GIMP dev are working hard, and things seems slow as they just redone the base to be more future proof.

My laptop from 2014 significantly loads .ts video faster on MPV than VLC.

VLC even stuck on video seeking for a few seconds.

…and some Linux users do professional art/design for living.

Having Krita as basic image editing is doable. However, if you actually use them professionally, you’ll realize that Krita is definitely not alternative to those.

Krita is a first-class painting software, and even its current development is more closer to be Clip Studio Paint alternative, like having comic layer, webtoon layout, etc. The dev regularly observate Clip Studio Paint development.

Affinity Photo is actually easier to use than any alternative, including Photoshop and even GIMP. Its base system also much more faster than Photoshop, GIMP, and even Krita.