[acapybara]

As a long-time user and supporter of Krita, I'm thrilled to see it mentioned here. However, I must express my concern about the choice of emphasizing "FREE" in all caps in this headline. While I understand that the cost-free nature of open-source software is certainly appealing, I feel that this particular framing could cheapen the overall value proposition of Krita.

Krita has much more to offer than just being free. It's a powerful and versatile painting program, developed by a dedicated team of professionals and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to make it an excellent tool for digital artists. The software offers a wide range of features, including an intuitive user interface, advanced brush engines, and robust layering capabilities. These strengths are what truly set Krita apart and should be the primary focus when promoting it.

By emphasizing the "FREE" aspect in all caps, the headline may inadvertently detract from these strengths and create the perception that Krita's most significant selling point is its price tag, rather than its outstanding functionality and features. I would suggest presenting Krita as a "professional open-source painting program" without the all-caps emphasis on "FREE," so that the conversation around it can focus more on its capabilities and the value it brings to the creative community.

Again, I wholeheartedly support Krita and am grateful for the fantastic work that has been put into it. I hope this critique is received in the caring and thoughtful spirit in which it was intended, as my goal is to ensure that Krita receives the recognition and appreciation it truly deserves.

[pdntspa]

FREE is super important.

There's lots of people in the world who can barely afford their computers, let alone the software to run on it.

Personally I launched my career from a self-education that made heavy use of pirated and open-source software. I would never have been able to buy software without that start.

[IYasha]

Amen to that.

[egypturnash]

It's a powerful and versatile painting program, developed by a dedicated team of professionals and volunteers who have worked tirelessly to make it an excellent tool for digital artists. The software offers a wide range of features, including an intuitive user interface, advanced brush engines, and robust layering capabilities. These strengths are what truly set Krita apart and should be the primary focus when promoting it.

This is table stakes for a paint program. Right now all versions of Manga Studio/Clip Studio are $25. Possibly more for the super deluxe version, I'm not sure if it's just currently also $25 or permanently $25. Procreate is $12. ArtRage is $5-80. All of these tools have an "intuitive user interface, advanced brush engines, and robust layering capabilities". All are developed by dedicated teams of pros who have been working to make them excellent tools for digital artists for many years.

Krita is available for free; Krita is partially built by volunteers. These are the only parts of the paragraph I quoted that do not apply to the other tools I cited. There's lots more tools in this space, too; I just listed a few things I see a lot of my pro artist friends using.

[Pxtl]

Clip is yearly on Android/iOS, one-time on Win/MacOS.

[egypturnash]

I think there's something going on with an upcoming subscription to updates for Clip on desktops, too? Some of my Clip-using friends were screaming about it a while back.

[RobotToaster]

"“Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer.” We sometimes call it “libre software,” borrowing the French or Spanish word for “free” as in freedom, to show we do not mean the software is gratis. "

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

[jrm4]

As a huge fan of GNU and the idea of Free Software;

It might be time to lead with Libre? This rather unfortunate ambiguity causes SO many problems.

[elicash]

This is entirely unrelated to Krita, but on the "free beer" mention: I had heard free as in beer, and also free as in puppies. But two that I heard recently and loved that make different points: Free as in mattress, and free as in piano.

[SahAssar]

> Free as in mattress, and free as in piano

I don't get it, could you explain?

[sigstoat]

the mattress could be infected with bedbugs.

and a piano that's been unmaintained for enough decades isn't an instrument any more, and never will be. and disposing of them is expensive.

they have negative value, despite not costing any money.

[LegitShady]

Around me free pianos are just worth less than the cost to move them, not that there is anything wrong with them a professional couldn't tune.

I see people trying to sell old Yamaha organs and they lower the price until it becomes "free just take it out of here so I don't have to pay someone to do it."

[bee_rider]

Huh. Free as in mattress, I got the negative implication.

Free as in piano, thought it was some kind of… I dunno, almost a pun or something. In some places, people will play piano in public, performing for passers by, or just for their own entertainment.

“Free as in beer” has the implication of being probably a bait and switch or having some strings attached. “Free as in speech” has an implication of having some significant political statement; I mean, “free speech” covers trivial speech too of course, but it isn’t how we usually use the expression.

The idea of software more like a funny song that’s been released into the universe is a bit charming. I like my misinterpretation better than the real thing, I think.

[MayeulC]

Free as in piano... I read that as "ok, you got a free piano, but now you've got to invest a lot of time into learning how to play it". Free as in free book, if you will.

See also the "everything must be paid for twice" article (submitted a while back on HN).

[CRConrad]

> I read that as "ok, you got a free piano, but now you've got to invest a lot of time into learning how to play it".

Also not the easiest thing to move to where you want to use it, as opposed to wherever it happened to be when it was gifted to you.

[SahAssar]

I don't get how those help saying what value open source software does or does not give. With the original two there are clearly two ways to view free (beer, as in you do not pay for the software, and speech as in that you get certain rights with it).

You are talking about the quality of the software, and I don't think that is correlated to either the versions of free described above. I have paid for software that has been buginfested and that has been completely unfit for its purpose.

Is any of what you said related to free/libre software?

[blauditore]

There's also free as in Jazz, but we're digressing quite far from the topic here.

[birdyrooster]

Stealing this

[dontlaugh]

Almost no one uses the term that way, though. Certainly not the vast majority of possible users.

[zelphirkalt]

For me it has become a reflex to check, when a product says it is "free", whether they mean no-cost or freedom. Always a little disappointed, when they chose the wording without seemingly knowing about libre.

[carride]

That is the title which is seen on the posted URL from Krita website. Standards for submitting to HN is not to alter the title.

[commoner]

Rule of thumb: when you see the phrase "free and open source software" (FOSS), the word "free" in that phrase refers to freedom, not price.

[MSFT_Edging]

I recommended Krita to my wife for digital drawing, and Krita stands ahead in the realm of "open source software that is usable by non-maintainers".

Maintainers used loosely as people who participate in the community, filing bug reports and providing forum support.

If you look at something like FreeCAD, equally powerful but not nearly as user friendly, you need to want to use FreeCAD specifically.

With Krita, you just need to want to paint. Its incredibly user friendly for someone with zero experience.

[musicale]

One thing I like about Krita is that it has Mac and Windows versions which aren't terribly clunky.

[anyfactor]

We have the same situation at work. We have a couple of fantastic "free" data products that should have a price tag of hundreds of dollars.

I personally mention "Open access enterprise ready data" but it doesn't have the same "oomph" as saying it is free. The product is shared under CC-BY-SA and we geniunely treat it as an enterprise level product with no compromise. But yeah the keyword "free" does dilute the percieved quality of the product.

[hellofriends1]

> the choice of emphasizing "FREE" in all caps in this headline.

You’re welcome to fork it and try to sell it if you think that’s such a great idea.

Anyway are you going to blame the user? I will. It sucks people pay for a $3 coffee or a cigs or chips not software they use for even 10s. Maybe figure out a way to make software physiologically addictive like coffee tobacco and junk food, and you can bypass the two decades of cultural programming of 4b people to value intangibles at 0.

[Rayhem]

> You’re welcome to fork it and try to sell it if you think that’s such a great idea.

Emphasis mine. Are you implying the OP shouldn't raise these ideas? Have you ever had a complaint about a user interface in your car? You are, after all, free to build your own and design it how you like. They saw something they thought could be improved, provided a rational explanation of why they think a change should at least be considered, and did so in a manner that's very respectful of both the software and the people who developed it. So this comment feels more than a little...reductive to me. Moreover, I don't read their commentary as suggesting the software shouldn't be free, merely that its price tag shouldn't be the loudest and most prominent selling point. It's a well-known psychological phenomenon that people want things they think are valuable, so putting a $5 sign on the furniture you're trying to give away makes it more likely to go.

[acomjean]

There is an android version that works on my samsung. While it’s very “desktop”ish it’s amazing with the sylus.

The brushes are fantastic allow quickly painting grass and leaves.

[kzrdude]

Why is free the only word that's consistently spelled in all uppercase? All throughout commercial text. It is kind of tacky at this point.

[bee_rider]

It is a bit weird.

Although, I don’t see “FREE” all that often (other than this case). I see “Free” more often, which I take as making the free as in liberated, not free as in zero cost distinction.

[FormerBandmate]

Emulating tacky sleazy ads that have a fine print where you pay $10,000 every day and sell your soul to Satan.

[robomartin]

> As a long-time user and supporter of Krita,

How does Krita compare to GIMP?

[raincole]

No the parent comment but I can answer this.

They're quite different. Krita is more about digital painting and GIMP is more about photo processing. If you're familiar with CSP and Photoshop, Krita is more like CSP and GIMP is more like Photoshop.

Specifically, Krita has a much more sophisticated brush engine.

[ruuda]

Even for light photo editing and making memes and such, I much prefer Krita over Gimp. I find the interface more straightforward to use. (And in terms of features I prefer Photopea over both, but unfortunately it's not free software.)

[robomartin]

Thanks, checking it out.