Why did we think that Photos was going to replace iPhoto AND Aperture?

[robgendreau]

If you want plugins in the current manner you're used to them (i.e. round tripping), you'll likely be waiting for quite a long time. The new approach is via extensions which allows any application to add to the render chain to make non-destructive changes to the image. This has been opened up currently on iOS Photos but not yet on OS X. Now, whether it will take 5 years, 5 months or 5 weeks, I can't say .

It's just not that kind of application.

Think about it in context with the numero uno feature: iCloud Photo Library and how changes on one are reflected on all your devices. Probably it's much more likely you'd see an app on iOS that could apply Instagram-like filters. I wouldn't be surprised if more Photos users by far will edit on their phones, where they took the picture, than they ever will on a Mac. Just look at the difference in the number of desktop vs mobile applications.

No company that lets a piece of "pro" software go as fallow as Apple did Aperture was aiming to replace it. There was a skew in hopefulness here and elsewhere because lots of people left Aperture when it was obvious it was being neglected. So the only ones left were, um, overly hopeful shall we say.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Apple are systematically shuttering their support for professionals, plain and simple.

My Aperture replacement will be Lightroom.

 

[r.harris1]

It's just not that kind of application.

Think about it in context with the numero uno feature: iCloud Photo Library and how changes on one are reflected on all your devices. Probably it's much more likely you'd see an app on iOS that could apply Instagram-like filters. I wouldn't be surprised if more Photos users by far will edit on their phones, where they took the picture, than they ever will on a Mac. Just look at the difference in the number of desktop vs mobile applications.

No company that lets a piece of "pro" software go as fallow as Apple did Aperture was aiming to replace it. There was a skew in hopefulness here and elsewhere because lots of people left Aperture when it was obvious it was being neglected. So the only ones left were, um, overly hopeful shall we say.

I'm one of the "overly hopeful shall we say" crowd. I do think that what's there with Photos will be expanded somewhat by them a la iWork/FCP X and that any additions on top of it will come from 3rd parties. Pixelmator has some limited extension capabilities already on the iOS side and I can see that being something they'd bring over to OS X and expand on and it would be a lot more than instagram filters. Whether people who call themselves pros would use anything like that, I don't know. Most pros (in any field), certainly don't define themselves by the tools they use but the results they get. If, one day, a pro can build a best-of-breed system with the base Photos app and then add non-destructive extensions by people who know what they're doing (Pixelmator, Affinity Photo, etc), it could be very compelling.

I also think the unwashed masses that many seem to disparage are not quite the simpletons everyone thinks they are and may, in fact, want additional functionality, even if it is just DAM capabilities. So its early days yet. Personally, I'm happy to see where it is in a year because I don't need either LR or Aperture for anything in particular but obviously, for those who do, LR and C1 and maybe a few others are there and ready to take people's cash.

 

[jms969]

Apple are systematically shuttering their support for professionals, plain and simple.

My Aperture replacement will be Lightroom.

As I contend, is a hardware company pure and simple. Other than software that supports their ecosystem and hardware sales they have no software that I would consider using. Their propensity to kill applications or dumb them down to reflect iOS app capabilities makes them a completely unreliable software supplier...

 

[MCAsan]

I also think the unwashed masses that many seem to disparage are not quite the simpletons everyone thinks they are and may, in fact, want additional functionality, even if it is just DAM capabilities.

George Carlin
“Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.”

 

[VirtualRain]

I also think the unwashed masses that many seem to disparage are not quite the simpletons everyone thinks they are and may, in fact, want additional functionality, even if it is just DAM capabilities.

... You haven't met the rest of the unwashed masses in my household!

As I contend, is a hardware company pure and simple. Other than software that supports their ecosystem and hardware sales they have no software that I would consider using. Their propensity to kill applications or dumb them down to reflect iOS app capabilities makes them a completely unreliable software supplier...

I think this is becoming more and more true. I fear for FCP and Logic. While some could argue these apps support their Mac Pro and other high-end hardware sales, I'd say that's a tenuous argument at best. I'm the owner of a Mac Pro and now don't use a single Apple app for productivity work... MS Office, Adobe, and Camtasia for my work, and Capture One for my photography. The only Apple apps I use on my Mac are those that integrate with iCloud to gain the benefits of the ecosystem.

 

[r.harris1]

... You haven't met the rest of the unwashed masses in my household!

The funniest logic trail is of course that everyone always thinks everyone else is one of the unwashed masses. In my home, one of us is sophisticated, educated and witty. The rest are unwashed masses, of course. Who is in each camp depends 100% on who you ask.

 

[robgendreau]

I'm one of the "overly hopeful shall we say" crowd. I do think that what's there with Photos will be expanded somewhat by them a la iWork/FCP X and that any additions on top of it will come from 3rd parties. Pixelmator has some limited extension capabilities already on the iOS side and I can see that being something they'd bring over to OS X and expand on and it would be a lot more than instagram filters. Whether people who call themselves pros would use anything like that, I don't know. Most pros (in any field), certainly don't define themselves by the tools they use but the results they get. If, one day, a pro can build a best-of-breed system with the base Photos app and then add non-destructive extensions by people who know what they're doing (Pixelmator, Affinity Photo, etc), it could be very compelling.

I also think the unwashed masses that many seem to disparage are not quite the simpletons everyone thinks they are and may, in fact, want additional functionality, even if it is just DAM capabilities. So its early days yet. Personally, I'm happy to see where it is in a year because I don't need either LR or Aperture for anything in particular but obviously, for those who do, LR and C1 and maybe a few others are there and ready to take people's cash.

Boy, you are an optimist!

Aperture was already a dud in the business world. Geez, other applications come in cross platform versions and have more options for site licenses. Since photography has a lot of solo practitioners out there, Aperture was an option. But it just isn't a big deal in business. And Photos? not even in the discussion.

But you raise an important point about the unwashed. THEIR photo needs are getting more and more complex. I've already seen tons of questions from iPhotos users about Photos that cause me to think Photos isn't "pro" enough for them. Stuff like the all-or-nothing library sync for iCloud Photo Library. Sharing among a group. Group editing. Better monitor support. And so on. The problem is that much of this is at the core of the application, so unlikely to change much. I think they missed an opportunity to take more of Aperture's features and make them simple and unobtrusive; it's that Apple's métier?

 

[Razeus]

Boy, you are an optimist!

Aperture was already a dud in the business world. Geez, other applications come in cross platform versions and have more options for site licenses. Since photography has a lot of solo practitioners out there, Aperture was an option. But it just isn't a big deal in business. And Photos? not even in the discussion.

But you raise an important point about the unwashed. THEIR photo needs are getting more and more complex. I've already seen tons of questions from iPhotos users about Photos that cause me to think Photos isn't "pro" enough for them. Stuff like the all-or-nothing library sync for iCloud Photo Library. Sharing among a group. Group editing. Better monitor support. And so on. The problem is that much of this is at the core of the application, so unlikely to change much. I think they missed an opportunity to take more of Aperture's features and make them simple and unobtrusive; it's that Apple's métier?

I think they accomplished the goal of a soccer mom app for iOS device user quite well. It was never going to be anything more than that.