I don't know if you've had a chance to look at it yet, but http://www.gimpshop.com has GIMPshop, which looks to be a promising branch in the GIMP code base. Apparently, it's primary goal is to make a feature-by-feature clone of what's been available. Unfortunately, it appears to have the feature set of Photoshop that's before the Creative Suite (CSx) nomenclature / re-branding occurred, but also realize that in many cases you get what you pay for, and GIMP is free as in chocolate and as in speech.

You also might be falling into the trap of thinking that it's "supposed" to act like Photoshop. Many actions that you'd expect to do in GIMP the same way as in Photoshop are, in fact, done in a different manner. Perhaps you should look into tutorials to see how things are done in that different manner. Ever expect Newtek Lightwave to have the same work flow as 3D Studio Max? I hope you never even attempt to try using Blender with that same attitude.

Give GIMPshop a try. Perhaps you'll like it better than the GIMP's interface and

thanks for the tips more power