winjeel
April 29th, 2010, 03:47 AM
I was prompted to write this post on the eve of the next release of Ubuntu; I guess in my enthusiasm to try something new, and a wish for some niggling improvements having been made. A few months ago, I wrote an article about the software that's available for photographers on Linux (http://www.winjeel.com/Documents/PhotographyonLinux.pdf). There's some great stuff available on Linux and Ubuntu, especially Bibble 5. However, I had to conclude the article with "but still, the serious photographer should be using Mac or Windows". The reason being, the complete needs of photographers are not met. What is still needed are annoying little things that the software developing community don't seem to be too bothered about or doesn't know about. I know there have been attempts at meeting these needs in the past, but these haven't worked on my computer. What is often expected is "plug and play". I plug in my scanner and it just works (on Mac and Windows), but not on Linux, at least yet. So, here's my wish list (in order) of what I hope software developers can work on for serious photographers:
1. Monitor calibration, extremely important for any photographer, photo artist, graphics designer, editor, anyone in publishing. The Spyder system (http://www.datacolor.eu/en/) is not available for Linux, at least yet, but would be the most crucial part of a photographer's software suite. Iprof hasn't worked for me, and the data files that are meant to be included to assist in calibration were not included in the download. Iprof looks like a rough work around solution, anyway.
2. Photographer friendly "Browse..." dialogue boxes. This is a pet peeve with Ubuntu. When I press 'Browse...' to upload photos to PhotoShelter or anywhere, I'm met with a list of file names, and I can't view the files as thumbnails. I don't know about the people who make Ubuntu, but I upload pictures, not text documents. Picture file names need to be unique and serial numbered (like dsc902827.jpg), as it's good cataloguing practice, and makes it easier to search for an image in a photo-library of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of images. Whereas text files can be descriptively named (like "Proposal for Monitor Calibration Software Apr 2010.pdf). So, a list of file names is annoying, as we have to change between the file window and the Browse dialogue box. Please give us a 'view by thumbnail' option.
3. A real rival to PhotoShop, (Gimp is so 1990's and too light weight in my experience), or Adobe to release PhotoShop for Linux (I'm sure Apple would love that (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8639240.stm)). ;) I know the linux community has little control on that, except to recruit more potential PhotoShop users into the Linux community.
4. Scanner plug and play. I know some people can have their scanners work on their computers. But after several attempts, and spending hours, I still haven't been able to get my scanner to play. I can get my printer to work (albeit, A4 only printing), but not the scanner.
Consequently, I still have XP installed on this dual-boot computer.
That was about one niche group: professional photographers. What other niche groups are there? What does your niche group need that currently isn't being provided for?
1. Monitor calibration, extremely important for any photographer, photo artist, graphics designer, editor, anyone in publishing. The Spyder system (http://www.datacolor.eu/en/) is not available for Linux, at least yet, but would be the most crucial part of a photographer's software suite. Iprof hasn't worked for me, and the data files that are meant to be included to assist in calibration were not included in the download. Iprof looks like a rough work around solution, anyway.
2. Photographer friendly "Browse..." dialogue boxes. This is a pet peeve with Ubuntu. When I press 'Browse...' to upload photos to PhotoShelter or anywhere, I'm met with a list of file names, and I can't view the files as thumbnails. I don't know about the people who make Ubuntu, but I upload pictures, not text documents. Picture file names need to be unique and serial numbered (like dsc902827.jpg), as it's good cataloguing practice, and makes it easier to search for an image in a photo-library of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of images. Whereas text files can be descriptively named (like "Proposal for Monitor Calibration Software Apr 2010.pdf). So, a list of file names is annoying, as we have to change between the file window and the Browse dialogue box. Please give us a 'view by thumbnail' option.
3. A real rival to PhotoShop, (Gimp is so 1990's and too light weight in my experience), or Adobe to release PhotoShop for Linux (I'm sure Apple would love that (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8639240.stm)). ;) I know the linux community has little control on that, except to recruit more potential PhotoShop users into the Linux community.
4. Scanner plug and play. I know some people can have their scanners work on their computers. But after several attempts, and spending hours, I still haven't been able to get my scanner to play. I can get my printer to work (albeit, A4 only printing), but not the scanner.
Consequently, I still have XP installed on this dual-boot computer.
That was about one niche group: professional photographers. What other niche groups are there? What does your niche group need that currently isn't being provided for?