New Gimp ready to take on Photoshop

I've been using the free and open source software Gimp for quite some time now on my Dell to do all the editing and processing of my graphics and photographs. Today, I'm happy to learn that the latest Gimp software, version 2.6 is ready for download and it is a step closer to taking on Photoshop! From Ars Technica:

One of the most significant limitations of the GIMP is that it has traditionally only supported 8 bits per color channel. This weakness is commonly cited as a major barrier to GIMP adoption by professional artists, who require greater color depth. This problem has finally been addressed by the new GEGL backend, which delivers support for 32-bpc. The inclusion of GEGL is a major milestone for the GIMP and takes it one step closer to being a viable Photoshop replacement for professional users. In this release, GEGL is still not quite ready to be enabled by default, but users can turn it on with a special option.

GIMP 2.6 also includes some minor user interface enhancements. The application menu in the tool palette window has been removed, and its contents have been merged into the document window menu. A document window will now be displayed at all times, even when no images are open. The floating tool windows have also been adjusted so that they are always displayed over the document window and cannot be obscured. To reduce clutter and make the windows easier to manage, the floating windows will no longer be listed in the taskbar.