Panic much?
Note: Apple never said (at least not anywhere I can see), that they are offering any path to Lightroom (original TC article updated to clarify that there is no official workflow for migrating to Lightroom.). So no indication that Aperture's high level functions will actually be gone.
As a company, if Apple see's that Aperture is either not doing well enough to continue throwing resources at it or it's a giant overlap with iPhoto, the decision has to be made... Kill it, make it free and kill iPhoto, or merge them (free or paid). Hopefully the new version will do exactly what it should do, keep all the high end features Aperture has, but offer a simple interface to consumers.
- From a Pro's perspective... Tools central to workflow are rarely updated immediately, especially if you hand data back and forth between multiple workstations via NAS or SAN. You don't dive head long into the pool until the waters been checked.
- From a Consumer's perspective... If I can get something easy to use, low cost (or free), with advanced options thrown in for good measure... Great!
Frankly, a new code base, with the feature sets of both apps, opting to keep the power features of Aperture and the simplicity of iPhoto is the best possible choice. All the gnashing of teeth about the Photos app
may be a complete waste of time. Pro's may even get the added bonus of Pro features for free (hopefully).
Let's remember, Apple is a hardware company that makes software tightly integrated into the hardware so they can sell the hardware and tout 'easy to use' and 'great experience'. Including an robust and easy to use Photo's app with new machines and upgraded OS's just increases saleability of new machines, especially if that app has Aperture level tools in it.
