What MicrosoftWindows users call their version of TheGimp?. ;)

Seriously though, it is WellUsedRhetoric that PhotoShop is far superior to TheGimp?. Can some knowledgeable graphics person who is v. familiar with both packages please explain why this is so?

PhotoShop is superior because:

• Better support for colour reproduction/commercial printing (ie, supports different printer colorspaces).
• Layers implementation is more intuitive and flexible - partly a matter of opinion, layer masks in 5.0 make no sense to me
• Very good path support
• Adjustable color reproduction
• Better support for tablets like Wacom, or Aiptek (very important for artists) - This is a little platform dependant
• PDF import/export support, this is important as lots only accept/prefer material in PDF format. PhotoShop also gets the reproduction right. (Gimp 1.2 can import PDFs, although only as a bitmap - you can't edit the text. Gimp 1.2 can't save as PDF, although it can as Postscript which can easily be turned into PDF)
• Integrates with AdobeIllustrator? (scaleable vector graphics, useful!)
• Better filter (and 3rd party filter) support
• Way better text support (although, TheGimp? is slowly getting better at this)
• Processing speed
• Much better optimized GIF output support, much smaller file sizes and color reproduction at small palette sizes.
• "Save for web" feature, I use this at least ten times a day and can't live without it
• Slices
• The best Unsharp Mask ever known to man, used lots in Photo retouching/preparation
• Really easy and powerfull Macro Recorder

(Remove the above as TheGimp? gets better)

TheGimp? is superior because:

• ScriptFu (write your own filters). perl gimp module means you can completely script arbitrary sequences of actions in gimp from perl. py-fu allows scripting via Python, and so on. It talks to an existing gimp process via sockets, so it's fast.
• It's OpenSource (and free $$)
• Huge range of export/import filters, however misses some more commercial formats that PhotoShop doesn't.
• Supports 24-bit w/ Alpha channel PNGs properly, PhotoShop had some issues with these prior to version 7.
• Supports MNGs, basically an animated GIF but using the PNG format for it's frames. You can do some cool stuff with the Alpha channel in MNGs
• It has a far more elegant UI, Photo$hop's antiquated MDI dseign is simply a waste of space, it's much better on the mac, but it sucks severely on win32.
• Good Path support(well, it works for me) including export to SVG
• Font Rendering with FreeType looks much better to me.
• if something in TheGIMP is causing you trouble then fix it, if you aren't capable of doing so, file a bug report