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Adobe Announces Lightroom Beta, Aperture Competitor

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Apr 12, 2001
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Adobe has announced a new product called Lightroom. Adobe Lightroom offers a tool for professional photographers to import, select, develop and showcase large volumes of digital images.

The software is presently released as a public beta and will expire at the end of June 2006 and is available for download now.

Interestingly, the beta is only available for the Mac at this time.

Adobe Lightroom Beta requires Mac OS X version 10.4.3 (Tiger) or higher, a 1GHz or faster PowerPC G4 or G5 processor (including iBook G4 or PowerBook G4), and 768 MB of RAM (although more is recommended), and 1 GB or more of free hard drive space. Windows requirements will be announced when that version is ready.
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MacCentral has some early notes on Lightroom and offers some comparisons with Aperture -- Apple's professional photography tool which was announced in October.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2006/01/09/adobe-announces-lightroom-beta-aperture-competitor/
EricNau said:
Finally, software that is only available for Mac! :D Adobe is definitely trying to compete with Aperture. :mad:
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Yeah... I'm guessing they released it so early for the Mac to stop people from buying Aperture.

arn
 
EricNau said:
Finally, software that is only available for Mac! :D Adobe is definitely trying to compete with Aperture. :mad:
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A Mac-only app from Adobe is a sweet thing, isn't it? :D :downloading now:

This is definitely some big competition for Apple's Aperture.
 
Hopefully it's better than Aperture. Competition is good for all of us, and that'll mean Apple will have to make Aperture better than it is. :)

And it's not like Adobe is copying Apple's idea, either. They were both working on this project at the same time, obviously. I just don't wanna hear "Adobe copied Apple" at any point.
 
Nice to see some lower specs meaning a few more people can run it. Now its time to see just how it compares to aperture for the Pros. Apple seems to be pretty good at getting it's Pro software "just right", so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top!

Uber
 
Abstract said:
Hopefully it's better than Aperture. Competition is good for all of us, and that'll mean Apple will have to make Aperture better than it is. :)

And it's not like Adobe is copying Apple's idea, either. They were both working on this project at the same time, obviously. I just don't wanna hear "Adobe copied Apple" at any point.
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What are you talking about?! Adobe copied Apple, we all know it! Aperture was out months before "Lightroom." In fact, Adobe just copied Apple's code, that's why it is only available for Mac right now.

Just Kidding :D (someone had to say it, right?)
 
I have a feeling that Adobe is really going to hook me with this program by offering it for free now. I can see myself most likely coughing up the dough once they release it. Aperture would probably run like crap on my computer, so I'm happy there's an alternative.

Can't wait for this to be available tomorrow.
 
Anybody sign up for an Adobe/Macromedia account so you could download it? Are you getting daily/weekly/monthly email updates from Adobe? - I hate it when that happens. :mad:
 
Daveway said:
Adobe must have had this product in the pipeline before Apple released Aperture. Adobe takes forever to develope apps and Aperture was released just a few months ago.
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Either that, or it just shows Adobe's ability to respond when they feel threatened. In other word's, we could probably have a universal binary of photoshop in january if Adobe was so inclined, but they figure what else are we going to do? Not much choice but to sit it out, and they'll milk us along to CS3, and charge for an upgrade.
 
Why didn't Adobe make it Universal Binary? If they're making a new app with the Intel Transition so close, why not make it compatible with current and future macs?
 
They want Mac Users to perfect it...

Hey Adobe just want's to make sure they can get Apple Fans to approve or at least give good input before they go gold... that's all...

Either way I'm downloading now and can't wait to play!

-Judicator
 
I wonder how far along in development the Windows version is right now. Since they don't have the pressure of Aperture on Windows, Adobe probably doesn't feel the need to release a Windows beta, but it will make me happy if the final non-beta Mac version is released a few months before the Windows version :) From the Lightroom FAQ:
The final, packaged versions for both platforms should be released within a few months of each other.
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coming from a very non-professional background, the beta looks amazing. it feels like a pleasant version of iPhoto.

its all very pretty, though i'm not quite sure what it does.:confused:
 
The only thing I don't like so far is the ugly cancel logo when you click on the progress indicator :rolleyes:

ugly.png
 
Mmm, I'm trying to press my brains to remember if/when such an aggressive action from Adobe against Apple happened before... :confused:

I mean, Adobe releases a free (ie, marketing agressive) beta (ie, not-ready-but-we're-in-a-hurry) version of a direct competitor to Apple's software... Maybe it's because Apple stepped for the first time of the last ten years on Adobe's market - Aperture reducing the need to use Photoshop for color corrections -.

(I said "in the last ten years" to avoid anyone bringing the Claris era and even previous Macpaint/Macdraw era...)

It was interesting to see the references to Photoshop in Aperture's advertizing, I thought they were trying to show Adobe they were not so much of a competitor...

Oh well, hopefully the users will benefit from it all... :rolleyes:

Edit: Btw, I'm waiting for a potential release of a new iPhoto, with iLife 06; maybe some of the quirks will be fixed, and that will be a good tool for most beginners ? Batch chromatic corrections ? (Nah, just kidding...)
 
If I had broadband I'd check it out. I never did get around to Aperture myself.. I just use Photoshop..
 
Either you use the Mac software, or you buy the Mac hardware and use the Adobe software.

Smart, Apple. Smart.
 
looks as if Adobe is going against Apple on this one - day before MWSF and a blatent rip off of Aperture.

but saying that it does look good - for a beta

i wonder how much Adobe will price this at ?
 
Competition? Good. (Plus, an option for Macs whose specs are too low for Aperture.)

On Mac before Windows? Better!

Adobe showing signs of being able to develop software quickly? Best! :)
 
Yeah, it looks good. Although, to be quite honest it looks nothing as good as Aperture. Aperture just seems much more well thought through and cleaner somehow (although I admit not owning it and just seeing the info and clips on Apple's site).

I also got Lightroom to crash after only five minutes. :D Was playing around with the slideshow function and while playing a slideshow I pressed the forward button a couple times, that pretty much did it. Of course, it's beta so we shouldn't expect anything else.

I'm sure Adobe will make a lot of refinements over the coming months and improve functionality. Seems to have the makings of a nice app though.
 
Staffroomer said:
If I had broadband I'd check it out. I never did get around to Aperture myself.. I just use Photoshop..
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The download's only like 4 megs though, so even a dial-up connection should be able to hack it.
 
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