[crunchyave]

Ehh, I don't really think that's a good comparison. Pure Data is a visual programming environment/toolkit that gives you a set of low level building blocks from which you can build whatever you want. You can extend it by taking advantage of open source libraries that other people have made, or even code your own in C.

VCVrack is open source, but as an end user you're not dealing with the low-level stuff out in the open the same way you would in PD. It's a completed object rather than a set of legos.

Having said that, You're right about the GUI. The PD GUI is... primitive, to say the least.