Re: [CinePaint] cinepaint vs Gimp

On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 13:23:27 -0600 (CST)
Bob Friesenhahn <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Interestingly, the Gtk widget set was originally invented in order to 
> support development of the GIMP.  The Gtk widget set was designed to 
> work efficiently with the display systems of the time and its 
> inventors never considered a need for more color depth or range than 
> one could see on a computer display.  The GIMP extension mechanism 
> depends heavily on Gtk.  The GIMP is a victim of its own success.
> 

These are interesting insights.

But the problems will continue.  High-dynamic-range images already
far exceed the capacity of any common display hardware and will
require special techniques to handle.

It is difficult to judge the future of computing.  The seven-bit
ASCII code was implemented when internationalization was not
even a dream.  But now all systems and software have to be retrofitted
to accommodate multi-byte Unicode characters.

A similar situation occurs in mathematics.  When numeric processors
were introduced, the day of powerful desktop number crunching was
not ever foreseen.  The floating point and integer standard is now quite
inadequate for serious numerical methods and must be supplemented
with multi-precision numerical software that allows unlimited bits.

Of course the most famous example is the 32-bit IP address scheme
which will not be able to accommodate future expansion of the Internet.
A major investment of hardware and software will now be required to
reach the more realistic IPv6 128-bit addressing scheme.

(We could also introduce the examples of sound as well as video,
but enough is enough.)

The explosion of digital imagery took the world by surprise.  For
a long time, eight bits was though to be sufficient and color management
wasn't even a passing thought.  But now another major realignment
will have to take place.

Frank Peters


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