no he's definitely right. there is a reason affinity suit has been successful and it isn't because its commercially available, it's because it actually works as an adobe replacement whereas gimp, inkacape, scribus - does not, and its largely because of UI.
now that affinity has sold to canva and shut down sale and there is a clear concern over the future of affinity, people won't be moving to gimp, which has had what, two decades to fix their stuff? no, they'll be moving to photopea, again, for the same reasons. graphite.rs likewise is more at odds of potentially replacing illustrator/designer than inkscape has managed for over a decade.
i hate that i can't use gimp, inkacape, and scribus professionally. and not for a lack of trying, giving them a few months every few years. but, its what it is.
i hope gimp becomes great one day.