Aperture 1.1 update still a failure.

Question

Dear group members:
After purchasing Aperture as soon as it came out and realizing how plagued the application was with problems, I decided to set it aside and simply forget it. I contacted Apple and the Apple store where I purchased the software in an attempt to have a refund for my purchase but it was all in vain.
I don't wish to beat on a dead horse as I believe it has now become clear that Aperture's release was premature and everyone realizes that Aperture still has quite a long way to go before it can even remotely be considered a professional application.
Now the subject has resurfaced as Aperture's price has been lowered and Apple announced the 1.1 version of Aperture available for download.
In an attempt to behave in a open-minded fashion I downloaded the update to see if it could bring welcome improvements to Aperture and transform it into a useable application. I was very disappointed to learn that no sigfinicant changes have been made and Aperture remains a failure.
I am running Aperture on my Powermac G5 dual 2.0 GHz processor with (2) internal 400 GB hard drives, (2) external 500 GB hard drives, (2) external 1 TB hard drive, 2.5 GB RAM, OS X 10.4.6 and an Apple 23" Cinema display. Configuration can't be the reason why Aperture performs so poorly. After updating Aperture to the latest version I tried to import my iPhoto library and was actually able to do it although the process seemed to have taken forever and the photos I have stored in the iPhoto library were all taken with a point-and-shoot 3.3 megapixel Olympus camera that can hardly be considered as a Pro camera. Then I tried to import several folders containing RAW images produced by my 6 megapixel Nikon D70 SLR digita camera (approximately 25 folders) and at this point the process seemed so slow I had to quit and start the process again since I didn't know if it was normal for the application to take that long or if there was a problem.
Performance has not been improved and I can't believe this is how this application is supposed to perform on a machine as fast as mine. Never mind trying to run it on my Powerbook G4 17". It becomes so slow it is impossible to work with it.
How can such a "Pro" application perform so poorly ? After all this time is this the best Apple can do with this application ? The company has had some 6 months now to have these bugs fixed and improved the application's performance but it is still a disaster. Despite the recent price reduction Aperture remains an expensive application that claims to address the needs of professional photographers when in reality no professional photographer would consider it seriously in light of its performance issues as well as many flaws.
(Interesting thing is that I run Adobe's Photoshop, Bridge and Camera Raw trio and they all perform just fine. I often have all three running simulatenously and together they still perform way better than Aperture running alone. How can this be ?)
Aperture has a very interesting and even pleasant user interface. I believe the application holds a lot of promise but Apple has to take its development a little more seriously and show a little more respect for its consumer base. The product was released prematurily and not enough time was spent on its development. Adobe has taken the right approach with Lightroom and has released the software as a free beta download so users can try and provide suggestions and feedback to help the company improve it until it is ready to be released. Why didn't Apple do the same ?
In all it is a shame what customers such as myself have gone through with Aperture and how Apple chose to handle the issue. The development team responsible for Aperture should be dismissed and replaced by software designers that actually know what they are doing and have enough experience with photography to create a truly professional application.
Apple should learn from this episode that it shouldn't rush to release a new product before it is really ready just for marketing's sake.
Aperture can become a very interesting product - not one to compete with such a mature application as Photoshop but one to manage the digital workflow and replace both Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera Raw. But in order for this to happen the Application will have to be redesigned from the ground up and it will have to focus on serious core issues such as library model (no proprietary library), excellent RAW conversion, reliable metadata tools and management and many other features that professionals simply can't work without.
Are all of you having the same disappointing experiences with the performance of version 1.1 ?
Best regards,
Joseph Chamberlain

Answer 1

Hello,
yes, you are right. I agree, 1.1 is a modest update. There is lot too improve, I think. But I want to offer some thoughts.
On 1. You got iView? Than your aperture library is accessable to you. iView can look into Aperture´s library which is in fact a package full of folders. Every master image resides in its own folder. This is only a workaround and takes time. I fear, Apple never intended to create another archival tool. Aperture is more of a workflow power horse.
On 2. Offline Archiving is not neccessary when you organize your Harddrive Archive thoughtfully. Look inside Peter Krogh´s Dam Book about Digital Asset Management for Photographers http://www.thedambook.com/. He suggests a folder structure with folders as big as your smallest Backup-media, 4 GB for DVDs. Name those folders DVD_06-04-18 and burn each folder on its own DVD. This way your harddrive folder structure is similar or equal to your offline archive. Works great.
On 3. Apple decided not to alter RAW files at all. This has its limitations but is the most secure choice. I like to insert metadata with iView too because it is comfortable.
5. Please see my reply at 1.
6. Agree. And user custom presets with automatically filled in IPTC fields (copyright notice, photographer, contact etc.) like iView offers would be great.
7. Agree a lot.
I would add faulty Webtemplates and a still needed better RAW conversion.
But besides all that - I would say, Aperture is a great addition to my workflow.
kind regards, eberhard