Linux.com

"The switch to free software has been a big success here in the Department of Art and Design at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. This semester I plan to take the switch further in my video classes by replacing Avid DV Express, Final Cut Express HD, Soundtrack, and iDVD with Kino, Cinelerra, Rosegarden, and DVDstyler."

Yeah, them job prospects are just going to be rolling in.

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Yeah, use them expensive proprietary software instead! Who cares if the students can't legally use the same software on their own computers, or have to pay more. Let's give them better job prospects.

What a joke.

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Well, any university worth its salt will have a site license so that won't be a problem. And yeah, better job prospects are important since ultimately these students will be entering the job market. Also, multimedia jobs tend to look for people who have experience using the industry standard tools.

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Well, any university worth its salt will have a site license so that won't be a problem.

I take it that you've negotiated site licenses before and know the ins-and-outs of them?

*cough* I know of a state-sponsored large public university in North Florida. They have a multitude of software available.

For university owned computers. For a fee that ranges from $50 to $100 a title. AV licenses are a lot less, tho.

No student licenses. For that, you go to the university bookstore. They'll cheerfully sell you a copy of Photoshop. For $299 + tax.

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And if nobody switches to free software, the job prospects will be controlled exclusively by the proprietors.

At one time the proprietors fought this same fight, photo editing wasn't always done with computers or the proprietary computer software you might use. It's time that we start positioning society to favor the civics lessons we need to teach instead of teaching everyone to support a dog-eat-dog society where only the rich truly get their say. One way we can do this is to teach people to create and defend community-building rather than devising new ways to hold computer users separate and helpless from each other.

<a href="http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html" title="gnu.org">http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/schools.html</a gnu.org> is far more deep-thinking than your post and far more important in the short and long term. But it takes guts to act on these principles, far easier to acquiese to whatever the proprietors tell you to do and let them run your school's computer labs, your wallets, and run your software freedom right out the door.

By the way, I use free software every day at my job. The proprietary software available is often quite poor (Dreamweaver's content management system is poor, what really matters is skill with drawing and photo editing software not the particular program, and no use of any popular proprietary app is a substitute for knowing what's going on with a program--precisely what you're prohibited from learning with proprietary software).

--J.B. Nicholson-Owens (jbn@forestfield.org)

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I couldn't agree more.
There's a reason Apple has spent years working to keep their computers in the hands of graphic arts students. Those students move out into the work force and spread their Apple preferences far and wide. The same can be done with open source software. Many close minded people use the status quo as an argument in favor of not fighting against it but that's a circular logic that is counter-evolutionary.
Core computing concepts are for more important and better serve students than experience on a particular platform or software package.

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I do a computing course at Oxford University, UK. A university hardly known for its production of unemployable degree-holders. When we do procedural programming, the "industry standard" language is C. Everyone who isn't doing object-orientated programming uses C. But we use Oberon. Heard of that? Thought not. But we use it because we are taught how to program and the theory of procedural programming, not how to write C programs. There are good reasons for using Oberon (stronger typing etc prevents you developing a lot of bad habits), and the way the course is taught means the skills are easily transferable to _any_ procedural language. And the same for OOP etc. So when Java goes out of vogue, and C# comes in vogue, our education isn't worthless.

I realise that this is graphical software, which is a different field, but the point of academic (as opposed to vocational) studies is to teach you about a general subject, not how to use a particular tool. When you go to an employer with a degree in graphic design, they can reasonably expect you to be proficient at graphic design, regardless of the software.

And if you use the fourth year to learn Photoshop et al, you can go to a potential employer and say "I'm proficient in graphic design using a variety of tools, _including_ (but not limited to) the industry standard. And as a result, I'm adaptable to new tools and methods." And adaptability is a great bonus...

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No offence, but GIMP and many other Linux programs, while excellent as far as open-source projects go, and having done an admirable job of getting to where they are today, are still very much behind the industry standard pieces of software.

Linux is a great OS, but Mac OS still dominates it in terms of its access to some of the most powerful, feature rich and easy to use programs out there, the iLife suite alone (bundled with all new Macs) is worth far more than Apple charge for it.

If cost is such a huge concern, then yes, maybe ditch Photoshop for GIMP, but Mac OS comes with your bloody computers, if anything you're wasting a considerable amount of money in uninstalling it and replacing it with software that just doesn't do the job as well! Not to mention OS X is far superior in terms of overall work-flow and general performance.

Linux is great for server administrators and other power users (non graphical ones), and it's finally coming of age for mainstream desktop use as its range of friendly and easy to use applications continues to grow, but it is still far away from taking OS X's mantle as the graphics power-house.

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Yeah, those eye candy from OS X really improve your performance! Really, really...

How do you know their Macs came with the iLife suite? Maybe they ALREADY OWN the Macs.

Maybe it's better to use free software, than to be stuck on the upgrade cycle of proprietary software vendors. Or be stuck with outdated versions of the software.

Maybe it's better to use software that isn't "industry standard" so that students can legally install it on their own computers without paying money. Something good, something bad. You can't just look at the upsides of using Mac OS without looking at the downsides.

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but Mac OS still dominates it in terms of its access to some of the most powerful, feature rich and easy to use programs out there (...) Not to mention OS X is far superior in terms of overall work-flow and general performance.

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Bro - you are out of your friggin mind if you try to make your case with such claims about your *bloatware* OS and *bloatware* applications (all of the above overpriced).

As for this Linux is great for server administrators and other power users its a platitude which only goes to show that you have no idea what you are talking about.

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I completely agree. Having used Photoshop for a couple of years now, and gimp long before that, along with Illustrator/inkscape I've come to realize that graphics software reigns in the order of "OS X, Windows then Linux/UNIX".

Color quality controls aren't built into Linux, they are in OS X (in fact they're really quite strange in windows too). That's a massive example of the lack of professional features in Linux and OSS Graphics software.

Another thing is layer styles, I can do something in photoshop that takes 30 seconds, where as in GIMP it take anywhere from 2:30 to 10:00 or even 15:00...that's insane, and really cripples my creativity.

Inkscape doesn't have pathfinder, or the plethora of advanced symbol tools that illustrator has.

Tool != artist, and I realize this, but there's also a lot practical things that have to be taken into consideration, and they just haven't been yet.

I say good bloody luck to anyone who tries this, really OSS needs all the help it can get, but until it's mature enough to use my workflow (which pales in comparison that of many many other professionals out there) I'm sticking with OS X/Windows and Adobe.

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Can you describe your workflow in more detail? What do you normally use your image manipulation program for? How do you go about doing that in your preferred application?

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As the teacher mentioned, these courses are introductions to the world of graphic art. Linux design software covers this base for sure. And, in case you weren't able to read it, the students saved boatloads of money AND could install the same software on their home computers legally. Go ahead and stick with your world of windows viruses and forced Mac OS X upgrades. Tell me, how long is your wonderful G4 going to be compatible now that Mac switched to Intel? Don't worry, you can always install Linux on it!

I'm a designer and I use GIMP instead of Photoshop all the time. One, because I don't have to steal it in order to use it. Two, because it opens and saves to more file formats than Photoshop. And three, Script Fu is the best resource I've ever encountered with tons of totally free add-on scripts that extend GIMP's capabilities ten-fold.

And your biased report on computation times is way off. Nothing has ever taken 15 minutes for me in GIMP on Linux. In fact, my home Linux box beats the new Tiger OS hands down. Tell me, why do upgrades in Windows and Mac OS always run slower? Doesn't it annoy you that they just expect you buy more and more memory instead of streamlining software like the Linux community does? It annoys me.

By the way, welcome to the new software world where it pays to learn multiple Operating Systems. I use 3 myself; Windows XP, Mac OS X, and SUSE Linux. And I know that Linux is perfect for students; its cheap, stable, secure, and supported by a wonderful community of fellow users.

You can go ahead and shell out thousands of dollars on licensing (or steal the proprietary software) while the rest of us contribute to developing these wonderful Open Source tools by using them. We'll let the coporations spend all the money on the proprietary software while helping students to learn design techniques without having to take on even more debt.

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So, why don't you go to some of these linux software sites and list what needs to be done?

That's why linux software continues to evolve and improve (far faster than any proprietary software). People who create software (just like people who create art) are always striving to improve and will add the features you need if you let them know about it...

I find Adobe, etc. to totally unresponsive and just plain greedy when it comes to software. Hence, I don't use their tools.
I find I can do whatever graphics I need with free equivalents (and much more money in my pocket, rather than Adobe's, etc.))

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You've never tried using Linux on a desktop, eh? Personally, I wanna choke myself everytime I have to operate a fucking Mac.

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poor students?

learning the linux OS is awesome enough an experience for the kids...
but you honestly think the ilife sweet is worth..well..anything?
the only worthwhile program in the entire set is garageband and I can't see that being of any use in an art class.

you mac zealots are all the same.

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This seems completely pointless considering that Mac OS X is, at least last time I checked, POSIX compliant and has ports of every one of the software packages you got up and running on Ubuntu.

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Installing Ubuntu is probably easier than installing every single package on a Mac.

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This may help them learn the technology and theories rather than being a mouse-jockey (click here.. then here... no wait! I updated and they moved a menu?!!)

It would be interesting to see how these students fare in the real-world or even internships and such after using these tools for a while.

Rock on!

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First - congrats for ditching OSX and welcome to the free world!

I still wonder what actually made you decided to dump OSX? Was it too slow? Overpriced? Bloated? Were you getting fed up with depending on one corporation's monopoly and vendor lock-in? Did you want a more secure system? Or did you want to use several architectures? Maybe you were concerned that the Mac GUIs would dumb down your students?

I would be very interested to hear from you which of these made you decide to break free.

Cheers!

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OS X is a really nice system, but it's proprietary, and I liked the idea of students being able to freely copy the software on their computers, run it on their own computers at home, give it to their friends and family, and even study the source code and adapt it or improve it, and I also liked that there are so many thousands of free software packages available for them to use in so many different interest areas.

I'm not suggesting that every student took advantage of every one of those benefits, but it was inspiring to see that the benefits were real.

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Thanks for your answer. I bet you that after a couple of years of GNU/Linux use you will not be so sure about OSX being a "really nice system". Just the use of apt-get will make you forget OSX forever!

Either way - bravo & good luck!

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You mean the same way you use dpkg and apt-get in Fink on OS X? Or you can use FreeBSD-style ports with DarwinPorts.

Dumbfuck.

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Actually the core OS is OSS.

Did you happen to see if there were fink or darwinports versions of those applications available on OS X? Or OS X native versions for that matter?

It astounds me how many people in the Linux camp seem to think that only Linux has these applications available.

Inkscape is available, from the website, as a<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.dmg file for OS X.

GIMP is available, from the website, for OS X as a<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.dmg. It is also available via DarwinPorts.

Quanta (and KDE for that matter) are available for OS X via Fink.

You're selling your students snake oil. There is absolutely no reason they couldn't have used the same pieces of software, as well as many of the great pieces of OSS (or free but not OSS) software made specifically for the Mac. They'd be using a better OS too.

What a joke.

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Is an educations supposed to tell you what to thing or how to think?

A story: Years ago I was tutoring my young sister-in-law in math. She was have problems with areas of geometric shapes. She was taught what to think by the forumlas presented for calculating area: s^2 was a square, x*y was a rectangle and 1/2*b*h was a right triangle.

She had not been taught that all three of these were closely releated: b*h for a rectangle or a square (a square just means that b=h) and a right triangle is just half a rectangle so it is b*h divided in half. She had been given three formulas to memorize and saw no relationship between them resulting in confusion. She was taught what to think, not how to think.

A great many art or other classes teach what to do with a particular program instead of teaching the desireable results, why they are desirable and then how to get there with a particular program. Using "non-standard" applications (ie. GIMP instead of Photoshop) helps separate the mundane, rote learning from the more creative true learning. I applaud it's use in any school. It results in thinking students.

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You've made very good point here. Art students shouldn't be there to learn how to use specific software tools. The students need to learn how to think.

You shoudl be able to take the tools that are available to you and get the job done. If all you know is how to use a specific peice of software then you are going to be lost if that software is not available.

I've been in a job where Photoshop ect had been shipped but had not arrived yet but I needed to get a job done. GIMP at the time was very crash prone on Windows ( at least on that machine ) so the only tool I had at my disposal was Paint Brush. It was a major pain, but it got the job done.

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Exactly!

The most important thing here is that it teaches people to think in concepts first, and that similar concepts carry over from package to package. Making students believe that only one tool is good for a job breed memorization, and it hurts them in the long run because they begin to fear inevitable change.

Shit, we had a woman here break out into tears because we replaced her beloved outlook express with Thunderbird. Why? "Because none of the same things are there." She could not handle having the menus and buttons move and change shape, and went to the boss in tears and forced us to put Outlook back on there.

Thank you, for putting these students on a track to hopefully prevent the above behavior.

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Your absolutly right. I am a victim of the learning problem from my school years, in fact I just learnt from your example myself. I never realised the formula relationship either. Damn public education!

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"A great many art or other classes teach what to do with a particular program instead of teaching the desireable results, why they are desirable and then how to get there with a particular program. Using "non-standard" applications (ie. GIMP instead of Photoshop) helps separate the mundane, rote learning from the more creative true learning."

What magical features does the GIMP have that it suddenly makes students see the light? As far as I can tell, you have merely made the jump from using w×h to a×b. So your students are not only still learning what instead of how, but now you have made sure they learn a what nobody else knows. Be sure to tack on a burger flipping course at the end of the semester, your students are going to need it.

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I would expect them to burn the school down and whine about Photoshop being the holy grail...

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I think this article was great, because it shows the immense strength and versatility of GNU/Linux as a school and university OS. I used to teach at a senior high where all computers had Debian on them. It took a while, but teachers started using them in very different areas --- from science classes to programming to web design to theology to literature. I taught the students to use LaTeX for their final essays, and many of those who continued on to university have thanked me for it afterwards. Of course, this was before the time of Scribus, which makes an excellent complement to LaTeX.

Aside from the practical advantages, I strongly believe that the software used in schools should not be the intellectual 'property' of some company --- be it Microsoft, Apple or something else.

Keep up the good work!

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What many posters missed is that this is not about producing graphics, but about learning process.

They may be right that proprietary tools are more powerful for production, but in this case Free software better suits purposes of learning.

Switching to Free software makes learning more exciting, opens for students possibilities for more research, investigating alternatives, much more freedom.

The article shows that this switch allowed to open students curiosity, creativity in many more areas than with closed solutions - such as system setup, configuration, sharing, changing applications.

Andriy

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"The article shows that this switch allowed to open students curiosity, creativity in many more areas than with closed solutions - such as system setup, configuration, sharing, changing applications."

You do realize that schools have an IT department that handles all that, don't you?

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Really? And they'll install and configure all the necessary software on my personal computer for me? Will they even come to my house when I'm having a problem with it?

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Congratulations on your successful migration to open source software. New industry standards get chosen in the classroom, your students will be able to take the power and flexibility of open source software and bring it into industry with them, paving the way for a future less dominated by proprietary technology.

Most people get discouraged by the problems and lack the resolve needed to pursue the solutions. It looks like you stuck with it and found ways to resolve all the major problems. It is very inspiring to see a teacher reducing costs and adding value for students using open source software. If only my local public school district had people as enlightened as you are!

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I agree - awesome article. Inspiring even.

And I also concur with one of the other posters that it's more important to teach how to think not what to think - talk about opening minds! Great stuff.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)

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You would teach them on Macs and Windows using all of the usual programs. I had a teacher try to do the same thing as this teacher when I was in school. I got out into the real world and everyone thought it was a joke when I told them what he did.

Teach them marketable skills on the industry standard equipment if you really care about the future of your students.

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My kids have used only Linux at home for more than 3 years now. My oldest is taking a "new media" class which consists of Photoshop and some web development. From her description:

- Her peers think it is cool she knows how to use Linux.
- She learns new techniques in Photoshop at school, comes home and figures out how to do the same thing on GIMP, goes back to school and already knows how to accomplish the same thing easier in Photoshop.
- Is grateful to have tools at home when some of her peers complain that they can't use Photoshop at home because it is too expensive to purchase.
- Her teacher thinks it is great she has a broader experience than most other students.

I think she is better learning the concepts of good design by separating the tool from the results. She will be better prepared to learn new things and less afraid to try.

People who think more diversity of experiences is "a joke" are shortsighted. Which employee do you want: one who will freak out when they have to learn a new version of Photoshop or one that will dive in and learn? Which has the more marketable skill: one that knows Photoshop or one that can quickly learn and be productive with whatever you throw at them?

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"People who think more diversity of experiences is "a joke" are shortsighted. Which employee do you want: one who will freak out when they have to learn a new version of Photoshop or one that will dive in and learn?"

Too bad the person who learned Photoshop will most likely have a higher proficiency (sp?) with it.

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You use a web browser and are exactly 5 key presses away from a dictionary. (ALT-D m - w CTRL-Enter) You probably use a computer every day. Yet you can't spell check . . .

Still think someone only using one thing is going to be more proficient? After all, it didn't help your typing skills.

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I think the POINT is more important than the SPELLING here. I agree with the poster with the spelling error.

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But you completely miss the point the other poster was trying to make. The web browser is a tool the same as a graphics program. He uses the browser everyday and yet he doesn't know how to use it very proficiently. So just because someone can say they were taught in Photoshop and only ever used Photoshop doesn't mean they have a higher proficiency than someone that learned the concepts and how to apply them with a number of different tools.

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Missing one point, just to make another isn't useful. Both points are relevant. (also, just for convenience sake, you can make firefox spellcheck input boxes)

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A true story: I work with someone who is an MS Word guru. They can work wonders with the program! As a user of computers since 1979 and a software engineer for many years, their knowledge of that program impressives me.

Our older documentation was produced with Lotus WordPro. Once in a while, these documents must be converted to Word format or, if the update required is small, just edited in WordPro to re-publish as a PDF. This "Word wiz" flat refuses to try WordPro after one 5 minute experimental attempt. They freaked out emotionally ("I won't use that crap!") and physically with hands trembling.

What do you think the boss feels about that employee? They are typecast to one role. When new tasks and programs are introduced do you think they are considered for learning the new tools? Nope because they are considered untrainable.

Sure, a shorsighted employer, of which there are too many these days, will reject someone because the don't know Photoshop well enough. As if that one point outweighs all other factors, including a portfolio of excellent graphic work or other proof of compitancy. But a smart employer looks beyond rote learning and a narrow focus. Skills with Photoshop can be learned much more easily than the ability to adapt and do what needs to be done.

Just my observations.

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Too bad the person who learned Photoshop will most likely have a higher proficiency (sp?) with it.

In all honesty, that is not terribly likely. If you had read the GP post, you would know that her daughter, who learned GIMP at home, when asked to use Photoshop at school, demonstrated a greater proficiency not only in performing the particular actions requested of her, but also in discovering easier ways to accomplish those tasks in Photoshop. By learning both, she now has a higher proficiency with both than the other students who only learned one.

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Wow little boy what a nazi speech.

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the point is that in addition to learning the art of digital media, they are also getting experience most other digital artists will NEVER get - how to manipulate the underlying technology of digital media - pioneering programs like this will be a MAJOR benefit to the students and to the entire open source community. And as he says, they will also be given the opportunity to apply the fundamental principles learned on any commercial system - they will be very comfortable in photoshop and avid/final cut - but if you dis their use of open source, maybe you should frequent the "i am owned by microsoft/apple/adobe/macromedia" websites instead of newsforge

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I went to art school at an Art Institute. I am also very technical and have production experience with OS's ranging from Linux, Unix, Windows, OS X, and more.

If one of my professors tried to pull this, I would immediately demand my money back based on the grounds that how can a school expect to prepare me for industry when it isn't even using industry standard software. Try looking on monster.com or craigslist for jobs that use these open source softwares... Not many if ANY! You can come back with the argument that this prepares you to be able to adapt to many different pieces of software and I agree with that, BUT I don't feel that it should happen on my dime. I want to get experience with the software I will most likely be using in the workplace.

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If you can't install GNU/Linux, you can still get the GIMP on windows. So it doesn't matter if you can use the "industry standard."

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I think the original poster is not trying to say you shouldn't learn GIMP, but in an academic setting, the industry standard should be used so that you can be prepared for industry.

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Again, that assumes a vocational/technical school like ITT Technical Institute. A university and a voc/tech school have very different goals. A university's purpose is to provide a well-rounded education, specifically, to get to you learn to think. A voc/tech school's mandate is, by contrast, to *train* people. Training and educating are different things; you can train a rat to successfully navigate a specific maze, but you cannot educate that same rat in how to solve *any* maze with which it might be faced. It doesn't understand the very concept of a maze; it just goes where it was trained to go. That's a voc/tech school "teaching Photoshop."

On the other hand, a university's job is to teach folks the very concept of what a maze--any maze--is. Thus, what you learn applies to any maze, and you can figure out how to successfully navigate any maze that you have put in front of you. That's not training; that's education, and it is education that the author of this article aims to do. In this case, "maze" = "graphical arts tool." See the difference?

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That may be appropriate in a vocational school, but a university education is supposed to be deeper than that. I would rather be, or work with, the person that understands concepts and can adapt to any tool you throw at them than the person who is lost if a shorcut key combination or a menu structure changes.

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Dude... I admire your sense of adventure. I recently bucked the trend at work and erased Windows and am now running a Linux desktop. ***BUT***!!!

The people complaining that you are ruining your students' futures is probably right. Why does 99% of the world use Windows? Because they buy the stupid marketing hype and believe it. Is there another world outside of Windows and Mac? Absolutely. But most people don't understand it, don't acknowledge it and can't conceive in any way how it can be better, valid or valuable.

The application? Most people aren't going to buy your students' "experience" with GIMP as anything valuable. If it's not "industry standard" it's not "valid." That's just the way most people think. Obvious, I don't agree; I agree with you and your approach. Problem is, this isn't an alternate to Word we're talking about. You are monkeying with your students' future. You had better find a way to give them exposure to the stuff everyone else "accepts." That's just the rest of the lobotomized world for you, sorry!

As for file sharing, you don't need AppleTalk. Turn on Samba on those boxes and do "Windows" (SMB) file sharing. You can attach to one another peer-to-peer using "smb://machine-name/share-names" Just like Windows.

Later,

-pj

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Is there another world outside of Windows and Mac? Absolutely. But most people don't understand it, don't acknowledge it and can't conceive in any way how it can be better, valid or valuable.

And that's exactly why we have to get out of this. The students are our future, and if you want to change this damn ignorant thinking then start with them.

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What I don't understand about this project is why you dumped OS X. If you want to, ok, fine, that's your decision. But I don't understand it. Out of curiosity, I looked up a couple of the software packages that you switched to - Inkscape and Scribus. Both have packages available for OS X, which I downloaded (I have yet to play with them). I've also used OS X versions of GIMP in the past, and they seemed fine to me. I would guess that there are probably free programs available for OS X for the other things you needed. If you want to cut down on the cost of software programs, I can understand using these free programs, but why dump OS X? It's nice to use. You already paid for it. What's not to like?

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This is quite simply a complete and utter disregard for the future careers of these students in order for the "professor" to push his Open Source agenda on unsuspecting and inexperienced students.

Yes, they love the idea that they don't have to spend any cash on Photoshop, but anyone who was serious about his or her career would want to know the tools of the trade, period. That is -- if they plan on ever getting hired.

This is not a question of software quality or features. Prospective employers will ask these students how much Photoshop experience they have, and their honest answer will have to be close to none.

Worse yet -- employers will assume that these students know Photoshop (what design school would teach with anything else?), then later discover that their new hires didn't have the skills they were looking for after all. Probably not going to get them canned, but the people that work the slowest (people that don't know the tools) will probably advance in their careers at the same pace.

Photoshop and Quark are huge applications that have lots of little details that take time to learn. While the GIMP and other tools may teach certain concepts of design tools, there is no substitute for the real thing in the professional world.

Gimp does not natively support CMYK, the default color scheme for the print world. How about color matching technology (monitor/printer)? Pantone color palatte support? These are all considerations that have to be taken seriously when producing art.

If this were an elective "design semester with Open Source tools", and there was full disclosure that not one major design house uses anything BUT Photoshop, perhaps this class would be acceptable.

Personally, I would ask for a refund and find another class / lab to work in.

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Oh, and to top it off, if you are a designer and don't know how to use a Mac -- GO HOME! Its what the industry uses! Not to say you can't make your career with Windows, but Linux? Linux is good for some things however, this is not one of them.

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I completely agree with this comment. I was about the post the same message, because as a student who is taking a publishing oriented design course, I KNOW that the industry standards are what people look for.

On top of all this, Adobe CS is an incredibly detailed suite of applications that can take years to fully learn. If you don't know how to use Photoshop - then good luck getting a job. The idea of letting them "teach themselves how to use it in 4-year" is completely ridiculous.

Sorry, but if I was the student I would demand my money back and drop your course. Its too bad that the teacher is praying off poor naive students who don't know anything yet. I had an instructor like this once, he got fired.

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I don't work in the graphic design industry so maybe I need some education here. Is this a likely scenerio?

- Get a degree/certificate in graphic design, learning mostly with GIMP, Blender3D, etc.
- Create an excellent portfolio of your work.
- Send out resumes.
- Go to an interview.
- Do well with the questions, self presentation, etc.
- Impress them with your portfolio.
- Get asked "Do you know Photoshop?"
- Respond "I am proficient with Photoshop but I prefer to use GIMP, etc. when it is appropriate. All of my portfolio was created with these preferred Free Software tools."
- Interview over, leave without the job.

Does that really happen? Good self presentation and an excellent body of work are completely canceled out because the person doesn't use Photoshop enough?

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Getting past the resume step might not work. Employers search for keywords, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Quark, etc. may be some of these keywords.

Portfolios aren't always sent out first either -sometimes they are first seen during the inital interview, unless the portfolio is online.

Also, these students are not going to be proficient in Photoshop. They get to teach themselves the program for one semester, which is not nearly enough knowledge for a professional job.

I would much rather see this students experiment with the Open Source software during their "Portfolio" semester.

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Smart Move: You just initiated an out of the box thinking situation for your students. Most people consider using a feature in software a linear problem with a linear equation. If a professor makes you perform the same task in different software then you will have to learn the cause and effect more fully.

Still why trash OS X? Not enough funding for more ram? OS is a dream to use ports of free software.

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I completely agree, as an open source advocate and semi-professional photographer, I have long awaited the day when I can ditch Photoshop for the GIMP, and for lo-res graphics editing its is quite capable, but I still can not use GIMP for any kind of serious hi-res photo editing.. Adobe has spent millions of dollars and almost as many years perfecting the user-to-software experience found in Photoshop, and it is hubris of the OS community to insist that it has something comparable completed in less time, with less people working on it, and with less funding. I use almost every program listed in this article in a limited capacity, and hope that one day they are as complete as their commercial counterparts that are available today. Were I to pay for a course in photo editing, I would expect to be taught using the industry's standard tools, and currently that is Photoshop, hands down.

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Adobe has spent millions of dollars and almost as many years perfecting the user-to-software experience found in Photoshop, and it is hubris of the OS community to insist that it has something comparable completed in less time, with less people working on it, and with less funding.

It is a fallacy to think that a software company:

1. Invests more money because it makes more money
2. It is effective

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If you just want to learn how to use Photoshop, then you go to a vocational school; if you want to learn the underlying _academic_ concepts of a subject, then you go to university.

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Agreed with most other people here... it would have been wiser to keep OSX, and install the free software on it instead of switching to Ubuntu.

That way you'd be able to teach both Photoshop and GIMP, or primarily teach Photoshop and give students enough of the basics that they'd be comfortable installing the GIMP at home for free.

The reality is that these students aren't going to become technical gurus. They're basically artists using software instead of paintbrushes.

As for their job prospects, another unfortunate reality is that the majority of the population isn't too bright, so you'd better teach your students enough Photoshop that they can credibly claim to know how to use it, else they might not get jobs.

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I guess Linus never used Visual C in his time as a student. He may have difficult getting a programming job, but in the end he managed to create a legend.

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Do you have any idea what kind of careers these students is going to have. Do you think anyone of these students will ever be asked what programs they knows. They are art students, they are mostly working for themselves and will seldom become employees in a typically firm.

I applause this professor's willingness to teach the consept they are working with instead of just choosing the mainstream program graphical designers and other low level computerworkers are using.

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I have no problem with someone who has a passion for Ubuntu, or any other OS, but this "professor's" first and sacred task is to prepare his students for the real world as employees. He has put his Ubuntu passion before his duty, and is therefore an irresponsible zealot. I employ designers in an agency, and it saddens me to see graduates who are unemployable due to their lack of real-world skills and attitudes. I have spoken to the head of a respected art school, which takes a purely academic approach - ie they see no need to provide any skills which will give them the ability to get a starting level job. I have also employed designers straight out of university, but only one has ever worked out, and that was basically because she was willing to throw away the arrogant and out of touch attitudes she had learnt in art school, work extremely hard, and learn what she needs to survive and prosper. Our clients have very high standards, which we deliver, but they won't tolerate wet-behind-the-ears graduates who know everything (and know nothing!). And if those graduates have been using obscure software, so have only a superficial knowledge of Photoshop/InDesign/Illustrator, then their chances of getting a job, or surviving if they do get a job, are next to nothing. Only a tiny percentage of students will have the drive and talent to overcome obstacles like that, the rest will be resentful and bitter towards their professor who took them down the wrong path - and rightly so. It's a tough enough world already, without lumbering them with a handicap like that.

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Anyone who can master the GIMP could take to Photoshop with no difficulty and do very well with it. I don't see the point-- no university professor should be teaching someone how to use a particular program, that's what trade schools are for. In a university, the methods are to be stressed, not the specific applications that utilize said methods.

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"[...]this "professor's" first and sacred task is to prepare his students for the real world as employees"

Interesting perspective. Many professors seek to educate their students to be leaders and employERs. Given that task, a potential employer would be wise to have experience with a variety of operating systems and applications, and feel comfortable assessing and evaluating each one for effectiveness.

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Sure, I look for independence of thought and initiative in potential employees, but I have yet to see any new graduate who can operate nearly as well as someone with (x) years of experience - for most, applying their skills out in the "real world" means a steep learning curve for them. It's a part of their continuing education.

And why would we be "wise to have experience with a variety of operating systems and applications"? We use the tools which are most effective, and for the most part, that means "industry-standard". We will only use other OSs and applications if there is a strong practical/financial reason to do so. And the purchase cost of an application or OS is insignificant in business - it's the return on investment which counts, and for the most part "cheap" or "free" applications cost far more in support or training (and incompatibility problems) than the ones we have to buy.

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What convoluted logic. Yes, work experience will teach you more about a program than a university education ever would. The university education is to teach concepts, and learning concepts gives the university education more lasting advantage than the relatively miniscule amount of learning a particular program interface that is possible at a university ever could. If an employee doesn't learn more about the program he is using in his first three months on the job than he ever would in four years of university education then he will not be a very valuable employee.

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"...but this "professor's" first and sacred task is to prepare his students for the real world as employees."

You're right, the public school system in most any country was established by industry to manufacture better workers. There are some people who, however, take the opportunity of going to school to learn HOW to learn. This is real education. Chances are better that a leader will come out of this class than the usual memorization<nobr> <wbr></nobr>/regurgitation drivel taught in schools.

Did you ever think instead of climbing a corporate ladder that you might be better off getting a ladder of your own? This constant mantra of "get us ready for an employer" is truly a rock-solid mindset of hand-wringing followers, not leaders. ("What else could we do?!"). "Sacred" was the perfect word for this talk-back. All hail the holy corporations!

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That's a cynical re-interpretation of what I (didn't) say. If you think that sidetracking these students off into a software dead-end is leadership, then I don't understand your thinking. I have seen corporate drones, and I would never employ them.

Your view on what "employees" are, is your own, not mine. I don't see the value in students going through years of training, and come out not only unemployable in their chosen profession, but consigned to drudgery and mindless jobs. Did their "independent education" lead them to glory and a utopian future? Never that I saw - quite the opposite, because it wasn't truly independent, but in fact extremely narrow, just like this hidebound dogmatist.

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"I don't see the value in students going through years of training..."

That's the key right there. A university's job is not, and never has been, "training". That's a vocational/technical school's job, and they have their place. If you want "Photoshop training", then go there. If, on the other hand, you want an actual education, i. e. "how to learn", then you go to a university. At a university, you go through years of *education*, not "training".

In short, it's this.

University = learning what art is and how to be an artist, independent of the "brand" of tool used for your chosen medium.

Voc/Tech School = learning a specific tool (e. g. Photoshop) to do your art, after you've learned how to be an artist.

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"I have no problem with someone who has a passion for Ubuntu, or any other OS, but this "professor's" first and sacred task is to prepare his students for the real world as employees."<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...and I thought the point of Universities were to educate "individuals", as in able thinking citizens, professionals if you will.

My god, the day Universities are reduced to making "employees" is the day this country might as well pack it in.

Is there a *single* graphics "professional" that is going to tell me they couldn't get up to speed on a second program, in about a couple weeks, for a really complex program like Photoshop, already knowing how to do graphics?

What a joke, if you can't manage that, you got bigger problems than what graphics app you learned on. You should not be in a computer based profession.

The entire history of computer based activity is a continuous series of dominant realities giving way to new realities. according to the rational presented here no one should have ever been taught any database other than Oracle because you can only learn one DB system, or why in the hell was Windows or MacOS ever taught in their early day, they were that new tool that would never land you a job in the "real world".

My first job in IT came from figuring out Solaris well enough to get a box up and running for an Air Force review. Prior to walking in that door I had only windows experience. That Solaris experience made me more competent at my job, both in having a deeper understanding of the concepts the software tools were effecting, and in the *practicing of learning tools*. Which is what a career in computing based profession is.

Frankly, I wouldn't hire someone who couldn't come up to speed on new tools quickly, because if they can't do that they will never keep up, much less push the envelope.

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"Is there a *single* graphics "professional" that is going to tell me they couldn't get up to speed on a second program, in about a couple weeks, for a really complex program like Photoshop, already knowing how to do graphics?"

Er, yes, if you are talking about the high-level skills required in a high-level environment like ours, rather than the basic skills of a junior.

"My first job in IT came"... Aha, that explains eveything, LOL. I have never come across an "IT professional" who had even the beginnings of a clue about the creative world.

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"My first job in IT came"... Aha, that explains eveything, LOL. I have never come across an "IT professional" who had even the beginnings of a clue about the creative world.

"The Creative World" is as full of elitist assholes as anything else, everyone who thinks creativity is limited to the the little world of him and his small clique is a prime example of this...

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""The Creative World" is as full of elitist assholes as anything else, everyone who thinks creativity is limited to the the little world of him and his small clique is a prime example of this... "

Read and try to actually understand what I said, rather than sprouting your ignorance.

No, it's not "full" or elitist assholes - there are a few, as in many fields, but it's irrelevant to my point, though it does illustrate your own "objectivity".

My point was that IT professionals don't understand the needs of what I loosely called the creative world. And your own kneejerk reaction is very typical of the sort of bunker mentality which I have often experienced from IT professionals, so thank you for your post.

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Read and try to actually understand what I said, rather than sprouting your ignorance.

I understand perfectly.

No, it's not "full" or elitist assholes - there are a few, as in many fields, but it's irrelevant to my point, though it does illustrate your own "objectivity".

So you are saying: "This has nothing to do with the point at hand, but I'll use it to make a personal attack anyway."

My point was that IT professionals don't understand the needs of what I loosely called the creative world.

Most of what you call the creative world simply isn't all that creative (for the lack of a better word). Pixel pushing is not in itself any more creative then carpenting or programing and you don't have to be a guru to understand is that they all need good tools (you need some common sense and the will to demistify your beloved field).

And your own kneejerk reaction is very typical of the sort of bunker mentality which I have often experienced from IT professionals, so thank you for your post.

That's just nice, someone get's all up in arms because his little corner of the world got insulted and... Returns the favor. So tell me, are you an elitist or just immature?

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That particular job I mentioned was at a place that had creative people ranging from video production work to 3Dgraphics to graphic work for the web.

Additionally my parents used to have their own advertising agency.

Sir your toolset, work flow suite and all, is a fraction of the tool sets I had to get proficient on, and no more complicated than the tool sets used by creative professionals in our other departments.

As to your second line "junior" comment, I'm assuming someone just out of school couldn't be anything but a "junior", the discussion is about whats required for someone nominally skilled in the art to switch from tool to another.

The degree of variation between the Gimp and Photoshop, on an order of magnitude scale, just isn't great enough to warrant your assertions. I have had these tool comparison discussions before, for multiple disciplines, with professionals all highly skilled in their part of your "creative" world".

So you can skip the Ad hominem & appeals to authority, they are hollow.

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The purpose of a university is not to "prepare you for the real world", it is to teach you how to think. If you want preparation for the "real world", go to a technical college, not a university. This attitude that education is a slave to industry is destroying higher education all over the world.

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Ah, i'm a professor to. Sometimes they tell me to teach proprietary softwares. But when i'm free i'm using free softwares. Just because what is important is not that the students know where to click, but how it works. What is important is not that sudents become employees, they also can work for their own. Ah, anyway.

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I use Linux for a lot of things, but not art. The only GOOD art programs on Linux are Scribus and Inkscape.

But Gimp? It doesn't support 16 bpp images, so your lovely photos will posterize to hell-n-back when you adjust contrast.

Blender as a replacement for Maya? Holy heck, I've tried blender. I really have tried to like it. Blender finally got a usable rigging system, and finally is getting some sane NURBS handling. But it is hardly in the same class. And in terms of power, Zbrush puts it to shame. Trying to draw anything in Blender is like trying to draw on paper with your fingers lopped off. Hexagon 2 or Zbrush are orders more effecient and powerful. Blender's UI is about 15 years out of date.

What about Real Media style painting? Krita, the closest to a Painter clone, isn't really usable yet. It's a sad sad shadow of Painter

And color calibration, the most important aspect of getting art to print, doesn't exist in any advanced form on Linux.

I'll use it as a firewall, I do development on it. But the art software is sorely lacking.

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Hexagon 2 isn't out, so you've only seen the videos of what it might be able to do like the rest of us, just like Modo 2, and Silo 2, ZBrush 2.5, they all look like they 'might be great' and Hexagon 2 we should find out sooner than the others...

Sharpconstruct is a open source sculpting based tool with fairly high resolution, not a zbrush killer and not ready for prime time yet but fun to use. (Blender has two sculpting scripts but both are python based and relatively slow)

[QUOTE]Blender as a replacement for Maya? Holy heck, I've tried blender. I really have tried to like it. Blender finally got a usable rigging system, and finally is getting some sane NURBS handling. But it is hardly in the same class.[/QUOTE]

Depends on what version of Maya is being used (one of the entry level ones or the full version that costs 5,000$, and are they using older versions or current versions?) and what the individual is working on. If you prefer SubD modeling maya is really weak and Blenders is quite fast. If you want cloth dynamics, physics, particle hair, or fluid dynamics, you need the expensive version of Maya (but for Blender it is free), if you want multiple rendering nodes you need to purchase more tools, with Blender it is free.

Right now Blender fits the needs of a 2D artist fairly well compared to Maya (but not nearly as well as say ZBrush), and is also a pretty good fit for a 3D artist.

By this summer Blender will have made another large leap forward, and by the start of the next year will be nearly equal to the current Lightwave 3D or Cinema 4D.

LetterRip

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Two problems with your "buy it" argument. First most students don't buy Maya. The school does and they learn there. Second I know that people pirate Maya and other tools. That's not really a pro reason, but it is true.

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Doesn't Maya run on Linux?

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I know that people drink and drive. That's offtopic, but it is true!

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Hi,

I, too, thought the teacher was a little forward with dumping OS X for Ubuntu, which I use at home including Mac OS X and Windows. What he may not have found out is that he could have used Fink (<a href="http://fink.sourceforge.net/" title="sourceforge.net">http://fink.sourceforge.net/</a sourceforge.net>) that would have allowed him to install some of the packages he mentioned without moving completely to Ubuntu.

On the other hand, showing students the pros and cons of FOSS should be expected. Only showing Windows when both Mac and Linux are currently available shows a lack of being aware of the tools that can be helpful as a tool user and maker.

If all you had was a hammer, all you'd find are nails.

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If the students cannot get jobs in the graphics industry because they do not use the limited and chained tools of the Adobe empire, and the employers at Ad-agencies et al are too thick to recognize talent and open their minds to new approaches (which does not ring true really) then it's time for those same students to start getting fed-up and begin their own Ad-agencies! Start your own companies. Only run Open-Source. Fire all Adobe Zombies on sight. Employ programmers to add CMYK or whatever else you need supported. Get around patent-hell by inventing new standards. Start printing presses that don't bloody use Pantone - that sort of thing.

Revolution! And you have the source-code to do it.

Or you could just hanf your heads and line-up for handouts from the monopolies who run your minds.

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As you mentioned, they sure can start their own ad agencies and use any OSS they'd like. The problem is that when they send their work to the print shop they're going to be SOL. They're going to pay the print shop some mighty high art fees to correct their files and get their files into an industry standard application like Quark or Illustrator.

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I realize that I am being slightly over the top here, but what about starting your own printing presses too. I mentioned that in my first post, that and hiring coders to add the things that are needed. I understand (perhaps wrongly) that formats like<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.ps and<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.pdf *are* standard - so things are not as bleak as all that!

Besides, from what I've seen of Ad Agencies, they are top-heavy with too many suits (in porches) and the money thins rapidly beneath that rarified top layer. So cut-out the suits. Sell the cars (get bicycles) and plough the income back into the source-code.

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What the other posters don't seem to get is that there is actually a reason to dump OS X in favor of a free alternative. That of course being the licence costs, as also noted in the article itself. OS X upgrades are not free.

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To all you people saying to use Gimp etc. on OSX, have you actually tried using those programs on OSX? Yeah they work, and yeah it's better than not having good OSS on OSX, but they work poorly. X11 gets' half-baked support on OSX. Some key combos don't work in X11 since they're captured by OSX. Some programs don't have the latest versions available, etc.

I still own a Mac. It's for my wife who doesn't use the art type programs much. I switched to Linux initially because of the poor performance of the Gimp and Inkscape on OSX. Granted their performance today is much better, but it's still not on par with the Linux equivalents!

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In the real world, they aren't going to be using anything you have installed, then you go and make it worse by removing the industry standard media editing apps?

I'm glad I didn't have a *nix fanboy for a lecturer when I was studying. This will look great on their CV's.

I have worked at Universities before, and it's amazing the little worlds the Professors live in. They really have no concept of the corporate world at all.

Like the saying goes - 'linux is only free if your time is worth nothing'.

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While I agree that the Adobe graphic design trio are all killer apps used heavily in industry, I admire your attempt to challenge the current system with open source alternatives. If no one took a stand like he has against mainstream thought then the big computer firms wouldn't have to innovate to compete.

I'm curious to see how this experiment works.

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It's amazing the little worlds the corporations live in. They really have no concept of any other world at all.

A lot of (most?) professors do have a concept of the corporate world. They hate it, just like most other people do. But, instead of meekly submitting to the corporate world, they live outside it.

Like the saying goes - 'linux is only free if your time is worth nothing'.

This is so inane. Clearly, Linux is Free, and can often be gotten for no monetary cost.

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Several commentators noted that people not trained with Adobe software will have difficulties finding a job in the "art industry". This might be true to a certain degree.

On the other hand, there's demand for people using FOSS tools: Gimp is fit for web page design, for example. In fact, lots of modern web development shops need people with additional skills to be able to cope with CSS based design, to be able to understand software developers.

The professor should take the complaints seriously, and try to get in touch with companies interested in his students.

Companies using GIMP and the like in-house should also get in touch with him to discuss internships and other means to find the best among his students. This may also include companies with a special interests in Free Software and Open Source such as RedHat, Novell, IBM, etc.

For the students, this is a challenge and a chance -- not just a disadvantage.

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I submitted the article a few weeks ago, and it took a while for newforge.com to publish it. Since then, students have started their final semester of portfolio development, for which they have the option of doing paid work in class for real clients if they desire (and if they can get the clients). I'm happy to say that the students have plenty of paying work. Transitioning from free software to proprietary has been easy. They're focusing on Web design and graphic design projects, and they're not finding it difficult to get clients with interesting projects. And they're doing excellent work that is making their portfolios look great.

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There seem to be quite a lot of people who dislike that no "industry standard" tools were used, whoever, I'm quite sure that they are too shortsighted in their approuch. An art class is not a Photoshop course, it's about learning the nessecary techniques to create.

I honestly don't see how it is different to use a wacom tablet on Photoshop than on Gimp? Where is the difference? It's just a tool, people should learn how to use a tool to produce a desired result and they shouldn't care about the tool used.

It's not about the software, it's about what you make of it. And apart from that, Photoshop is not the only commercial "industry standard" Photo editing app! There are plenty of them, and even the various version of photoshop differ in their behavior, and future versions will differ as well.

Btw. I do a lot of web-developing contract work, and my employer actully couldn't care less what tools I use. In fact I use vim on Linux, but I was never asked for that.

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Yeah and why don't we also use scissors to draw a picture. Sure! It will make marks on the page if you press it enough on the paper, but is it the right tool for the job?

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What's your point?

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Seems plain as day, but then I'd bet a $100 that the majority saying "go with OSS" have never actually used the "standard" (wouldn't want to soil their delicate hands with that proprietary stuff).* The "standard" got to were it is not because as the condencending zealots keep telling you "You all are sheep, I'm the only clear thinker here. Follow MY herd.". But because it does two things. It gets the job done (would be replaced otherwise), and it does it efficiently (time is money). It's not perfect, but then neither is the OSS stuff, but you all are willing to risk students careers on it.

*I'm reserving this space for the stream that's going to say they used an old version and therefore the "standard" is evil. Hey it works when the MS zealots critique Linux.

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If you have all these educational licenses lying around, what sort of sense does it make to take such a risk ?

And arts student compiling packages ? That completely goes agains my experience of people in arts, who not only consider IT a pain but also terribly uncool.

I do apologise for being a bit unsure of this story if it's really true but I'd like to see something like a project page on the schools website...

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There education? Where education? And what happened to you and your education? You think they're going to all be very sorry that their education was so poor there!

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As the professor replied, he allows his students to do paid work during class for their class projects. Given that their projects are for various employers, it is quite probable that he wouldn't be able to put that work up on the web. Of course, perhaps he ought to put up the others' work.

<a href="http://www.newsforge.com/comments.pl?sid=54572&op=&threshold=0&commentsort=0&mode=thread&tid=37&pid=124039#124042" title="newsforge.com">The professor's comment from which this info came.</a newsforge.com>

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Man, what a waste! Who set this system up and why would you honestly cheat your students out of there education! I've been using Photoshop for years and I still haven't mastered it yet. So now your telling the world that your students will have less knowledge of the main software and OSX interface than most with the same degree! Stupid, there is more to Quark or Indesign that fancy color options and layout spreads. You can't teach pre-press knowledge with Scribus. How are your students going to output or preflight there work with that piece of junk software. They will get a reputation at all the local print shops for giving them a nonfunctional file that can't be used.

Thats so dumb!

good luck with that one! Until they get most of the big names to run on linux ill stick with OSX.

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Stupid, there is more to Quark or Indesign that fancy color options and layout spreads. You can't teach pre-press knowledge with Scribus. How are your students going to output or preflight there work with that piece of junk software. They will get a reputation at all the local print shops for giving them a nonfunctional file that can't be used.

You didn't ever use Scribus, right? We do, along with Quark. And we never had any issues with Scribus' PDFs at print shops, NEVER. I can't tell the same about Quark's PDF export. And since Scribus includes a lot of features of Acrobat, it's an excellent tool to introduce students to the "black magic" of pre-press. I don't say it's perfect yet. But Scribus is a fine piece of software. If it weren't for free, we'd pay for it!

The time will come in the educational process, when students will have to learn about the advanced features of Acrobat, Quark and InDesign, but I can't imagine anything better to learn the basics of page layout. Plus, the UI is the best I ever saw in a DTP software.

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...Who set this system up and why would you honestly cheat your students out of "there" education!...

Apparently your teachers deprived you of the correct spelling of "their". Let me guess the version of MS Word that you used didn't have a spell checker when you were in school? But hey the bright side is that it was the industry standard.

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Note that nautilus also supports mouting ssh disks (try Places->Connect to server). You might want to use it because of its integration with gnome.

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This all comes down to why you are going to school. If you want to learn about how digital art is done, the theory, create your own, further your education, there is nothing wrong with the FOSS approach.

However, if you are going to school to prepare yourself for an art career (which most people do), replacing industry-standard, high-quality tools with inferior, non-industry-standard Free/Open Source alternatives is pure insanity.

This professor should be fired.

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For a number of years I was the the head of the graphic design department of a publishing company. I would have loved to hire one of these people. Not because they knew Linux, but because they knew Graphic Design. I had more trouble with designers who knew software than anything else. They knew how to solve specific problems with specific software, not how to problem solve. Who cares what the software is, who cares what the platform is, do you know Graphic Design?

When I went to art school my department had one computer, and I never got to use it. I've been hired on at least three occasions into departments using software I've never used before, because I can design.

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You're an idiot. The school administration should have you fired for wasting all that high-dollar Apple hardware when you could have run Linux on cheap generic whitebox PCs.

If they have any sense, they'll:
1. can you
2. get the IT department to reinstall OS X and
3. hire an "art professor" with some sense who cares about the students being employable. GIMP?! Yeah, put that on a resume'.

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I think this Apple-to-Linux conversion makes a lot of sense and shows the future trend. Surely, a lot of Apple's zealots will disagree with that but that does not mean they're right.

Gimp may not have all the features PhotoShop has now, but Gimp is an excellent, very capable and Free program and and I'm sure it will continue to improve to the point that it can do anything Photoshop can do, just differently.

When choosing your tools the choice does not have to be between overpriced hardware (Apple) or overpriced software (Microsoft):

Industry standard hardware + Free software = you win.

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Wait<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. you are switching your students from industry standard programs like Photoshop, Quark Express and Dreamweaver to software which few people use. Have you acutally searched any job sites recently for programs like the ones you're forcing your students to use? Guess what, few people in business have heard of GiMP, less Scribus and Quanta Plus. I have used Linux for about 8 years, I can't remember hearing anything about Scribus nor Quanta. You're basically wasting your students' time and tuition. When they go to interview for jobs which require normal software, guess what they'll be turned away... and they'll have you to thank. If I were attending your school and thank gawd I don't, I'd goto the dean and demand my money back!

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Read about it in my <a href="http://panela.blog-city.com/theory_vs_practicality.htm" title="blog-city.com">blog</a blog-city.com>

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You did the right thing, and your students should thank you for it. As for your school - it should give you a raise.

Nevermind the offended Maccies. They paid lots of money for their hardware AND their software with the firm conviction that they "THINK DIFFERENT" and that theirs is THE one and only way. By rejecting their *last* 'clearly superior' product (or so they claim), you really deeply offend them. Hence their antics here.

As for GIMP, yes, it is in some ways not on par with Photoshop, just as Photoshop is in other ways (scripting and plugins in particular) not on par with GIMP. But as long as you can do with GIMP that which you want to teach your students, you are doing just fine with GIMP.

Besides their respective differences, GIMP and Photoshop share a 80-90% feature/capabilities commonality. So all these hysterics are just about the rest.

As for the job market - NOBODY will hire (or not) anyone for knowing (or not) Photoshop or GIMP. Nowadays, the candidate's personality and potential to adapt far outweigh any one already aquired skill.

Good job - and thanks for your courage!

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Was this an existing lab? Did you just throw out a few hundred thousand dollars worth of licences because of some dogmatic ideal?

I work in the film visual effects industry, we use oss all the time. We are a Fedora and mac osx shop (no windows). I doubt that the major applications (maya, shake, nuke, photoshop) will be ever replaced. Thats not the point. And frankly either is osx vs linux. Knowing what is available is vital, and being able to make an informed ratrional choice is life and death.

If you choose develepment over purchasing a existing package is a complicated choice. OSS is not free, it costs a lot in time and money. Comecial packages often reduce your scaleability.

Somebody suggested that your code your own cmyk and color matching system. This is a lot of time and money. Client's mwont pay for your cavalier attitude.

You could be moderate. Take the systems and licences you already have and build from there. Why would you want to burn everything? Keep Photohop and install gimp as well. Provide choices. Teach students the ramifications for thoes choices, not oss=good, proprietary=bad.

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The man is teaching people how to think ! I absolutely hate when teachers think they have to teach students on a certain piece of software "because industry uses it". You know what happens to the mouse jockeys when they don't have that software ? They are lost and worthless !

If students can use Gimp and the other packages I have no doubt they will be able to figure out Photoshop. If I was hiring commercial artists, I would immediately hire one of these people over a Windows/Mac trained person. These people were building their own apps and solving problems. They learned about ssh and ftp. When you employ a Windows brain washed person they are always hounding you for the next update on the software. These people can get their own software and keep their own PC running. Windows and Mac users are babies. You have to keep feeding them and they need constant supervision.

Teach an artist to use Windows/Mac and they are good till next week. Teach an artist to use Linux/OS and they are set for LIFE. This is a HUGE step in the right direction.

My wife works on Windows machines at work during the day and then uses my Linux box at night. She can't believe how much better the Linux stuff is. Yes, you read that right.

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Get real. Clearly you've never worked in a commercial design shop. PSDs fly all around, to the client and back and tweaked all along the way.

"Figuring out Photoshop" is a multi-month / multi-year endeavor. I have been using it for 10 years and still discover new features (granted, different versions...). Also, while the OSS artists are getting paid to "figure out Photoshop", their co-workers are getting their work done on time and getting promoted.

I've been using Macs since OS 6 and PCs since Windows 3.1, and used Photoshop on every platform inbetween. I think this shoots a hole in your "Teach an artist to use Windows/Mac and they are good till next week." argument.

Your zealotry is dangerous.

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Looks like you have been stuck with photoshop all your life. Yet you have had to discover features all the time. So what difference does it make if other people have to figure out features?

Your zealotry is dangerous

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""Figuring out Photoshop" is a multi-month / multi-year endeavor. I have been using it for 10 years and still discover new features"<nobr> <wbr></nobr>...yea I can see why you only want to learn one program...keep pluggin' away there chief.

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Nevermind that, the real question is: "Why are you using a ten year old version of Photoshop?"

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"Free" here refers to freedom, not the price tag. The gratis nature of Ubuntu and the GIMP are just very welcome characteristics, but that wasn't his chief reason. His chief reason was the freedom that Free Software gives you, and that's true regardless of the price tag that comes with the software.

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just wanted to say that i think is a very well-written and genuinely good article. i'd like to see more like this.

anyway, if you want to further promote free software, encourage your students to submit ubuntu bug reports (<a href="https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bugs" title="launchpad.net">https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bugs</a launchpad.net>). bug reports inform developers of problems and allows them to make the software better. it also allows you to take an active role in the software you use. especially important contributions that you artists can make are usability concerns, design ideas, and art concepts that us programmers don't quite "get". the more contributors, the better the software will be!

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I think it teaches them that you don't need the BS er, I mean the Big Guns to get things done.

I've used Illustrator and Inkscape, Pagemaker and Scribus. The tough part of these programs aren't the programs, its the terms, concepts and methods, and both teach similar for building complex illustrations or DTP documents. I'e found what I've learned on Illusrator or Pagemaker can be used similarly with Inksape and Scribus (same with Word and OOo for that matter).

I can see that students who have been weaned on inkscape or scribus probably will be able to jump right into Illustrator and Pagemaker and all the added features and plugins of those commercial apps will just be the gravy to a creative individual. And visa versa, those who are deprived of Illustrator or Pagemaker (due to finanical limitations) have a home/low-cost business alternative to continue thier skills.

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I think everyone should start switching over........especially with a distro as awesome as ubuntu.

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All the zealots crying "think of the children" will be out of a job when their employers decide that their skills in expensive old proprietary software are no longer current. Or will they? Could it be that their skills are transferrable?

An education is meant to give you general skills, not train you to use a single company's software. That would be a couple days training that a company should pay for, not the whole of your education.

Train people to think and explore the software and they will have better and more transferrable skillsets. This is easier to do with free software.

(But X11 does suck on Mac. Gimp and Inkscape are so much easier to use on Ubuntu).

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Lot's of commercial <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" title="sourcewatch.org">shills </a sourcewatch.org> here pretending commercial software is "the one true way".

The reality is the free software being used is more than adequate for the task at hand and the students are, correctly, being taught general artistic techniques applicable to any software, open or closed.

If the commercial software vendors want people to do vocational training for their software then they should pay for it. The tax payer and course participant should not be subsidising that company nor promoting lock-in to their products.

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They are art students, not Photoshop students, not QuarkXPress students, not GIMP or Inkscape students.

They are taught art in the first place - that's what they came for. And that's what they seem to be taught since they are happy - as the author states.

And art doesn't mean cOOl Photoshop technics. Good HR managers never ever hire Photoshop users. They hire graphics designers. And graphic designers, in the first place, are people who know what color is, what composition is, what perspective is, etc.

Likewise HR managers don't hire Word or Adobe Framemaker users, they hire technical writers. They also do not hire MS Outlook and OneNote users, they hire managers.

Hopefully one day you will learn to distinguish tool from knowledge.

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Amen, brother!

Unfortunately, my K-12 school district has the same mindset as the proprietary software shills posting here. My school district essentially takes the position that unless you teach the third graders how to use specifically and only MS Office, you're not preparing them for "the real world."

Nonsense.

As an educator, my position is that anyone who feels some mandate to turn third graders into "good little employees" is doing said third graders a major disservice. But my district does it, and it's a shame. When you have elementary school children saying "fire up Internet Explorer" instead of saying "fire up your Web browser", that should be a warning to you that something's wrong. It's the concept that matters, be it at the K-12 level or the college level.

Professor Leete, one educator to another, I say to you two words:

RIGHT ON!!

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Eactly. My wife uses Photoshop on OS X, but she could just as easily be using GIMP, and probably would if she was starting out today.
When she accepts a commission, nobody asks her what kind of tool she uses. When she shows her portfolio, there's no mention of software on it. People want to know what she created, not what she created it *with*.

That's what the art students need to know.

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nt

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ROTFLMAO!

Thanks, after the day I've had today, that laugh was quite welcome. You almost got a snort out of me.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:-)

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To all those who poo-poo the idea that Linux can be used as a serious graphics industry tool, and that nobody could possibly get a job from learning such a platform: you are absolutely RIGHT! If that's what you want to believe, then that is your reality.

Too bad nobody told Weta Digital this before they went ahead and used Linux to produce Lord of the Rings and King Kong visual effects. I guess they must have been low-budget amateurs from some backwater country, huh?
"Weta also dedicated 4,400 Linux-based processors exclusively to the task of rendering" on <a href="http://digitalcontentproducer.com/mag/big_picture_0106/" title="digitalcon...oducer.com">http://digitalcontentproducer.com/mag/big_picture<nobr>_<wbr></nobr> 0106/</a digitalcon...oducer.com>
and <a href="http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2002/view/e_sess/3118" title="oreillynet.com">http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/os2002/view/<nobr>e<wbr></nobr> _sess/3118</a oreillynet.com> from the horse's mouth.
Come on, get real. Linux is the only platform that offers low cost, high performance and reliablility. That's why the big guys rely on it.

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"To all those who poo-poo the idea that Linux can be used as a serious graphics industry tool, and that nobody could possibly get a job from learning such a platform: you are absolutely RIGHT! If that's what you want to believe, then that is your reality."

Unfortunately for you, your example has nothing to do with the discussion.

"Too bad nobody told Weta Digital this before they went ahead and used Linux to produce Lord of the Rings and King Kong visual effects. I guess they must have been low-budget amateurs from some backwater country, huh?"

A Rendering farm has as much to do with art, as whitewalls have to do with drag racing.

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Linux is all very well for some Wingnut in windy Wellington, but it'll be a cold day in hell before Microsoft uses Linux to render their Halo movie..

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If I was in any of those classes I would be demanding my money back and complaining to the head of the school. You take these classes to get the skills needed to do a job. I'm doubt that someplace asking for in-depth knowledge of photoshop is going to look kindly on an applicant that has only been trained in GIMP.

ANW

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Shouldn't everyone be able to use ANY program? why do i have to be trained for a specific one? That simply doesn't matter. You should be able to learn Photoshop, GIMP, OpenOffice, MS Office and so on on your own.

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I wounder if the computer science department uses Qt to teach programming (this "free" software is 2X the price of Visual Studio<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.NET for commercial development????) I use open source exclusively on my personal computer, but I don't expect to ever get job using it. I wouldn't want to. It is a pain in the ass to program on - there are no tools, and no real incentive for anyone to create any.

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"I use open source exclusively on my personal computer, but I don't expect to ever get job using it. I wouldn't want to. It is a pain in the ass to program on - there are no tools, and no real incentive for anyone to create any."

Huh? What lead mine of open source are you living "exclusely" in? Or are you a troll?

A couple of examples to enlighten you:

- Eclipse is one of the most powerful and widely supported platforms for software development, and it's Open Source Software (<a href="http://www.eclipse.org/" title="eclipse.org">http://www.eclipse.org/</a eclipse.org>). For just some of the companies supporting it by serving on the foundation board of directors see: <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/org/foundation/directors.php" title="eclipse.org">http://www.eclipse.org/org/foundation/directors.p<nobr>h<wbr></nobr> p</a eclipse.org> Or perhaps IBM, HP, BEA, CompuWare, Wind River, Intel, Nokia, etc. are just small potatoes and don't count as "anyone creating any."

- KDevelop is the IDE that runs on KDE (<a href="http://www.kdevelop.org/" title="kdevelop.org">http://www.kdevelop.org/</a kdevelop.org>). Supports many languages with all kinds of editing and development tools support.

- Umbrello (<a href="http://uml.sourceforge.net/index.php" title="sourceforge.net">http://uml.sourceforge.net/index.php</a sourceforge.net>) is a tool for creating UML diagrams in industry standard symbols. You can then generate code from the diagrams into Java, PHP, JavaScript, ActionScript, SQL, Python, Ada, IDL, XML Schema, Perl, C++ and Ruby. And some of those can make the full circle from code back to new UML diagrams!

I know many developers just in my local LUG that are working (getting a salary) full time to develop with FS/OSS tools that run on Linux.

If you don't think Qt provides enough value for their commercial license price, use something else. However, don't go the "inexpensive" route with VS.NET and expect the result to port easily to Mac OS X, Linux, AIX, etc. like the Qt libraries and applications can.

There. (If you are a toll, you have been fed. Go back under the bridge.)

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The teacher should be ashamed/sacked/burned at the stake/blah blah blah.

You know, I didn't break down in a heap of tears the first time I used Netscape in the '90s, in spite of years only using Lynx-like programs. I'm guessing that these students are bright enough to figure it out.

And besides, if they end up freelancing (where the real money is), it will increase their stable of possible tools at no additional cost. We hire freelancers, and all I care about is that their work is on time and looks good.

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Mac users are idiots. they are clutching to an overpriced hardware-software combination with religous ferver that puts muslim extremists to shame.

Prof, you are a true genius - your foresight and courage deserve the gratitude of your students, their parents, and the industry. The world of software is going open source - and no close-minded mac or windows or adobe or maya or whatever proprietary softwares devout mindless worshippers can change it. Yes it started with the 'nerdy' stuff like PHP, MySQL, Apache - but just like retards scoffed at these fledgling open source projects in the beginning, are now eating their misguided words, so it will be with stupid ones who in the near future will see GIMP, Inkscape, Blender etc overtake their commercial counterparts....it is inevitable - growth of viable open source projects is exponential - slow to start yes, but once it reaches a certain point - interest increases, therefore input increases, therefore output of new releases increases and this stimulates more interest...

Your students will thank you for broadening their horizons<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.... and if they can work out how to use the more fiddly GIMP with proficiency, then they will be able to seamlessly switch to Photoshop - as currently photoshop is WAAAAYYY easier than GIMP....

And close minded retards - stuff you i look forward to the time when your stupid attitudes will be washed away in the wake of open source.

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1) Why was OSX replaced with Ubuntu -- Most Opensource programs work best on Linux... It just a matter of that being where most of the developers are.... Inkscape in particular runs like a dog on OSX. Also notice that a lot of the students installed Ubuntu on their home computers - most of which would have been X86...

2) to people who say the professor should be fired....

FFS people the professor is not suggesting that the students stay away from Photoshop. As stated earlier in the article students can get exposure to the adobe tools at another point during their course.

Furthermore the Lab Fees are reduced - the cost savings are being passed on to the student also the students can freely use the tools at home rather than putting out for a large amount money (for a student) or breaking the law.

There is a difference between university education and vacational training. In this sort of course I would expect to be taught the theory behind how digital imaging works rather than the "if you push this button photoshop will do this". If you understand why you are doing what you are doing then your skills become transferable. The rest of it is learning the muscle memory and quite frankly you can do that on your own.

Its not like things aren't a moving target in this industry anyways. Players come and go, new versions of Photoshop come out. Expect to learn update your learning regularly. Having a few extra tools up your sleeves is no harm, expecially ones that are legally just a download away.

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Nice initiative!<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)

I'm a student in a quite renown art school (here in italy). Mac OS (wich i prefer) and Linux user, i got my first job because of the fact i can design without softwares (and i have no problem with softwares). Actually the small design firm i worked for preferred me over more experienced people because of my theoric training (you know, old things like typography, grids, proportions, history of design), often lacking in many photoshop/freehand/xpress monkeys.

My point?
Maybe it's just because i live in an old a slow country, but thumbs up for theory in schools!

Now I quitted from full-time (but i'll keep doing logotypes for their products) job because i have to do my final project (thesis? How do you say?); in doing it i plan to use OSS if fontforge proves to be valuable, switching from Mac OS X to Ubuntu when needed.

(Pardon me if my english is a bit strange, or if i made some mistakes)

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Yes!

This student knows the difference between a university education and a votech certificate.

I think it is amazing how many people who have posted here have bought into the idea that a graphic arts education should center around a particular selection of software. I'll use my current education as an example of how wrong this idea is.

I'm currently a law student. Do lawyers use technology? You can bet that we do. However, how many of our classes even mention software tools? Almost none. Do we need to know how to use techonology like electronic research systems, conflicts check programs, and word processing? Yes of course we do. However, it is not the routine technical skills that makes a good lawyer. It takes an understanding of legal theory and methods.

Likewise, it is a designer's expertise in the design process that is critical to their sucess in the industry. Not specific skills with programs that are constantly changing anyway.

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This whole thing is reminiscent of the old "Nobody ever got fired for buying insert big vendor here". Funny thing tough is that most of these doomsday preachers here are actually afraid.

You are doing the RightThingTM by making your students think, and that scares these guys. If you do your job right, your students will know how to do things, they will know that they can get it done with whatever tool they get thrown. They will not be locked in to some app. Wich is where these doomsayers are right now. Locked in, and most without the capability to go out and learn new things.

Anyone can pick up Photoshop basics in days, advanced in weeks, very advanced only comes with years of use. So what if they dont learn it at school? What if when they go out to find a job their employer whants them to use app X instead of PS? What if their employer wants them to use PS7 instead of PSCS (and this is a real scenario, i work in it)? What if you learn Illustrator and have to use Freehand or Corel Draw? InDesign over Quark? So, industry standard out the window we go...

And speaking of "industry standards", all of the above mentioned vector drawing packages are used, so, wich one is "the standard"?

Give a hungry man a fish and he will be hungry again tomorrow. Give him a fishing rod and teach him how to fish and he will be hungry no more. Most gfx artists arent braindead and can pick up new tools fast enough. So, teaching them graphics desgin is GoodThingTM, locking them into any app (OSS or commercial) is BadThingTM. By forcing unusual apps on them, you are actually giving them a fighting chance at actual thinking intead of menu choosing/mouse clicking.

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... the hard part is gaining the core underlying understanding of your particular field of practice in a very 'deep' way.

some unavoidable realities of being an information worker:

REALITY #1: one of the most critical skills all knowledge workers need is the MENTAL FLEXIBILITY TO LEARN A NEW PIECE OF SOFTWARE INSTANTLY.

in terms of the users relationship to the tool, it is not the tools that is of the most importance (although this is addressed further down), it is the users ability to learn virtually instantly. information technology tools change all the time, it is not the tool or paradigm that you learn, it is learning how to learn and being mentally flexible that is the greatest determinant of success in the information technology era. i hire and fire people all the time, this is the single greatest determinant of our employees ability to have a succesffull career with us.

REALITY #2: sure the industry standard tools matters but experience matters more.

no one doubts this, nay, no one argues contrary to this at all. but in all honesty, I HAVE NEVER MET A STUDENT PROFFICIENT IN A PIECE OF PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY JUST COMING OUT OF ANY EDUCATIONAL FACILITY. that is simply the reality of the situation. there are a rare few gems here and there that have excellent profficiency in just the right set of tools, but by and large what you are hiring is the STUDENTS EYE. it is the students talent for the visual and communication, not their talent for being able to click on an interface that we hire.

in %99.999 percent of all newly educated hires, regardless of the software being taught in the educational facility, we ALWAYS end training-up the student on their skills in production. ALWAYS. they are never ready even with something as simple as photoshop, never mind maya.

so sure, we would like some familiarity with things like photoshop and maya, but frankly it makes no difference, the starting point is always the same with every new student hire. what we want to see in the portfolio is an eye for aesthetics, balance and communication, all else we are forced to teach anyway. we don't care if you created your portfolio with a stick and some dirt, if it shows you have 'they eye' you got the eye, thats what we (and everyone else) is REALLY looking for because that is what we are selling to the client. we aren't selling the client 'we have this uberdude that can use maya' we are selling sex in colour and motion.

REALITY #3: open source encourages the artist to own and understand their toolset on a much deeper level than someone on a proprietary system.

this isn't something that we can sell to the client, but this is something we actively look for. windows and macs only provide us with clickmonkeys, students with exposure to open source at least on some level provide us with individuals that tend to think outside of the box a bit more and usually have well rounded points of view, well rounded experience and usually (but not exclusively) have excellent problem solving skills. it's a difficult thing to define, you just haveto watch these people on the shop floor. our hires that have had multidisciplinary and multi-architecture exposure solve their own problems, our clickmonkey hires simply lack the framework to work them selves out of tought spots. if it's something a click monkey hasn't been exposed to, they generally have a hard time dealing with.

much like a lot of the responses to this article, most of which can be summed up as:

"OH NO, OPEN SOURCE! THERE BE DRAGONS!"

BALANCE. that is what all teachers need to provide to students. teach them to think,teach them design, teach them to be flexible around information technology, give them some experience in whatever the industry technology du jour is and they will be fine and gotten their moneys worth.

"Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." - Someone

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I think this is an excellent move. Most core pricipals can be taught because Open Source software is quite good thesedays
I think its good to show students that you dont need anilegal copy of photoshop to do good work. using bootleg copies of software in the mistaken belief that its the industry standard can set a person back a few years espically morally!
Principle are whats important in graphic design, they were build up before software and computers were about!
Tools are easy it just conversion from one package to another...

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Year, I think so. It's the great chance to change the new way to learn.
Some of my friends have questions why photoshop and Illustrator are so much expensive.
They are young hopefull students but they felt some strangeness about softwares at the first time in art school. Of course tools are important but it's not so much comparing with ideas and observation.
So I heard and also see, I tryed GNU softwares. In my opinion, it's not so diffrent and first step is both OK.

Most of students will see observation and handcrafts are more important than softwares for their creativity.
If you try to GNU softwares, I recommend to use Ubuntu Linux. It's easier than other Linux.
Of course GUN softwares will go on Windows!

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I think open source design software has to be the way to go - long term. When I graduated from a university that didn't teach us any software skills, I couldn't afford any design software so the only option I had was to use pirate copies as I needed to learn the software that could get me a job. Now after ten years of working in design studios I'm self employed and now use very little industry standard software prefering open source alternatives. BUT the only way I know what to use instead is because I have learnt the industry standards; photoshop, autocad, quark, 3ds max etc and I have a thorough understanding of these packages capabilities and what I am expected to deliver. In the current market, students have to learn the industry standards or they simply will never get a job, the design industry will not change and adapt to open source at the same rate as individuals. Teaching Photoshop and Gimp side by side has to be the way to go. Universities would be equipping students poorly though if they just teach one or the other.

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anonymous coward, if you are calling your new staff "click monkeys" you have no respect for your team. Pity because you raise some good points

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I'd make the little buggers use a pencil!

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