iOS 10 and OS X 10.12 to Feature Improvements to Photos App

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Agreed. Lower-end Macs are currently laughable. As for software iTunes is train wreck, Photos is dysfunctional (cutting 40% of iPhotos abilities is supposed to be progress??), newest iWork is much worse compared to 09 version and the list goes on...


As for the article I am curious if Apple can finally bring Photos back from the dead. It might work if one just snaps photos without thought of how to organise them. I have carefully organised events in iPhoto and Photos completely ruined my organisation when I installed Yosemite last year.

El Capitan has only mildly improved Photos and if Apple keeps making improvements at the same rate I estimate Photos might have at the same capability compared to iPhoto in about 4 years time.

Needless to say I plan to stay in iPhoto for the time being but I'm also considering other options.

I hope I am wrong and Apple finally manages to surprise me positively after POS Yosemite, Photos and slightly better El Capitan. I would be over the moon if Photos would finally gain enough features (including import/export functionality that wouldn't strip most of the metadata out of the pictures) and stability to be usable but I am not holding my breath...

Well-said, I agree. Ugh--iWork. I still use iWork '08/'09 because it's the best office suite there is (except for Numbers, which Excel actually beats). Apple continues to utterly scrap their existing software and turn it into something stupid. Their main tactic seems to be subtracting features. You should see the list of things they added to the new Pages... it's about three lines long. But, the list for things they subtracted from Pages? It was about a page or more in length. They needlessly took out features... it just boggles my mind. They totally killed iWork. Now it no longer looks more advanced than MS Office. I'm sure it still is, but it definitely had not improved from iWork '09.

Apple is acting like Google now: They fix what isn't broken and end up taking out features that people want most.

 

[HiRez]

Can't wait for these improvements. I still use Lightroom for the bulk of my photos (anything not shot with a phone). And in terms of powerful editing Lightroom is still by far superior to Photos.

But last weekend I imported a bunch of photos from a Fuji X-100 and processed them in Photos instead of Lightroom. It really wasn't that bad. I feel like I got to about 75% of where I wanted to be with them. Brush tools, and the ability to quickly apply edit settings to multiple photos, would be big. Having all your photos instantly available (including any edits) on every computer and device is a huge win for Photos over Lightroom.

 

[Otaviano]

Seems to be the new tech trend: remove, complain, add it back, praise, rinse and repeat.

That's not really a fair criticism. iPhoto was old and outdated, built on the idea that the computer was the central hub. There really was no choice but to start fresh with a set of programs catered to where Apple is today as a company of multiple devices that all need to interact together cohesively. It might have sucked that some features disappeared but in my opinion it was a fair compromise. And it will pay off in the long run.

Now if only they would apply the same thinking to iTunes/Apple Music.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

That's not really a fair criticism. iPhoto was old and outdated, built on the idea that the computer was the central hub. There really was no choice but to start fresh with a set of programs catered to where Apple is today as a company of multiple devices that all need to interact together cohesively. It might have sucked that some features disappeared but in my opinion it was a fair compromise. And it will pay off in the long run.

Now if only they would apply the same thinking to iTunes/Apple Music.

Apple needs to get their crap together with their software and their low-end machines. Soon enough, their software WILL actually be for babies, much like Windows users have been saying for the past 25 years.

As for hardware, they already ruined the iMac and the Mac Mini... and the MacBook. What's next?

 

[netwalker]

What makes Capture One Pro great? I've never heard of it but I'm interested.

It feels familiar to Aperture users and converts RAW files in a fairly good quality. Apart from that not much greatness. It has problems with 4K+ displays, performs very poorly (up to being unusable) with large catalogs, lacks many features we were used to from Aperture, the user interface is often strange and takes a while to get used to (Danish seem to have a different concept of 'usability'), has plenty of bugs that take too long to get fixed,...
Phase One is a hardware company. They need Capture One for their overpriced cameras and you get the feeling that writing great software is not their top priority and competence.

 

[chucker23n1]

But, the list for things they subtracted from Pages? It was about a page or more in length. They needlessly took out features... it just boggles my mind

They gave it file format compatibility with the iOS and Web versions. And more or less feature parity. Really quite simple. Unpopular, perhaps, but not "needlessly" nor mind-boggling.

They totally killed iWork. Now it no longer looks more advanced than MS Office. I'm sure it still is, but it definitely had not improved from iWork '09.

Uh, iWork was never more advanced. It was far simpler, and in many ways that made it more useful — especially in Keynote. But as far as advanced features goes, MS Office was always way ahead.

 

[themac]

I think Photos extensibility will open up a lot for it's future between that and new features. At some point it will really be a replacement for Aperture and even be better then Lightroom. This is only the beginning.

 

[chucker23n1]

If Photos gets localized edit brushes, and if extensions can add their own localized editing, it'll be quite powerful. It could still use a lot of work in the metadata area, though.

 

[Dranix]

The most disturbing part of Photos os how bad the UI is...

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

They gave it file format compatibility with the iOS and Web versions. And more or less feature parity. Really quite simple. Unpopular, perhaps, but not "needlessly" nor mind-boggling.



Uh, iWork was never more advanced. It was far simpler, and in many ways that made it more useful — especially in Keynote. But as far as advanced features goes, MS Office was always way ahead.

No, it's clear that Keynote is more advanced than PowerPoint (speaking from iWork '08 vs.Office 2007). As for Pages vs. Word, Pages itself is more stable, runs better, and is considerably more pleasurable to use because you can do everything in it that you can do in Word (and more), but without nearly as much hassle. It's a clean piece of software. Word's spacing and formatting is also very weird; and the way older versions behaved whilst you typed? Unbelievably bad... it felt/appeared as though the cursor wasn't keeping up properly with your typing speed.

 

[chucker23n1]

No, it's clear that Keynote is more advanced than PowerPoint (speaking from iWork '08 vs.Office 2007).

In a sense, Keynote is ahead of PowerPoint, yes.

As for Pages vs. Word, Pages itself is more stable, runs better, and is considerably more pleasurable to use because you can do everything in it that you can do in Word (and more), but without nearly as much hassle.

"you can do everything in it that you can do in Word" lol? Never ever. Nor would that be desirable.

 

[EdT]

That's not really a fair criticism. iPhoto was old and outdated, built on the idea that the computer was the central hub. There really was no choice but to start fresh with a set of programs catered to where Apple is today as a company of multiple devices that all need to interact together cohesively. It might have sucked that some features disappeared but in my opinion it was a fair compromise. And it will pay off in the long run.

Now if only they would apply the same thinking to iTunes/Apple Music.

That old and outdated idea is what millions of people still use, most of them for good reasons. I live on the outskirts of Omaha, a city of 600, 000. Inside the city, about 1/2 the people have access to 25/10 mb upload-download speeds or greater. The rest are still at less than 5 mb download and 512k upload. Uploading pictures at that rate to a cloud account is extremely slow. Most outside the city areas are lucky to have 1.5 mb download speeds. Now say you want to access some photos while you aren't on your home or public wifi using your cell phone. Now it doesn't matter where in the US you live-data caps are a fact of life with any major cell phone carrier. Storing photos on my computer at least has the advantage of not using ANY data plan, either cable or cell phone, and my transfer speeds aren't at molasses in January level. The infrastructure for the cloud ISNT THERE YET FOR MILLIONS OF PEOPLE. And that's ignoring problems of security and access problems and privacy that haven't been solved yet. Would I like access to every photo I have on my phone without having to store every photo on my phone? Yes, but it's not a real option for me or a lot of other people right now.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

In a sense, Keynote is ahead of PowerPoint, yes.



"you can do everything in it that you can do in Word" lol? Never ever. Nor would that be desirable.

What can't you do in Pages that you can do in Word? Word itself isn't even pleasant to use; it's slow and unstable, and it's a pain to type in. Wondering if they finally fixed that issue where letters would randomly be closer to each other than usual. It's just such a shoddy word processor that most people use just because it's the standard. I used to use Word and ended up giving up on it because it was such crappy software.

 

[sibcc]

Can't wait for these improvements. I still use Lightroom for the bulk of my photos (anything not shot with a phone). And in terms of powerful editing Lightroom is still by far superior to Photos.

But last weekend I imported a bunch of photos from a Fuji X-100 and processed them in Photos instead of Lightroom. It really wasn't that bad. I feel like I got to about 75% of where I wanted to be with them. Brush tools, and the ability to quickly apply edit settings to multiple photos, would be big. Having all your photos instantly available (including any edits) on every computer and device is a huge win for Photos over Lightroom.

Photos is a horrible dumbed down application. Iphoto and Aperture were both far superior to Photos. Taking away features and creating convoluted workflows for the paradigm of a stark interface is assinine. Further, Apple's idiotic bright white background and light text breaks well known readability standards.

Lightroom is still the far superior tool for those with large photo collections and that need them properly organized. I can drop from LR into any number of editing tools which I can't easily do with Photos. Photos is fine for those that use social media and take pictures with an iPhone. Sure, I can get things done with Photos but it's not worth the hassle given that there are superior tools available.

 

[chucker23n1]

What can't you do in Pages that you can do in Word?

Are you serious? You can't even have a document with both footnotes and endnotes.

Word itself isn't even pleasant to use; it's slow and unstable, and it's a pain to type in.

Those are besides the point, though.

It's just such a shoddy word processor that most people use just because it's the standard.

Or because it's fairly advanced as well.

 

[sibcc]

I think Photos extensibility will open up a lot for it's future between that and new features. At some point it will really be a replacement for Aperture and even be better then Lightroom. This is only the beginning.

You do realize it's been out

That's not really a fair criticism. iPhoto was old and outdated, built on the idea that the computer was the central hub. There really was no choice but to start fresh with a set of programs catered to where Apple is today as a company of multiple devices that all need to interact together cohesively. It might have sucked that some features disappeared but in my opinion it was a fair compromise. And it will pay off in the long run.

Now if only they would apply the same thinking to iTunes/Apple Music.

So is the entire underpinning of OS X. Just because something is old does not make it inferior. In fact, keeping familiar elements in a user interface is a big advantage in terms of useability and retraining costs. They could have designed Photos on OS X to have a better interface and retained the majority of features of iPhoto and Aperture. What they did is they designed to their hot selling iOS devices. A desktop computer is fundamentally different from an iOS device.

 

[Ebenezum]

That's not really a fair criticism. iPhoto was old and outdated, built on the idea that the computer was the central hub. There really was no choice but to start fresh with a set of programs catered to where Apple is today as a company of multiple devices that all need to interact together cohesively. It might have sucked that some features disappeared but in my opinion it was a fair compromise. And it will pay off in the long run.

Now if only they would apply the same thinking to iTunes/Apple Music.

Old? Sure. Outdated? No.

You are assuming that A: everyone is using multiple devices B: change for the change itself is good and C: Apple will improve Photos enough in the future.

Given the Apples history of inventing the wheel without thinking things through with applications I am not very confident that Photos will gain all the missing functionality compared to iPhoto.

Furthermore I have no idea why Apple thinks artificially limiting Photos capabilities to iOS levels is a good idea, it would have made much more sense to design the interface and features like a real OS X software instead of placating iOS owners...

As for iTunes I shudder to think what will happen if Apple decides to redesign it the same way, I am not saying iTunes doesn't need of overhaul. It desperately needs improvements and I prefer that Apple would take it back to the drawing board. I fear that if Apple gives it Photos inspired "improvements" iTunes will be completely useless...

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

Are you serious? You can't even have a document with both footnotes and endnotes.



Those are besides the point, though.



Or because it's fairly advanced as well.

No, Word is a piece of crap. Surprisingly enough, Word for Mac is better than Word for Windows, but that's basically saying that one piece of sh** doesn't smell as bad as the other. The only thing credible application from Microsoft Office is Excel. Excel is fantastic.

 

[chucker23n1]

So, your argument has shifted from "it's not more advanced" to "well, it is, but… it's crap!". Got it.

 

[Michael Goff]

No, Word is a piece of crap. Surprisingly enough, Word for Mac is better than Word for Windows, but that's basically saying that one piece of sh** doesn't smell as bad as the other. The only thing credible application from Microsoft Office is Excel. Excel is fantastic.

Wait.

You think Word on OS X is better than Word on Windows? Are you serious?
[doublepost=1457238257][/doublepost]

So, your argument has shifted from "it's not more advanced" to "well, it is, but… it's crap!". Got it.

In the end, it's popular to hate Office.

 

[MrNomNoms]

No, Word is a piece of crap. Surprisingly enough, Word for Mac is better than Word for Windows, but that's basically saying that one piece of sh** doesn't smell as bad as the other. The only thing credible application from Microsoft Office is Excel. Excel is fantastic.

I'd love to know what barometer you use for 'better' given that Microsoft Office on OS X is just wall to wall tragic and those using it terms to do so reluctantly because the need compatibility rather than loving Microsoft Office for Mac. I have heard rumblings that Microsoft is working on a 64bit version of Office for Mac and cleaning it up but for many this is a situation of Microsoft doing too little too late but there isn't a clear alternative to Microsoft Office hence we're here. Personally I wish that Apple would set up a dedicated group to really push Pages, Keynote and Numbers to the next level as well as coming up with an alternative to Adobe's suite because God knows I know many creative types who would be more than happy to pay for a viable alternative to Adobe's suite if one existed.

Regarding 10.12 - I hope that they tidy up loose ends for the technologies introduced in 10.11 because Metal/Metal Kit is a step in the right direction but the drivers aren't optimised enough, the framework is still very mature immature and has limitations which has resulted in Horizons being cancelled for Mac. Such limitations btw could also impact pro applications utilising Metal so it isn't' as though Apple can just dismiss it without any impact on its core base. That being said, compared to the Windows 10 world of forced updates, buggy drivers causing BSOD's, UWP framework in a complete shambles etc. the Mac world is looking pretty damn good at the moment.

 

[chucker23n1]

In the end, it's popular to hate Office.

And in some cases for good reason. But this? "They totally killed iWork. Now it no longer looks moreadvanced than MS Office. I'm sure it still is, but it definitely had not improved from iWork '09." That's just an alternate reality. iWork was never meant to be "advanced". It was meant to be simple.

 

[StoneJack]

So, your argument has shifted from "it's not more advanced" to "well, it is, but… it's crap!". Got it.

After all these years, 10, 20? MS Word on Mac (Office 2011) can't do properly command+v and command+c, or x or z etc. Sometimes it works, sometimes its not. Even if you do global key combo shortcuts, they still don't work. Sometimes for no reason, it becomes unbelievably slow.

All in all, Pages may miss some Word features, but its stable, just works and got everything I need. It can edit, open and export Word files as well.

And its free.

 

[chucker23n1]

All in all, Pages may miss some Word features, but its stable, just works and got everything I need. It can edit, open and export Word files as well.

And its free.

You're barking up against the wrong tree here — I've always loved Keynote, use Pages for my personal documents, and wish Numbers were a tad faster so I could use it more often. But MS Office has its merits as well, and the only claim I contested was calling iWork "more advanced" — that's never been its aim nor its reality.

 

[PowerMac G4 MDD]

I personally don't use Office in the first place, since it's an utter piece of trash. However, the Office Mac layout is far better than that for Windows, even if Office for Windows is faster and more stable than Office Mac. None of this matters, though, because I'd never use the crappy thing in the first place.

Oh, and let's not forget how much of a rip-off MS Office is. The entirety of iWork is $60 (or $20 per application). It boggles my mind that people would actually pay over $100 for Office - just because it's what most people use. Compatibility isn't an issue at all, since Pages can export files as Word-formatted or as PDFs.