 
the school's Web site or bulletin and similar projects.</p>

<p>French artist Isabel Saij describes how she uses GIMP for 
<a href="http://www.saij-copyleft2.net/fragments/fragments1.html">her href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080516101605/http://www.saij-copyleft2.net/fragments1.html">her 
work</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
<p>“It's a program I use for different works: photo manipulation
(mixing images together), drawings (my 'digital fragments' in relation 
to my 'real fragments' made on paper), teaching to teenagers, preparing 
images for video, etc.). In other words, one of my favorite programs.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>There are many interesting examples of how this program is put to use 
by professionals and amateurs alike to effectively bring to life their 
ideas without giving up their freedom as computer users. Among those, 
there is one that goes beyond the ordinary.</p>

<h4 id="Mani">How GIMP changed Mani's life.</h4>

<p>Mani began his journey towards liberation from social constraints as 
an enthusiastic and talented teenager. His awareness and commitment to 
freedom led him to actively participate in the formation of a <a 
href="/education/edu-cases-india-ambedkar.html">grassroots volunteer 
group</a> in 2007, with the goal of introducing computer knowledge in 
his slum area in Bangalore through the use of freedom-respecting 
software. This brought sustained improvement to his community and 
ultimately a radical turn in his own life.</p> 

<p>The group set up a Free Software computer lab in the slum dwelling and 
Mani learned fast, becoming a teacher himself to help his peers develop 
better skills in the use of the various applications. He soon acquired a 
mastery of the advanced techniques of GIMP, and, combining technical 
knowledge with innate artistic abilities, he produced graphical art that
he exhibited and sold. The following three-minutes video portrays Mani's 
endeavor to learn Free Software.</p>

<div id="mani-movie">
<video controls="controls">
  <source
    src="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/we_use_gnu-linux_low.ogv" 
    type='video/ogg; codecs="theora, vorbis"' />
</video>

<div class="emph-box">
<p>Watch and download the video as 
<a href="http://audio-video.gnu.org/video/we_use_gnu-linux_high.ogv">
Ogg Theora</a> at a higher resolution.</p>

<p><em>Note to the hearing-impaired:</em> the only audio in this video is the 
soundtrack, which is a piano version of the Free Software Song.</p>

<p>
<!-- TRANSLATORS: please translate the written description of the video
     and replace the link to the English version with the link to your 
     translation -->
<em>Note to the visually impaired:</em> A
<a href="/education/misc/we_use_gnu-linux_description.en.txt"> written 
description of the video</a> is available.</p>
</div> <!-- /.emph-box -->
</div> <!-- /#mani-movie -->

<p>At the time of writing (March 2012) Mani is a student of Computer 
Science in Bangalore. He says:</p>

<blockquote>
<p> “First I need to say thanks to the Free Software movement, it 
allowed me to start learning GIMP. It was my first achievement in life, 
and I sold many paintings at a Free Software conference. Later I started 
displaying my works in many conferences. Because of GIMP, my painting 
skills are brought out to the world. As you know, our talents are usually 
ignored by the world. Our aims in the community are: to share software 
and knowledge, to learn from each other; to promote the Free Software 
ethical values and raise awareness about the importance of software 
freedom in a marginalized social environment; to empower the poor with 
computer knowledge. We want to replicate our model, we are already 
running three computer centers in other slums in the area.” </p>
</blockquote>

<p>Richard Stallman's comment on this case:</p>

<blockquote>
<p class="center"><strong>“I am more proud that GNU has 
been adopted by Indian Dalits than of its use by famous 
corporations.”</strong></p>
</blockquote>

<h3>Why</h3>

<p>The interests of nonfree software developers are at odds with the 
needs of users from all segments of society, given that they deny basic
human values such as collaboration and sharing. Proprietary software
companies deem irrelevant to their profit goals the damage that their 
policies cause to users of their products.</p> 

<p>In complex social structures such as that of India, exclusion of the 
underprivileged from access to information technologies is just one of 
the multiple instances of discrimination this sector of society faces at
many levels: healthcare, housing, education, employment, to name a few. 
Over time, these vulnerable groups have attained a high degree of 
awareness about the importance of mutual collaboration, a basic human 
value often forgotten or even dismissed among the educated and affluent 
spheres of society in all cultures. The principles of sharing and 
reciprocal concern are deeply rooted in these communities and constitute 
valuable assets in their struggle for survival. The social bond among 
its members is solid and strong, a bulwark against the incursion of 
additional sources of exclusion.</p>

<p>In that scenario, the introduction of proprietary software would not 
be accepted by these socially committed people since that would result 
in the imposition of further restrictions on them as computer users. 
They would not refrain from installing the software in as many computers 
as needed or use it as they please, they would not give up their right 
to access knowledge by studying how computer programs work, they would 
not sign away their right to modify or distribute the programs and, 
above all, they would not give up their right to share copies with their 
neighbors. All of these freedoms are granted to them only by
<a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">Free Software</a>.</p>

<p>The restrictions imposed on users by proprietary software developers 
serve to attack other layers of society as well, specially the upper 
spending classes, since those are their main target. Artists and computer 
graphics professionals often get trapped in perpetual dependency from a 
company that may decide at any moment to discontinue the product if it is 
not profitable any longer; or it may decide to introduce updates that run 
only on specific platforms —most likely nonfree. So users have no 
choice but to keep the old version of the program or else invest in a new 
operating system.</p>

<p>Isabel Saij explains why she decided to break free from the trap by 
adopting Free Software:</p>

<blockquote>
<p> “With proprietary programs the artist is at the mercy of the 
software development company. Early in 2003 I used LiveMotion to design 
my digital 2D and 3D works with interactive pieces. Later that year the 
company decided to discontinue it so I was left without support for a 
piece of software on which I had spent my money and my time to learn how 
to use it. Moreover, whenever proprietary software developers decide to 
introduce new functionalities, you have to buy an update which often runs 
on the latest versions of proprietary operating systems only. So you are 
stuck in a vicious circle completely helpless. It’s frustrating and 
there’s nothing you can do about it. With Free Software, good projects 
never die due to the community being able to access the code. Someone 
else can come along and continue developing the software.”</p>
</blockquote>

<h3>Results</h3>

<p>The introduction of Free Software in the slum removed the barriers 
that prevented this marginalized sector of society from accessing 
knowledge in the field of information technology. It provided these 
people with the opportunity to unfold innate capabilities that would 
otherwise have never come to surface. This newly discovered intellectual 
richness brings benefit and progress not only to the involved individuals 
themselves and to the local community but to society as a whole, since 
they have learned how to overcome the detrimental effects of unjust 
global economic policies and are now ready for a productive life.</p>

<p>With Free Software, users received all the  benefits of digital 
education without being constrained to compromise their principles. The
ethical values of Free Software are in line with and sustain those 
principles: not only were people free to use the software as they wished, 
install it in as many machines as they wished, but they were encouraged 
to copy it and share it with their neighbors in solidarity. Mani has 
become an artist using GIMP and a student of Computer Science; by now, 
he has acquired enough knowledge to study the source code and to modify 
it to meet the needs of his community, if necessary. Software freedom 
results in redistribution of intellectual and economic wealth, which is 
not possible where access to knowledge is restricted.</p>

<p>In less disadvantaged contexts, users of GIMP have benefited from 
software freedom in many ways. They are no longer subject to arbitrary
decisions by proprietary software companies; instead, they belong to a 
large and strong community where developers do care about their needs and
fellow users provide additional support. Apart from the official manuals
and tutorials, enthusiastic users publish lots of instructional materials
and, due to the availability of the source code, those with programming
skills have contributed a number of plug-ins to enhance the performance
of the application.</p> 

<p>As a free program under the GNU GPL version 3 or later, no arbitrary 
decision by developers can ever stop the advancement of GIMP nor can
the program be made proprietary.</p>

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<p>Copyright © 2012, 2016 2016, 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p>

<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"
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<p class="unprintable">Updated:
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$Date: 2018/12/15 14:46:07 $
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