Is Aperture dead?
I mean this honestly. I've used Aperture since version 1, and stuck with it despite its quirks, bugs, and limitations. I grew up on iPhoto and despite plenty of photoshop experience I've always thought of aperture as a better way of doing things.
It's become clear to me, however, that Adobe has this game in the bag. Photoshop, lightroom, the whole works; they're all cross-platform, and their marketshare is way above that of Aperture... hell, I'm sure more people use iPhoto than Aperture, so Apple probably is more concerned about updating that.
This begs the question: will Apple kill Aperture? It's a sleek, sexy, intuitive program, but without an update soon, it's going to be outpaced by everything else out there. I don't know about everyone else but I personally think its RAW converter underperforms (and is out of date...), and simple tasks like dodge and burn are a headache. I even get into trouble frequently when I use stitched panoramas in Aperture (it complains that they're "too big to be exported", for example).
What gives, Apple? How long are you going to wait to throw us a bone? Have you given up, decided to put more energy into iPhoto and hand over the pro market to Adobe? I'll understand if you do, I just want notification so I can migrate over to Bridge.
It's become clear to me, however, that Adobe has this game in the bag. Photoshop, lightroom, the whole works; they're all cross-platform, and their marketshare is way above that of Aperture... hell, I'm sure more people use iPhoto than Aperture, so Apple probably is more concerned about updating that.
This begs the question: will Apple kill Aperture? It's a sleek, sexy, intuitive program, but without an update soon, it's going to be outpaced by everything else out there. I don't know about everyone else but I personally think its RAW converter underperforms (and is out of date...), and simple tasks like dodge and burn are a headache. I even get into trouble frequently when I use stitched panoramas in Aperture (it complains that they're "too big to be exported", for example).
What gives, Apple? How long are you going to wait to throw us a bone? Have you given up, decided to put more energy into iPhoto and hand over the pro market to Adobe? I'll understand if you do, I just want notification so I can migrate over to Bridge.
Comments
I expect 2010 is when Apple will deliver Aperture 3
Apple introduced Aperture 2 in February 2008 and iLife '09 in early 2009.
If Apple updates iPhoto again this winter as expected, it will have completely lapped its Pro counterpart.
That would make Apple's Pro Apps division look silly, not to mention completely incompetent given the importance of the Snow Leopard transition.
I think it has to be early 2010. Possibly a silent intro the week before the Tablet intro on the 26th.
I sure hope you're right hmurchison... I also hope they decide to release it closer to January, rather than next December...
I hope so too because i'm on the cusp of buying my first Camera that does RAW and I want to stick with an Apple (read Aperture) workflow. I'm just a guy that wants to do hobby photos but I want that integration.
Frank777 is absolutely right, and he's getting at my point; Apple has neglected its in-house pro apps for a bit too long.
I don't think they're neglecting them. I'm sure a huge volume of work is being done for the Final Cut rewrite.
Incorporating Grand Central and all that other Snow Leopard goodness was always going to take time.
The upcoming shifts to things like LightPeak and SDXC are probably making the next big thing in filmmaking a moving target.
Remember, the Pro apps exist solely to sell Pro hardware.
But Aperture is a different case. Adobe is breathing down their necks and Apple is giving out signals that they either can't (or won't) compete.
Will the Aperture team do things that make the program much easier and better even though it might harm Photoshop?
No one really knows.
I didn't see Core Animation used in iWork until almost a year after Leopard shipped. My guess is that the 2010 updates will be delivered with much better support for Snow Leopard and we'll end up learning about 10.7 come WWDC.
If Apple updates iPhoto again this winter as expected, it will have completely lapped its Pro counterpart.
I don't necessarily think thats a bad thing. Do I need geo location in Aperture? Do I need facial recognition in Aperature? Probly not. So, iPhoto is in a different category than Aperature. Same with Photoshop. Sure, you can edit photos with Photoshop but Photoshop is a design tool first, photo editor second. Hence, the need and market space for Lightroom. If you're going to switch just ensure you're using the right tool for the job
Having said that, with OpenCL now a part of SL I think they will update Aperature this year
I don't necessarily think thats a bad thing. Do I need geo location in Aperture? Do I need facial recognition in Aperature? Probly not. So, iPhoto is in a different category than Aperature. Same with Photoshop. Sure, you can edit photos with Photoshop but Photoshop is a design tool first, photo editor second. Hence, the need and market space for Lightroom. If you're going to switch just ensure you're using the right tool for the job
Having said that, with OpenCL now a part of SL I think they will update Aperature this year
Definitely not. Photoshop was never designed as a "design tool." That's what Illustrator and InDesign are for. Photoshop is the original "photo editor."
Lightroom is something else all together - it's a workflow tool. Both Aperture and LR are workflow solutions that also have robust image correction and processing tools built in them.
There have certainly been hints that Aperture 3 will come before March - and Apple really needs to bring something soon. If not, Aperture really will die - as hard as it is for me to say.
I don't think Aperture has a bigger supporter out there than me, but you have to face the facts sometimes. For a pro application, it's *still* on version 2 even though it's existed for around 5 years right now. There's a new version of iPhoto basically every year. What does that say? Apple makes more money attracting new users with iPhoto than pro photographers with Aperture.
I think Aperture is getting the axe. It doesn't have the staying power of other programs--even though I'm not going to stop using it anytime soon (that is, until I can figure out how to migrate to Bridge), I don't think Apple is going to keep ponying up moolah for Aperture's further development.
Think Adobe would never do that? Maybe not, but what happens if Microsoft bought Adobe? Adobe might not have a choice. Or maybe Microsoft would not have Adobe embrace the new Apple OS Core libraries and drag the Adobe apps a few generations behind the PC versions. Heck, Adobe does this already it seems.
It is not whether Aperture is even making money. All they have to do is break even. This keeps Adobe in check. Apple cannot sell Pro hardware unless there is pro software to run on it. That is why Apple has pro video, photo, and audio apps. Steve Jobs learned this the hard way at NeXt.
I would love to see Apple expand their line of apps to include Photoshop, Illustrator, In Design, and Dreamweaver apps. Pixelmator would make a good start. Apple does not even have to create or own these pro apps themselves. All they need to do is make sure there are good alternatives to the Adobe apps. But the best position is to own apps themselves that they control.
So I don't think Aperture is going anywhere.
I seriously doubt Apple sees print publishing as a growth market. So Photoshop and InDesign competitors are out. Lineform and others are maturing fast, so I doubt Apple will take on Illustrator either.
Dreamweaver is the only app I can see Apple going after.
The iPhone, iPod Touch, Tablet/iSlate thing and Safari on Mac all cry out for an easy-to-use web authoring environment for consumers and prosumers. And Apple seems to hate Flash and embraces HTML5, so there's one more reason to run over Dreamweaver with an Apple-built solution.
The key thing is simplicity. No one has really come up with a professional level easy-to-use web site builder. You still have to know programming to build a decent website (forget about a database driven site without specialized knowledge.)
Can Apple take the iWeb philosophy upmarket? I have no idea.
The threat to Adobe didn't start with Aperture. It's been known for a long time that ColorSync and the Core Image libraries provided Apple with the capability to build a Photoshop-killer within a year if necessary. If Aperture is discontinued, that won't change.
I seriously doubt Apple sees print publishing as a growth market. So Photoshop and InDesign competitors are out. Lineform and others are maturing fast, so I doubt Apple will take on Illustrator either.
As I've said many, many times before: Serious photographers need either Aperture or Lightroom -- or something very much like them -- plus just a fraction of what Photoshop CS does.
Adding non-destructive image editing features (layers, channel masks, etc.) that photographers need while leaving out the bulk of Ps would be a game changer for the Aperture/Lightroom space and would put Apple out ahead on a tangent where Adobe couldn't follow (because Adobe would be too fearful of cannibalizing Ps market share).
FWIW, Dutch website OneMoreThing.nl has found a wide release of a Dutch Aperture 3 book with ISBNs, cover photo, etc.: http://translate.google.com/translat...6art_id%3D4987 (Google translation) via a story on TUAW. Maybe we'll get a new version of Aperture after all?
Apple had to keep Final Cut Studio support for PowerPC, but Aperture is small enough that they can make it Intel-only. I expect the new version to be available sometime between the tablet's unveiling and the new versions of the iLife and iWork suites.
I'm not sure "between Wednesday and the next iLife/iWork releases" is going to cut it, nor is Tim Cook saying they are seeing a "small year over year increase" in pro apps like Aperture. "Economically challenged area", indeed.
From MacWorld's lips...
MacWorld doesn't seem to do much rumor-mongering, so it's surprising nothing happened there. Maybe an Aperture announcement was delayed? We can only hope.
Dreamweaver is the only app I can see Apple going after.
The iPhone, iPod Touch, Tablet/iSlate thing and Safari on Mac all cry out for an easy-to-use web authoring environment for consumers and prosumers. And Apple seems to hate Flash and embraces HTML5, so there's one more reason to run over Dreamweaver with an Apple-built solution.
The key thing is simplicity. No one has really come up with a professional level easy-to-use web site builder. You still have to know programming to build a decent website (forget about a database driven site without specialized knowledge.)
Can Apple take the iWeb philosophy upmarket? I have no idea.
This is the most astute comment I have heard in ages about the dearth of a high level, user-friendly program for web design. Thumbs up.
The fact is that in terms of simplicity wed to sophistication, a program like Adobe InDesign roundly destroys its web layout counterpart Adobe Dreamweaver. Adobe has not managed to make its acquired Macromedia apps particularly elegant or user-friendly. This is indeed a gap that Apple has begun to exploit with iWeb. iWeb on steroids would be fascinating.