One thing that is still missing on Linux (or to be more precise on GNOME) is a easy to use and modern image editor. The GIMP rocks, but it fails in terms of simplicity. Many people need a simple to use image editor. They don’t need fancy masks, layers and hundreds of brushes. They need basic tools, nothing else. They want to mark screenshots with hand painted arrows, they want to mark Auntie Lucy on a picture of Grandma’s Birthday etc. with a little bit of text. You don’t need The GIMP for this…

On Windows a lot of people use Microsoft Paint for those tasks. Yes the program is pretty crappy and misses a lot of useful functions. But Paint fulfilles the need of basic image editing and many people don’t need much more. So I make the assertion: Linux needs a (better) MS Paint as preinstalled image editor! Hopefully my wish comes true, especially since there’s a young project called Nathive which tries to create an GTK-based easy to use but powerful image editor…

Applications like Tux Paint, XPaint or Kolorpaint fulfill the task of being a “simple” editor, but they are aimed at kids, look ugly or use the wrong toolkit

Nathive is a pretty young project, and a lot of work has to be done before it can be called a finished product. Many important features are still missing. Nathive needs more tools, a Unda/Redo function etc. Besides that they decided to switch from C to Python, so that they have to rewrite large parts of their code. Those of you, who like to test Nathive, find .deb files or .tar.gz archives with precompiled binaries on the Nathive homepage.

There’s also a CC by-nc-nd licensed video which documents the current state of Nathive pretty good. If you deactivated JavaScript or try to avoid Flash, you can watch a .ogv-Version of this video at blip.tv or download it from www.nathive.org/screenshots…

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<br /> <a href="/en/2009/06/das-einfache-bildbearbeitungsprogramm-nathive"><img src="http://linuxundich.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/video.jpg" alt="video" title="video" width="475" height="352" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2411" /></a></p> <p>If you reed this blog inside a feed reader, please click on the image to go to my blog and watch the movie&#8230;<br />

The project searches for helping hands. So, if you’re interested into Phyton and/or image editing take a look at their project page. You’ll find contact informations, Bazaar access etc. there. I’m looking forward to take a look at the first version which can be called “feature complete”