Following Apple’s announcement that it has ceased software development of the Aperture professional photo editing software for Mac and the development of iPhoto on iOS and OS X, Adobe has issued a statement. The digital software company is promoting its Lightroom and Creative Cloud photo editing and management products for the web, iOS, and OS X:
Today, Apple announced they will no longer be developing Aperture in light of their new photography app for OS X. If you are an Aperture or iPhoto customer looking for change, check out our new Creative Cloud Photography plan announced last week, or our standalone Lightroom app for your desktop as alternatives.
Adobe also says that it is “doubling down” on those products and that a “rich roadmap” is ahead for the coming weeks, months and years:
Put simply we’re doubling down on our investments in Lightroom and the new Creative Cloud Photography plan and you can expect to see a rich roadmap of rapid innovation for desktop, web and device workflows in the coming weeks, months and years. We also continue to invest actively on the iOS and OSX platforms, and are committed to helping interested iPhoto and Aperture customers migrate to our rich solution across desktop, device and web workflows.
Earlier this year, Adobe brought Lightroom to the iPad and the company recently expanded the software to the iPhone and iPod touch in addition to rolling out a powerful new Mix photo editing application. Adobe has also recently rolled out significant enhancements to its Creative Cloud software, posing a professional-oriented cloud-based competitor to Apple’s consumer Photos.app offerings on the incoming OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.
Top image via Technology for Media
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I’ll wait patiently to see what Apple does with Photo for OSX. I trust they will provide a good solution. If I didn’t want to wait for that, I still would not put my money in Adobe, those wonderful folks who brought us Flash.
Guess you’re new around these parts. Adobe bought Flash from Macromedia who made it popular, and it has history going back further than that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash
What an infantile stance. So you’re boycotting the makers of Photoshop because… They bought flash from macromedia? (Which at the time was totally dominant on the web).
You need to learn your history, and grow up.
So, you want to insult to start your comment? I don’t like Adobe products for many reasons and would not purchase their products period. My bad for using ‘brought’ as my intention was not to imply they were the original development company.
c1ce091b, I agree with you. Don’t worry about the history buffs. Times change and old redundant software needs to be discarded. Flash ought to be one of them. Its a real pain, poorly programmed and requires lots of CPU power just to start up. HTML5 is a great alternative and glad to see so many sites incorporating it instead :)
I also wouldn’t want to switch to Lightroom or other 3rd party apps, especially since Apple is making a better product than Aperture. That simply dosen’t make sense.
Oh and it dosen’t help either,now that suddenly Adobe offers a wonderful breakthrough called “in the cloud”, a direct copy from Apple.
When will these companies try to innovate instead of just copying.
Don’t support copiers!!
Hey, there is always Gimp. I hear it’s going to be just as popular as Linux is on the desktop any day now.
Because Gimp is similar to Lightroom and Aperture in what way?
Takes on the situation as follows, is a good reason why, I will take a wait-and-see approach. It provides a good insight on what Aperture is today and what possibilities might be in play for the future.
http://www.apertureexpert.com/tips/2014/6/27/aperture-dead-long-live-photos
At $10 a month, you don’t exactly call it a bargain for the average person who wants to do some basic stuff with their photos on a not very regular basis… (couldn’t find more details as Adobe’s site seems to be experiencing some problems).
Indeed, but that is what OS X’s new Photos app will be for. They’re touting this as an alternative to Aperture, which it is. And Lightroom doesn’t necessarily require a subscription. It’s still sold as standalone software, I think you’re just not going to get the major updates that way.
I have a standalone version of LR, which does what I was hoping the next version of Aperture would do. It’s wonderful with RAW files. However, if you go to Adobe’s site, it’s not offered as standalone anymore. It’s a monthly subscription.
Actually, Adobe didn’t ‘bring’ us Flash. That would be Macromedia (actually the company who conceived it before Macromedia bought them). Adobe bought Flash and invested heavily in it, so you can’t blame them for wanting to try and capitlize upon it even in the face of it’s impending irrelevance.
That said, I am very dubious of Adobe as a company, and use many of their products reluctantly. But Lightroom does kick arse. And at $10/month for it and Photoshop CC, it’s a really good deal (the entire Creative Cloud at $50/month? Not so much unless you really use all those apps).
RIP Aperture. Gonna miss ya :-(
Apple realizes that today most photos are taken with our phones, tablets or other devices and are enhanced using the software on those devices. Why put the effort into further developing Aperture that will only be used by the Pros and wannabes. There aren’t enough of either to just the cost. Let Adobe Lightroom fill the void. Good decision Apple.
I can see that but it’s still a shame because there are some things I think Aperture does better than Lightroom and I know some people (whom I’m sure are just a few of many) who really prefer Aperture.
I agree. Aperture certainly does some things better. I listed them in the article that’s linked above where it says, “Top Image via Technology for Media”. It does no end user any good that they are abandoning Aperture.
I don’t like what you said here. That’s like saying, there aren’t enough music producers are filmmakers that use Apple products, so might as well abandon Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro. Why should Apple cut out the Pro market?
I’m waiting, like others, to see what they do with the Photos app. I’m sure it would be a great replacement for Lightroom… or at least I’m hoping it will.
Lightroom is far, far, far better than Aperture and there was a big swing to lightroom for many photo enthusiast. Pro Logic and Final Cut Pro are top level, professional software packages. APERTURE WAS NOT! To compare those two with Aperture is silly at best…
I get what you’re saying, but that doesn’t mean they could’ve improve Aperture to be even better. If the iPhone lagged behind android, you think Apple will give up the fight? I wouldn’t think so. They advanced the Macbook Pro to have retina display to edit photos with a better view. While I do not use Aperture because I’m not an avid photographer, taking down Aperture is like a slap in the face. If they lag behind with Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro, will they just quit or improve?
And if you want to switch from Aperture to LR check out the video in this article;
http://technologyformedia.com/2013/01/05/7-steps-to-switching-from-aperture-to-lightroom/
Pixelmator, thats your chance.
Screw Adobe.
Pixelmator is an awesome imaging app but competes more directly with Photoshop (Elements) than Lightroom
I hope to god Adobe improve the way Lightroom handles file management, because right now it’s absolutely abysmal. This is the main reason I still use Aperture despite being a Creative Cloud member. I’ve never liked Lightroom’s bloated mess of a UI or the way it handles my files. The things it does is amazing though, but these two things make using it more of a chore to me than anything.
Aperture also has WAY better tethering support for a much wider range of cameras and supports the camera makers RAW frameworks so it shows things like focus points, which is handy when working with someone else’s photo’s so you can understand why they’re somehow focusing on the wall behind the thing they’re supposed to be focusing on lol.
Adobe, “Put simply we’re doubling down on our investments in Lightroom and the new Creative Cloud Photography plan and you can expect to see a rich roadmap of rapid innovation for desktop, web and device workflows in the coming weeks, months and years.”
Translation: Now that we are a monopoly in photo software, we will no longer bring you competitive innovations and will rest on our laurels for years to come.
Yeah Adobe? How about supporting more than ONE processor your douchebags. You’ve been promising this feature since 5.x, and NEVER delivered it. I hope Adobe dies, and Apple buys them for $1.
I suspect a new release of a pro version of Photos in a year or two. Either that, or they should put an emphasis on having quality updates for Photos released annually.
I think Apple has a much more robust and powerful solution with Photo coming to Yosemite. Just because they’re dropping support for Aperture and iPhoto doesn’t mean we have to run to another piece of software yet. Not to mention Adobe will charge you an arm and a leg for there software and Apple will give you Photo for free!
Capture One is a good pro app! 60-day trial available too.
I guess Photos wont support lens profiles, distortion corrections and gradient filters, so I will have to go back to Adobe. Its a shame though, I like Aperture and was in hope a new version is coming.
Makes me really sad, I instantly bought Aperture after getting the rMBP 3 months ago. Yes, it has some missing features and an outdated look. But it would have been easy to change that.
Can someone tell me if LR also features Raw/Jpg pairs and a fullscreen mode with floating, adjustable menus? Loved that in Aperture.
Mathias, I’m a total Apple fanboy and I never regretted making the switch to LR a couple years ago. So unless you have a gripe with Adobe you likely enjoy going to LR. It can do almost everything Aperture did and a lot more. LR does have a full screen mode when viewing pictures. It’s a one button click now with LR 5, like Aperture. If you want to edit the picture then it’s not really full screen though. And when you bring up the menu for editing that menu won’t float. The UI is one thing that Aperture had over LR, in my opinion.
Thanks for your reply!
Prior to Aperture I was using CR & Bridge, I only tried out the LR5 beta for an hour or so. I liked CR and missed some features in Aperture, but yeah, it was the UI that made me stay.
I dont have any gripes with Adobe and I’m gonna migrate right away.
Agreed re: interface. Maybe Lightroom will take a page from Aperture’s book now that they’re no longer competitors.
There is very little information regarding Photos at this time, I would be careful drawing a conclusion about a product that is still in development. I provided a link earlier in comments, to another article at http://www.apertureexpert.com on this situation, I would check out that as it provides a good perspective on Aperture today and what the future might be. Also, considering you have Aperture now, why not wait and see what Apple actually releases? For one, its too early to tell what Photos feature set will be. Two, Apple is reaching out to Adobe to help create an interface to allow users to migrate from Aperture to LR.
As a long-time Aperture user, I’m disappointed by the news. Thankfully Lightroom is a very respectable alternative.
The one thing I really thought Aperture had over Lightroom was its interface. Lightroom forces you to jump between screens to give you the “feel” of a workflow. The reality is, it breaks up true flow. Also, Aperture gave priority to the image, not the interface.
http://jonathanv.com/?p=886 (Full disclosure: Yes, that’s an article I wrote on this very subject).
Farewell old friend. :.(
There is nothing on apple’s website… Where do they post these so called announcements?
I dont understand why Apple continues to kill its software.
i really miss iWeb :( it was so easy to use. i would love an iWeb 2.0
Always remember that you are renting Lightroom, all the none destructive edits you do to your images are property of Adobe, why because as soon as you stop paying you loose that work. I really like lightroom but paying to see my own work is a bit over the top. Hope apple comes out with something that will blow adobe’s socks off.