Sometimes Planting New Seeds Leaves Bumper Crop Out to Dry
| by Joe Leo, Columnist | February 21, 2007 |
continued... from: previous page
In an ironic twist of fate, now Adobe was doing the "software killer" thing, and in response to Apple's Aperture, they came out with a beta product called "Adobe Lightroom" which I immediately fell in love with. Suddenly, Apple's software app wasn't so special anymore.
And that's Apple's fault and their loss. They decided to plant new seeds of change and totally alienate the bumper crop of the previous line of machines belonging to users out there with top-of-the-line machines that only three to six months before were still just that. Do they think all pro users upgrade their machines every year? No. (Well, some do. I wish I was one of those).
Once again, Adobe has a product that works on Apple's "lesser" capable machines, the soon to be vintage and obsolete models, and in this case, Adobe's app is the newer one so go figure. It works on something Apple has officially left behind. [SEE RELATED ARTICLE]
In my previous example, Adobe After Effects was out before Motion ever came out so one can argue, "duh," that's of course going to work with your old machine since Motion was designed for newer, "better" machines, so that's your fault.
But how do you explain it? No one will argue that Adobe is the industry standard, whether you're Mac or PC. And if it's Apple's quest/goal to win-over its own user base by providing similar, and "better" innovative software, why make it so that only people with brand new machines can use it and not others? I can see more people using Lightroom than Aperture with this whole equation.
(Though that's where Apple scores tons of points, with their Tiger operating system still compatible with three previous generations of machines--G3, G4, and G5--after all these years, behind their current line of Intel Macs. And other than memory upgrades, it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to enjoy the latest Gadgets, uh Widgets, on your machine like Vista does).
So back to what I was saying, with Lightroom now out of beta and now officially called Photoshop Lightroom (they had to add that moniker to it to give it some punch I guess), Adobe's pro software app runs just fine on my 12" PowerBook G4 and my FireWire 800 PowerMac G4. I wish I could say the same for Aperture which this pro can't use and won't be using anytime soon.
And this is a new software application (Adobe's) that runs on "old" hardware. Hardware that a lot of us professional users still use. Hardware that us non-Intel adopters enjoy and want to keep for a few more years until we finally choose to upgrade. It's just that, for some of us, now isn't the time for upgrading.
I'm sorry to say, but in this one specific instance (don't send me e-mails saying I've crossed over to the dark side), Apple has become Microsoft in a way, by making system requirements for Aperture so "complicated" and exacting. As opposed to Adobe who keeps it very, very simple. Wait... isn't that Apple's job in our lives? [See comparison chart on next page for details]
When it comes to the software wars between Adobe and Apple, Adobe wins hands down. In my opinion. No problem though. At least Adobe has come out of the woodwork and seemingly repaired its relationship with Apple lately, making its products cross-platform. (There was a time there when people feared Adobe would drop Mac support forever).
The question still remains, and maybe you readers out there can lend your thoughts and share your opinions on the matter. Of course we expect our favorite computer company, or is it our favorite "Inc." company, to innovate and lead the pack. That is always expected and we look for nothing less. But should they plant new seeds if it ruins the bumper crop?
When Apple innovates, and in the process, leaves a huge number of people in the pack behind, they're not going to score any points in that arena. And "Adobe" telling the truth ("I do be" telling the truth-- yeah, I know, wrong grammar) on that one.
Oh yeah, to answer the question that nurtured this seed, "Aperture or Lightroom: You Decide?" The answer is--at least for now--Photoshop Lightroom.