Not necessarily true that in Windows you can only install one Gimp.
By default:
Gimp 2.6 installs in C: \Program Files\GIMP-2.0\ and user profile typically C:\Documents and Settings\"yourname"\.gimp-2.6\
Gimp 2.8 installs in C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\ and user profile C:\Users\"yourname"\.gimp-2.8\
so no conflict there:
Problems start with Gimp 2.10 which also installs to C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\ same as Gimp 2.8
The Gimp installer 'looks' for any earlier version in the Windows registry and uninstalls it before completing the new installation.
The work-around for this is delete the Windows registry entries and install the new Gimp in a different location. Not making this up, it has been done before.
Want to run more than one Gimp then there is a command line switch
-n, or --new-instance Start a new GIMP instance.
All this assuming that the old version of Gimp will run correctly in a newer Windows 10 installation and also the reverse, a newer Gimp running in some ancient Windows XP
Edit: Only for the brave
I did post some details and a Windows .reg file for removing the registry entries
see:
https://www.gimp-forum.net/Thread-Re-in ... 9#pid27649