Well, already, in one option, you'd already have two of the present
options: blur and sharpen. Maybe smudge and paint utilising image regions
could be put together. etc. I also believe there should be a first level
option for image colors + brigtness/contrast + saturation...

Sharpen also destroys data, even if the image looks sharper. Enlarge the
image 10x, you'll see what I mean. Otherwise, it would be no use buying a
camera with a good lens.

And I do believe most people see sharpen and blur as opposites. Whether
they are from a technical point of view is totally irrelevant.

That's the problem with Linux developers: whereas they should listen to
users to learn more about their perception, they want to teach users how
right they are. It just doesn't work this way. The user is the boss.

I mean can't you figure out that having Sharpness at a level of menu under
the likes of "Glass effect" is completely ridiculous?

No, I've got it right there in my face, but I don't use it. I close my
eyes and try to set sharpness haphazardly. Arrrrgh!

CTRL-Shift-M has no effect here. (GIMP 1.25)

Really?

That's exactly what you're doing when you're escaping/exiting a menu.

All of them, all the time, for months and years on end? Nobody's got a
grandma with bad eyesight? All of them, all the time, for months and years
on end?

As I said, I did a lot of beta-testing in the Windows world, both
shareware and commercial software. But the mindset of developers is
completely different... at least for the comapnies I worked with: if their
software doesn't work, they're out of a job and they have nothing to feed
their family. So...

1) Their beta software works, There is no known bugs list that you have to
check all the time. The bugs you might have are related to your peculiar
hardware.

Still there is a lot of work to do. This software they gave me for my work
was sometimes on special at $100 and I would normally put in 40 hours
minimum for each beta test. I've received better wages in my life, believe
me. But I needed this software for my work and, in the end, it would work
exactly like I wanted. This was worth something to me.

2) They NEVER try to teach you the way they see things. The ONLY thing
they're interested in is how YOU see things. What is it that you don't
understand in the menus, how would you like to see things organized,
what's the name you'd use for such an option, etc. ?

IOW, if you told them that you find it weird that an unsharpen mask
sharpens the images, they wouldn't boast about this originality of their
software, they wouldn't say RTFM. They'd change the name. Final.

Maybe some day, Linux developers will understand that it's better not to
ship buggy beta software. (Bugs belong to the alpha state. It's for
developers.) But, for the second point, I doubt they'll ever understand,
except the hard way.

There will always be braggarts for whom anything Linux is great. And,
whereas commercial software developers will rather listen to people who
are not satisfied with their software -- inasmuch as their arguments make
sense -- Linux devlopers, it seems, live only for a pat on the back. They
get it, but the results, in my opinion, are just not there.

Also, there is a problem with how communautary development works now, In a
company -- a small company, not Microsoft -- the boss would have looked at
this little stupid Opera-like search window and have said: "I don't care
if you call it a feature, I don't want to see this in MY browser." If the
way he saw things were wrong and people in general didn't like his ideas,
he'd be out of a job. Otherwise, he'd get a better pay.

In the Open source community, it seems the browser is everybody's and
anybody's. Sometimes a good idea gets through. Tabs, for instance. Who
could work without tabs, nowadays? I certainly couldn't: all my reference
   tools -- dictionaries, search engines, etc. -- are on tabs. I copy
paste all day long. (I don't like people who write and don't give
references.) I can't imagine how I ever could live without tabs.

Sometimes a downright stupid idea gets through, like changing the fonts
size in the URL bar or searching in a separate small windows. It's so
infuriating you wonder if some Microsoftites aren't steering the project
astray.

You can't help it, If you write to the developers, either they'll keep
silent or they'll try to explain why it's such a wonderful idea. The one
thing they won't do is listen to you POV.

What's the way out? Today, large corporations have endorsed Linux. Suse
even wants to make it on the desktop and pretend they have offers that
match Microsoft's. Somehow, it seems people aren't jumping on the
bandwagon. Why? Because Linux developers believe that they've got it right
every time and don't want to listen to non-geek POV.

If companies like Suse -- and the same goes for distribution developers --
don't want to go down in flames, they'll have to choose software whose
developers listen to users. If The GIMP developers are so convinced
they've got it right with their arcane ways, they could choose Krita. Even
though their interface a la PhotoShop unduly nibbles the picture, if it's
easier to use, it's the solution to offer. Somewhere, as an alternative,
The GIMP could be offered. Until Th =e GIMP developers understand that
they're putting a lot of work for next to nobody.

Braggarts and blinfolded pat on the back developers won't get Linux
anywhere. If there's any way things will change, it's through the distros
offering the users their own choice of software.

You could customize it just the same when the URL bar was used:
preferences = navigator - internet search

OK, maybe a fill-in menu could have been added. How is this an excuse for
scrapping the URL window for searches?

No. Using the URL window like it used to be before Opera started this
whole folly is the way.

I use Klipper all the time. I couldn't live without it. But I've got other
things to search than how my software works. My software is not an end in
itself. It's supposed to get things done, you know.