really there are 2 types of programs out there for cg artists.
2d & 3d.
some may have slight crossovers into each field, but generally they are either 2d specific or 3d specific.
Blender as an image editor could never, or not in the next 5 years come close to Photoshop or gimp.
but Photoshop is the one you need to look at.
that’s what the Gimp Devs look at. (if they don’t, they need to.)
Should Blender copy the code from a program that tries to copy the code from a better program.
3rd gen copying just does not cut it.
What about size?
Would you download a 200meg Blender.exe?
Blender’s image editor can be improved & no doubt it will be.
but more for 3d painting & nodes. (I hope)
After all Blender is a 3d program.
by Blender 2.6 it should be possible to load most of the Gimp plugins into Blender’s compositor.
hopefully gimp brushes for sculpting & painting also.
This & other smallish advancements will make Blender’s Image Editor quite a handy tool for basic to mid range image manipulation.
If you need anything more than that & could not be bothered either running scripts or opening Gimp, then it’s your loss as an artist.
head over to cgartists forums, look at what programs the award winners, professionals & top hobbyists use. There’s always more than one tool used, sometimes 3 or more.
Always a 3d program or 2 used in conjunction with a 2d program.
This is what’s required if you want to succeed.
Tools for Jobs.
but I also wanted to mention that I’m not a script fan because I typically spend as much time trying to get a script to work as I do actually using it
lol, what script?