Bremsstrahlung

I recently saw an article about a new version of Inkscape, and since I lack a vector graphics program, I gave it a try today. However, within 5 minutes I decided that it wasn't worth my time:

• The disk image was 50 Mb, and the application itself proved to be 170. Given that that makes it even bigger than the bloated old copy of Photoshop Elements 2 I have, it would need to have some darn good justification for taking up that much space. After, it's for drawing shapes, how hard should that be? Lose half a point.
• Installation was smooth, it was a properly self contained application bundle, needing only to be placed on my hard-drive. Gain one half point.
• On double clicking the application I was greeted with a dialogue informing me that I could hide all of Inkscape's windows by hiding the X11 application. Uh-uh, lose 2 points right there. Any application that depends on X to work is a hassle that I don't want.
• At this point, X11 jumped to the foreground, and hung. For 30 seconds or more. I was seriously beginning to think that I had somehow downloaded a build incompatible with my system. Ridiculously long start up times are not amusing, lose another half point.
• I then tried to mess with drawing a little. I could draw shapes like squares and stars, but couldn't at a glance figure out any way to draw a line. Not very intuitive, but not a fatally bad interface. After all, I'm used to using Blender. So, no points lost, but none gained either.
• At this point my mind was made up, and tried to close the application prior to throwing it out. Reflex dictated hitting ⌘Q. This, as it would in any X11 application, I think, tried to close X11, which was of course not what I wanted. Although this is then a problem common to all X11 apps, it's still not acceptable to me. I want to use the standard system modifier key for my keyboard shortcuts. Lose another half point.

Total score on my made-up-on-the-spot scale: -3. To revisit my main point: just because your application will run on OS X under X11, it's not a proper way to distribute a serious program. After all, many mac users don't even have X11 installed, besides which, X11 applications lack anything but the most cursory compatibility with the rest of the system. My personal choice is to go without a vector drawing tool rather than use a free one which requires X.