If you’re dead-set on using FOSS, why switch to the Mac in the first place? Wouldn’t you stick with Linux and use GIMP (or maybe Krita, which is usually a better alternative)?
GIMP is not really a good image editor, when you compare it to the alternatives and include paid alternatives in the comparison. From my memory of using Photoshop, I’d say that GIMP is roughly equivalent to Photoshop 3.0, which came out in 1994, although it is missing some core features from Photoshop 3.0 (and prior versions—the workflows that I used in Photoshop 2.5 are unworkable in GIMP, as far as I can tell, and it’s extremely frustrating to try and use GIMP for basic tasks).
Doesn't matter. People have work to do with tools, not list out all the features. If Krita works for the person, there's no reason to use Gimp or Photoshop.
Whether it works for you isn't the criteria by which you should judge whether something is better or not. A hammer is also better than the GIMP at hammering a nail, but because I only need to hammer nails doesn't make the GIMP worse at what it does than a hammer.
Krita is better for people who need to do a lot less than what the GIMP is capable of doing.
If Krita works for the person it implies neither Gimp or Photoshop were exactly the right tool to begin with, since Krita is oriented towards a different set of tasks than Gimp/Photoshop
Yes you can. I've done a lot of photo editing in Krita. My cameras output 12-bit raw images, which for a long time GIMP could only work with by truncating to 8-bit. Krita has been able to work with higher bit depths for a long time.
People do photo editing in Krita just like people do painting in Photoshop. Both tools can do both, as can GIMP, it's just that most of Krita's new features of the last few years have been focused on painting.
Krita is more than enough for a lot of photo editing needs, which are basically cropping, resizing, applying color filters etc - for those operations Krita is much more straightforward than GIMP.
Also if what you said matched reality, Corel Painter would still exist in a meaningful way in 2020 but most artists migrated to Photoshop for their painting needs in 2007
> Krita is more than enough for a lot of photo editing needs, which are basically cropping, resizing, applying color filters
If it's your definition of photo editing then any freeware (ie: xnview, windows' image viewer...) can do this. You don't need Photoshop - which is pro high end software - to do this kind of basic stuffs.
I know, I don't do as much photo editing anymore and there are some better integrated/ Mac friendlier options that take care of my needs for just a few bucks.
I love FOSS, but I also like creative/ great products by small to mid-size indie developers like Pixelmator. For what I do, it's fantastic, they have a iPad app too which is where I do most of my photo editing.