So Apple has stopped development on Aperture, their professional-grade photography organizer and editor.
As somebody who has invested an incredible amount of time and money in Aperture, I am understandably pissed off. But not the least bit surprised.
This is par for the course with Apple and their professional software. They build something incredible, eventually lose interest, then either dump it... or downgrade it to the point that so-called "professionals" are left behind. I've been through the whole thing before with Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro.
You'd think I'd have learned my lesson by now, but nope!
I've stuck by Aperture despite the fact that Apple hasn't released a significant update in four years. I've stuck by Aperture despite the fact that Adobe's competitor, Lightroom, has been getting continuous upgrades and improvements all that time. I've stuck by Aperture despite the fact that Apple has such a profoundly shitty track record with the "Pro" apps.
No, I have no idea why.
I also have no idea what, exactly, Apple is thinking by discontinuing their Pro photography app (Aperture) and their Consumer photography app (iPhoto) in favor of something new (Photos). I'm guessing their new baby is going to land somewhere in-between, in which case it's going to be too much bloat for the consumer and too little capability for professionals.
So what's the play here?
What's Apple up to?
Where's the hook?
Well... the hook is that Photos will be iCloud-based and able in integrate with Photos running on iPhones and iPads. All your photos are syncing all the time. As are your edits. If that weren't enough, apparently Photos will be smart enough to catalog proxies based on your device's capacity. The bulk of the data is kept on iCloud... including RAW originals... and the pricing looks excellent.
That's quite a hook.
Assuming it works. And when it comes to iCloud, you can never really tell.
The full feature list of Photos isn't going to be known for a while yet. Will it be "professional" enough to be a worthy successor to Aperture? Who the hell knows?
So, in the meanwhile, I'll just carry on being pissed at Apple.
I'm starting to get used to it.
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I like the Photos hook with iCloud – that is cool.
However to me Aperture is already that sweet spot between iPhoto and something like Photoshop Elements. It does a nice job barely touching things like burning and dodging that I had thought I needed PSE for, and the reason I like Aperture is it is a bit more elegant to use for managing all my trillions of pictures. But to drop down a peg to something close to iPhoto…hmmm not sure I’m skeptical. We’ll see. Thanks for the heads up.
On a side note. I know you are a Mac / Steve Jobs whore like me. Watch Bill Burr’s short comedy routine on Steve Jobs. It’s horribly offensive so take it with a grain of salt. It’s funny.
At 4:15 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vJty38k7n4
-Matt
I guess I sat on the Pro Photo management app fence far too long. I have a mess of photos where some are in iPhoto, some just files on my Mac. I actually bought Aperture, but never started using it. Until ver 3.3, where I imported my iPhoto library into it (without having to import or export anything). But never got around to importing more photos into it.
And for the last many months, I also have access to Lightroom, which I have played around, but nothing serious enough to import photos into it as a permanent home.
I think my decision is clear at this point, but still sad I didn’t make time to get more into Aperture.
I have Aperture and I use it and Apple kind of sucks for taking it away because I really enjoyed using it. I am by no means a professional but I felt that I could grasp it well it enough to make my photos look good.
Now what am I supposed to do? I guess pout for a while.