Depending on the source, there are 5 to 7 stages of mourning and grief. For the sake of simplicity, I will focus on the five most oft quoted stages as a way to convey the loss that Apple Inc. has imposed on me, again. First, it is necessary to lay out a very brief background. In 2010 I was faced with a huge decision regarding the management of my photographic library. Specifically, which software package should I purchase and learn… Adobe Lightroom 3.0 or Apple Aperture 3.0? At the time, the decision was not difficult. Aperture 3.0 appeared to be a refined product that was designed to specifically operate within the Mac OS “ecosystem.” The decision to choose one product over the other was not a trivial one. By investing in a file management software application, I was committing myself to learning one set of algorithms and designing a filing system based on the software’s architecture. Four years later, over 100,000 images have been imported into various Aperture 3.5 libraries that are now organized into indexed albums with pictures that have been tagged with stars and flags. Furthermore, Aperture 3.5 has been my raw file processor of choice, and now stores instructions for outputting more than 10,000 images that I deem worthy of publication. The decision I made in 2010 now has huge implications for June 2014 and beyond.
The Loss… On June 27th, Apple Inc. announced the following, “With the introduction of the new Photos app and iCloud Photo Library, …, there will be no new development of Aperture.”
Enter the 5 Stages of Grieving
- Denial… “There is no F’n way that Apple Inc. will terminate the development of Aperture. Sure they screwed me when they dumped AppleWorks for Pages and old Pages for the new lame Pages, but there is no way they would walk away from the professional photographic community!” …Denial, an intrinsic defense mechanism for buffering the shock of a loss.
- Anger… “WTF!” They say this is natural and that it will eventually fade. While the anger is dissipating, I’m not sure that my trust will be so easily earned in the future.
- Bargaining… “Maybe Apple Inc. will rethink the decision to terminate Aperture. Better yet, is it possible that the new software will be better than the predecessor?” Here, bargaining is an attempt to regain control… [As a side note, Apple’s new Photo’s program promises to be an improvement on iPhoto, but Apple has clearly stated that its overall functionality will not be as sophisticated as the current Aperture 3.5 program.)
- Depression… Been there! This has been a depressing few days dealing with the reality that my investment in Aperture 3.x now seems to have been a futile waste of time and energy. The termination of Aperture will require that I learn a new software package, and rebuild a filing structure for my photo libraries. This loss will translate into a giant time suck and reduction in productivity. While I’m not ready to move back to the world of slide film, the simplicity of those days now looms large in my head.
- Acceptance… Well I am now climbing this mountain. I have subscribed to Adobe’s Creative Cloud for Photographers , and have been watching a KelbyOne training on “Making the Switch from Aperture to Lightroom”… good for Scott Kelby and his company to capitalize on my (and many other’s) loss. The linked Kelby training is two hours long, explains Lightroom basics, and discusses ways to move Aperture files with EXIF data intact. What’s more, this training session is FREE! Small gestures like this will make me a KelbyOne subscriber in the future.
Call it a reflective rant, but the loss of Aperture is a Big Deal to me. The posted image has been archived and processed through Apple’s Aperture software package, a process that is now as intuitive to me as using my cameras or driving a car. When companies abandon loyal customers in this manner, it tends to have a lasting impact when making future purchasing decisions…
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