RIP: Apple Aperture will no longer work after macOS Mojave

http://grizzlyden.smugmug.com/

“Windows runs decades old software just fine”

Damn well doesn’t. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, no, no.

3 weeks agopermalink

Zdman

Up until Vista Microsoft when to incredible lengths to ensure backward compatibility. Almost any commercial software bar a few games ran from 1980 to 2007. After that was the big compatibility bump with Vista and many dos based applications failed to work but I can assure you many business based software from Win 3.1 and up works quite well. Good luck getting something from the 90's to work on a Mac today. Its a different philosophy and gives strength in certain areas (like stability and vulnerabilities) but then you get orphaned software as well.

3 weeks agopermalink

kfred

very very sad, apple killed my photography post creativity by being greedy stupid useful idiots, got it from the first release , no more apple products for me period.
never liked the lightroom, tried but NO.

http://coolwildlife.com/grizzly-bear-workshop-camping-bbc-guide/

3 weeks agopermalink

Love your photos.

3 weeks agopermalink

mantra

hi
it's very sad ,i really loved aperture ,and the output quality
i prefer to lightroom/acr
the only program that can come very close is capture one
i shoot canon and nikon
really sad

3 weeks agopermalink

englishfil

Have none of you heard of virtual machines?
Software doesn't die it just goes virtual.
If your Aperture is stable under whatever version of MacOS you are running then just build a VM with that OS. Then shift your licensed Aperture to that VM and reconnect all your libraries (caveat: you may need to read the manual/help files!!). Now if you want to use Aperture just open up a VM a window, just like I do for the last standalone Adobe Creative Suite and an older version of PS (separate VMs). Plenty of info on interweb for creating free VMs or buy a commercial product such as Parallels. VMs really are the way to stop idiosyncratic marketing decisions screwing over your life.
Unfortunately there is currently no way of creating a physical 'virtual machine' that can replace Apple hardware; Hackintosh comes close, but has major limitations. Let us hope Apple's recent retrograde hardware growth figures will force some reality into their hardware designs.

3 weeks agopermalink

tonywong

Already has been mentioned. https://www.dpreview.com/news/5576621302/apple-aperture-will-no-longer-work-after-macos-mojave?comment=1292625639

3 weeks agopermalink

Ted Todorov

The VM approach is fine, until you upgrade to a new Mac, like say the promised new Mac Pro later this year, which is unlikely to to be compatible with older versions of macOS

3 weeks agopermalink

fyngyrz

> Unfortunately there is currently no way of creating a physical 'virtual machine' that can replace Apple hardware

Well, there's always EBay. Plenty of working Apple hardware with non-Aperture-broken OS capability on there. Relatively inexpensive, too, compared to new, and soon to be broken, Apple hardware.

Also, WRT VMs, there are pervasive rumors at this time that OS X will be moving to a non-Intel CPU basis; that's very likely to
kill off, or hugely cripple, the various VM systems.

Best to stay with older hardware for sure if that happens.

3 weeks agopermalink

Microprism

I keep an older Mac Mini frozen in time with an old system. Very cheap and can run orphaned software, as needed. I don't plan on ever updating it and don't surf the web with it. Uses up some desk space, though.

3 weeks agopermalink

fyngyrz

VMWare can run a VM of another Mac OS. I have OS X 10.6.8 (server version) running in a VMWare VM, and other than there's no sound support (darn it), it works very well. OS X 10.6.8 is some kind of special case, license-wise - you can only VM the server version. Sigh.

1 week agopermalink

The Squire

Who needs digital asset management?

Buy 1TB of Dropbox or OneDrive (you choose).

Keep all your RAWs there as read-only files.
Edit with *any app* you have on *any* device that can access Dropbox/Onedrive
Save in a lossless format, in case you want to make multiple edits.
Maintain a simple directory/file naming structure so you can find stuff.

Since Aperture launched file syncing, OS native support for images, search, and mobile device apps have completely changed. I would argue you don not need a 'silo' to do this anymore. What you might lose in ergonomics you gain in total platform independence.

3 weeks agopermalink

Kiwisnap

I also bought Aperture at release and paid NZ$800 for it, so thanks Apple.

3 weeks agopermalink

kreislauf

And you expect a lifetime out of this?

3 weeks agopermalink

https://apertureexporter.com

there's a difference between ceasing support for a product and preventing it from running by deliberately making it incompatible.
your camera will still take photos after the warranty expires.

3 weeks agopermalink

kreislauf

Oh boy...

I paid a Corel draw version in 1993 for win 3.11. but that doesn't mean I have the right to demand functioning support in 2019 or does it? Should they offer a lifetime of porting to the next system? Software maintenance is often complex and expensive...

The program still works, you just have to adapt.

3 weeks agopermalink

Kiwisnap

I've got several years of images still in Aperture. I've never worked out how to satisfactorily get them into LR with edits intact. Mind you, I also ended up with two versions of LR without realizing because the desktop icons were identical and I can't work out how to merge them either.

3 weeks agopermalink

tonywong

AE allows images with baked-in adjustments to be saved as high quality TIFFs or JPEGs (adjustable quality).

Demo available for you to try.

3 weeks agopermalink

Aqua34

Check out Cyme.io

They will release a product soon that handles the Aperture to LR migration while preserving all the edits made in Aperture.
It’s possible to register for a beta.

3 weeks agopermalink

FeDost

I'm so sad.

3 weeks agopermalink

Thoughts R Us

It's simple. Apple released Aperture in 2005. Adobe released LightRoom in 2007. For a while Apple tried to compete, but Adobe took over that market and Apple saw that.

If there had been sufficient demand Apple would have kept it.

It's really no big deal; software changes all of the time. There are great options out there like LR. Complaining about your high end choices of digital photo editing and management software is truly a first world problem.

3 weeks agopermalink

If there wasn't sufficient demand for a Lightroom alternative, why do Capture One and DXO and On1 etc still exist?

No, I think the real problem was that Apple was forced to drop Aperture's price from $500 to $80. When Apple can no longer gouge its customers, it drops out of the market. Every time.

3 weeks agopermalink

GarrettNYC

The least apple could do is figure out how to migrate our extensive image libraries with the edits intact. I went with Lightroom to replace it, but the best import option isn't great. I'm using a third party utility but all I get is a saved JPEG of my edits. I have to recreate the work I did in Aperture. Guess I'll keep an old OS on a startup disk since I'm still slowly migrating off to Lightroom (which like many apps has way more editing controls)

3 weeks agopermalink

carcour

Go with Capture one it imported my photos from Aperture including most adjustments

3 weeks ago*permalink

breschdlingsgsaelz

A lot of things will break with 10.15 - but the more interesting part for me ist that there are no positive aspects with the upgrade - no new features worth the hassle. So not updating ist very easy for me.

I am still using Aperture. Tried migrating to photos, but photos is extremely crippled and far from what aperture was. I will need to look into what linux has to offer, my days with Apple are counted.

3 weeks agopermalink

drusus

Look at Darktable: Mac and Linux

3 weeks agopermalink

Lars V

Fall 2005 I was at Photo Expo NYC, launching Light Crafts' LightZone product. We launched the day before Aperture. Apple's booth was "somewhat" bigger at 80x80' compared to our 8x8'

Interesting to observe life cycle of softwares. Aperture was of course a much larger investment than our six-person startup that created LightZone. Light Crafts is no more, however the LightZone code lives on as an open source non-commercial project.
http://lightzoneproject.org/

Moving on.

3 weeks ago*permalink

nguyenhm16

Aperture will stop working because the next macOS will drop support for 32-bit applications entirely, along with a whole bunch of other legacy stuff.

I think Apple discontinued Aperture because the market was crowded, and it was about the same time that the huge iPhone volumes seemed to have caused Apple to take its eyes off the ball on more niche products (even “bigger”products like the Mac Pro, Mac mini, MacBook Air anyone?).

It’s water under the bridge though at this point, Aperture has been discontinued for years. My Aperture library is basically archival at that point, and at some point I’ll move it all over to Capture One.

3 weeks ago*permalink

GrtFS

nguyenhm16:
"Aperture will stop working because the next macOS will drop support for 32-bit applications"

Aperture is a 64bit app.

3 weeks ago*permalink

Seventx7

Loved aperture, simple yet functional. Apple photos is awful, even at my local apple store nobody there uses it or even knows anyone that uses it. I eventually went with pro one, not quite as good of an interface but allows much more versatility in editing.

3 weeks agopermalink

MLWestphal

Is there a best option for replacing Aperture and migrating all the photos therein, other than Lightroom? As a senior, I cannot justify Adobe's subscription.

3 weeks agopermalink

nguyenhm16

Capture One.

3 weeks agopermalink

Picktorial

3 weeks agopermalink

In the Raw

Also open source freeware, like RawTherapee and Darktable; both are very powerful and have Mac versions.

3 weeks agopermalink

Sonyshine

Shame. I still use Aperture. An excellent product.

3 weeks agopermalink

madeinlisboa

LOL! Happier every new day for never using an Apple product.

4 weeks agopermalink

In the Raw

Yep, it's Apple's way or the highway.

3 weeks agopermalink

anomalous

Killing Aperture is (to me) one of the major negatives of recent Apple behaviour. The other is removing all the useful ports from their Macbook laptops. Who can tell what they are thinking?

The big puzzle, beyond even killing a successful and useful product (Aperture) is the program they replaced it with (Photos). I reach screaming point in seconds when trying to use it. How is this thing even a released product? What is the target audience? Who is actually expert in using it? When I see other people use it, they seem as lost as I am (though they also seem happy, so go figure).

So to summarise in one sentence: Aperture, old and dead, is still better than Apple's current product in this space.

And that makes me sad.

4 weeks ago*permalink

It would be very convenient for the market to be stable and fully backward compatible.

It isn't.

It is dynamic and ever changing with new technologies being developed in an ever changing and rapid development cycle.

It isn't Apple's fault, they are responding to the market just like eveyone else.

It is annoying tho.

(I never liked Aperture, didn't have the tools I wanted whereas LR did. Last year I ditched Adobe and used Affinity Photo and Picktorial, now I have gone fully mobile with LR on an iPad Pro. I think that is the way forward for personal computing (I am generally wrong so don't Troll me). I would agree with others insaying that Aperture didn't have the customer base. I wish Apple would update it like FCP and Logic.)

Remember floppies? (and Zip drives and others).

Remember the outrage when Apple dare even to produce Macs without them?

That is the nature of things.

And appartently, it's all your fault.

4 weeks agopermalink

"It isn't Apple's fault, they are responding to the market just like eveyone else."
No, it is their fault. At no point ever did the market say "hey, we demand that our phones are 2mm thinner so ditch the headphone jack"
I am looking at my old Macbook and on the side it has:
RJ45
Firewire
Mini-display port
2 x USB 2.0
1 x 3.5mm audio
1 x SD card slot

So apart from the Firewire 800 port, which of them is deprecated? None, they are all extremely useful. Not even in the same league as Zip drives and floppy drives. Yes I remember them, as well as SCSI, serial and parallel ports. Agrred, some things should just go away. But to replace all those useful and still current ports with a single USB3?
To be polite - go away. Really, Apple are masters at doing something that actually cripples products and takes away functionality but rationalizing it to themselves, and their faithful consumers.
Less ports = cheaper to make = more profit.
Its that simple.

3 weeks agopermalink

Disagree about killing Aperture. There's no evidence that it isn't justified for the business reasons that apply to any company.

But I agree on laptops. I use a 2014 MacBook Pro. It isn't perfect, but it's thin, light and loaded with useful ports. It doesn't need to be any thinner or lighter. The keyboard is good. Apple could have kept iterating around this form factor and complement of ports (updating as appropriate) and been fine.

The obsession with making each new version thinner and lighter has gone to an absurd extreme. It has led to a stubborn insistence on a subpar keyboard, throttling for heat management, the loss of almost all ports.

The port situation is well beyond the old Apple approach of dropping antiquated ports/drives just a bit sooner than everyone else.

I like and use several Apple products, but I'm no fan of Apple as a company. Being a "fan" of any corporation is just... odd.

3 weeks agopermalink

Real Ramona, you are entitled to your opinion. I am too polite (generally) to tell you to go away.

Your argument is the same we have heard for years, not that it is invalid, it isn't. Technologies come and go that's the way it is. In time all the ports on your fine Mac will be no more. It is going to happen. I mean how many PC's still have parallel or serial ports? No doubt there were the same plaintive arguments such as yours (really, I am with you there) when they started disappearing. But the market moves on with or without you.

USB-C was developed by the USB Implementers Forum, the board of directors consists of Apple, HP Inc., Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Renesas Electronics, STMicroelectronics, and Texas Instruments.

I expect the "Less ports = cheaper to make = more profit" to be adopted by an increasing amount of PC vendors.

3 weeks agopermalink

@anomalous

"When I see other people use it, they seem as lost as I am (though they also seem happy, so go figure)."

Simplest explanation: they aren't actually lost. You, while watching, remain as lost as you are while using Photos.

Believe it or not, I like Photos. I don't know why you consider it terrible or difficult to use. I find it quite straightforward and effective. It could definitely be improved and beefed up, but I have no major complaints.

That said, I am a rank amateur. No doubt it's a bad fit for pro or high-level enthusiast work.

3 weeks agopermalink

light_bulb

Apple charges higher for telling customers what they are allowed to do on this platform.
Some masochistic need helps you to be their customer.

3 weeks agopermalink

@wye photography - the go away remark was directed at Apple, not you :)

3 weeks agopermalink

This new Macbook Pro will be awesome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA

3 weeks agopermalink

@Real Ramona, Phew! Thank you.

3 weeks agopermalink

@light_bulb, thanks for Trolling all Apple customers. Please turn the power on and see the light.

3 weeks agopermalink

anomalous

@FunGuy66 Why do I dislike Photos? At no point do I feel in control. Where are the menus? How can I organise stuff the way I want? What mode am I in? Which photos are modified and which are original? Photos does what it wants and not what I want. And it's difficult for me to predict what it will do for any input. It is exactly the opposite of what I want in a computer program.

@Why Photography, tech become obsolete and Apple has removed some old tech earlier than most companies. That's OK, if sometimes a bit annoying. But my 2015 macbook pro has an SD card slot for the *current* most popular camera memory card. There is nothing newer. The latest macbook pro lacks this slot. When Apple decided to remove all the ports which I use every single day their products became decidedly uninteresting for the simple fact that their utility was severely degraded. There is no "thin" or "sleek" or "modern" argument to counter "lacks utility". It's a mac, so cheapness isn't the reason.

3 weeks agopermalink

> Where are the menus?

Same place as any other Mac app.

>How can I organise stuff the way I want?

I mainly use Smart Albums for this. It's basically just a tagging system, and it works.

>What mode am I in?

When you see a big yellow DONE button in the top right corner, you're in Edit mode. You'll also see either adjustment sliders, cropping tools or preset filters.

> Which photos are modified and which are original?

Finally, we agree on a shortcoming!

And I do have some quibbles of my own, e.g. commands like Use Raw as Original (when both RAW+JPEG exist) being grayed out if you aren't in Edit mode.

> Photos does what it wants and not what I want.

Right now I'm wondering if you've tried the latest version. Sounds like you might have formed your opinion from an early one.

> And it's difficult for me to predict what it will do for any input. It is exactly the opposite of what I want in a computer program.

As with anything, I find predictability increases with familiarity.

3 weeks agopermalink

There's a big difference between ceasing support on a product and deliberately making it incompatible so that you can't use it any more.
My camera's warranty expired years ago, but it still takes photos, and I can use lenses created today on it.
Imagine if Nikon started releasing lenses which could physically fit your camera but they programmed the lens so it wouldn't work on older models? Or, releasing software which refused to recognise photos taken with older cameras?

3 weeks agopermalink

I have a Nikon scanner, still an excellent scanner, which only works with 3rd party software because Nikon ceased supporting it with drivers and software long ago.

3 weeks agopermalink

It's quite possible that if you got hold of the old Nikon software you could make it work on a newer version of Windows than originally supplied for?

3 weeks agopermalink

PankajDubey

RIP Apple.

4 weeks agopermalink

One of the biggest companies on Earth?

4 weeks agopermalink

PankajDubey

Because,they bit the apple on the wrong side ;-)

4 weeks agopermalink

You can only but dream.

3 weeks agopermalink

The Trillion Dollar Apple Corporation is alive and well. The Apple Computer which was quirky and exciting and enticed me to buy my first Mac in 1988 is dead. There is nothing about Apple now which appeals to me, and after using Macs for nearly 30 years I switched to a boutique PC running Windows 10 Pro. Microsoft is another trillion dollar corporation, yes, but now I can modify and upgrade my computer. The apps I used on the Mac are the same on Windows, and the hardware costs less and can be customized.

I used to taunt my Windows-using friends about viruses and ease-of-use, but in nearly two years using Windows I haven't seen any viruses or exploits, and it turns out Windows is pretty simple to use. Harder than the Mac in some ways, easier than others.

I'm glad I never have to set foot in another Apple Store where the Geniuses are clueless, the repair department refuses to fix things, and where the Macs are stuffed in a tiny corner of a room full of wristwatches and telephones.

3 weeks agopermalink

People seem to forget that Apple is business not a charity.

3 weeks agopermalink

Nobody has ever mistaken Apple -- the crown prince of price gouging -- for a charity.

3 weeks agopermalink

Ted Todorov

"The apps I used on the Mac are the same on Windows"
OK, so that means they also exist for those of us with Macs - what did you replace Aperture with?
I have been trying to switch to Lightroom for over 5 years, since Aperture stopped being updated, and it is nowhere as usable as Aperture. Just flipping quickly for a few hundred photos and flagging the good ones flies though in Aperture and is often so slow in Lightroom I am making sure nothing hung. (Running latest & greatest version (Lightroom 8.2.1)on a 2018 MacBook Pro).

I am open to suggestions - what should I use instead of Aperture?

3 weeks agopermalink

Every business does the same, Apple are just very good at it. It is a certainty that the shareholders of a plethora of major companies will be asking their board if directors “why don’t we have profit margins as good as Apple?” If they don’t, they should.

It is totally unfair to critique Apple in such manner as they are demonstrating the noble virtues of American capitalism. Double standards from some I think, “you can be successful, but not ‘that’ successful”.

3 weeks agopermalink

Noble virtues? Could you drink more Kool-Aid?

3 weeks agopermalink

pharles

I've been with Aperture since v1.5 and I knew this day was coming so I jumped ship for Capture One 12 for Fujifilm cameras. Didn't regret it for one second. Not quite as intuitive as Aperture, but more powerful. Still way easier to learn than an Adobe product.

Tried Photos and instantly hated it, but it can be made more useful via Affinity Photo which will work as an extension. The Nik collection will as work with Photos as well.

So currently Photos is used for routine family stuff, the serious stuff goes on Capture One and when I need PS like tool I flip on Affinity Photo. The Nik Collection gets used as well.

4 weeks agopermalink

PankajDubey

Skylum's luminar flex works with Aperture too.

4 weeks agopermalink

Picktorial is better.

3 weeks agopermalink

The reason Apple dropped Aperture might be as simple as Adobe threatening to pull all of their apps from the OS if Apple didn't stop competing with them on at least video or photography. Apple chose to keep video.

I have absolutely no evidence for such a statement but it's the only good reason I can think of for dropping such a fantastic program that made them money.

4 weeks agopermalink

Thoughts R Us

I don't think Aperture was selling that well at the end; in fact, Adobe LR was basically taking over the entire market given the brand.

Apple's Final Cut Pro has a far larger installed user base.

4 weeks agopermalink

At the time, Aperture came out first and had every possibility of carving out a permanent portion of the photography market. It does look to me like there was arm-twisting involved (and I followed the issues closely from v1.x through v3.6 of Aperture and Lightroom 1 to 4).

4 weeks agopermalink

Osa25

Doesn’t hold water to suggest that Adobe could have such influence over Apple when the likes of Google, Amazon or Netflix don’t!

3 weeks agopermalink

breschdlingsgsaelz

Did they really make money by giving away Aperture? Yes, it did cost money at one time, I myself paid a few hundred bucks for it. But after that it was downloadable for free from the app store for quite some time.

Don't know why they gave it away for free, though.

3 weeks agopermalink

@bresch - Apple never gave Aperture away for free. Perhaps you bought it and were able to get it "free" on another computer because it was registered with your Apple ID?

@Osa25 - Different sitation. Google, Amazon, Netflix are web based and are not OS centric. Adobe's apps are considered professional and started on the Mac. If Apple lost Apps developed for the OS it would have been, and still could be devastating for the MacOS.
Luckily there are some new alternatives to Adobe software that is really good, and much newer code which means much better performance than what Adobe is giving me.

3 weeks agopermalink

Osa25

Mac is OS with user most willing to pay. As is IOS. Adobe could not leave. There must be other favours being swapped.

3 weeks agopermalink

I don't know about the rest of you, but I paid something like $300 for Aperture as well as a paid upgrade. There was plenty of money in Aperture for Apple just "not enough volume to be interesting". Apple is a firm run by greedy accountants right now, not a firm which cares about its users. Apple only looks vaguely good as its peers include Microsoft, Facebook, Google. As none of the latter are reputed to care for the privacy of its users at all, Apple seems a white knight. Apple sold us out in 2012, three to five years later than its peers.

And one year after the death of Steve Jobs. Something to think about. Cancer got Jack Ruby too.

3 weeks agopermalink

breschdlingsgsaelz

@brycesteiner: I also paid a lot of money for aperture - but it was available for free in the App Store for quite some time. Ironically those who did not pay money for Aperture got the update that made it work on El Capitan without problems, I had to waste a few hours and phone calls to get this update :(

3 weeks agopermalink

cdembrey

Apple March Quarter results:
$31.05 billion iPhone
$11.45 billion: Services
$5.51 billion: Mac
$5.13 billion: Wearables, Home and Accessories
$4.87 billion: iPad
I guess that all the Apple h8rs are wrong about the impending demise of the Mac computer— $5.51 billion in sales ain't chopped liver.

4 weeks agopermalink

rwol1970

It's a pity. I still haven't found a solution that's as intuitive as Aperture. Photos tries but editing is more cumbersome (although I can see that for the average user, Photos might be easier to learn). Aperture has a steeper learning curve, but if you know the basics of image processing (levels, curves, etc) nothing is better and faster. I tried Lightroom but it just takes more time to do the same.

So, why is no other software company providing a serious alternative for Aperture? Is it patented? Are others more focussed on technology users and not on photographers? A photographer want to shoot, not post-process...

4 weeks agopermalink

DxO PhotoLab doesn't do the DAM part of Aperture (incredibly fast and intuitive, unlike clunky old Lightroom) but the image processing part is like Aperture super-charged. As a long time Apple user, I far prefer programs which look good and behave intuitively and PhotoLab meets those requirements. What first drew me to PhotoLab is the incredible way it handles Canon high iso chroma noise (first 5DIII and now 5DSR). It's like getting a new camera from Canon with two more stops of ISO in low light.

For DAM, I now rely on the file system (Finder with folders) and FastRawViewer for culling.

4 weeks agopermalink

quiquae

But the whole point of Aperture is that it's a DAMned good DAM. Replacing it with a good non-DAM software is like replacing a failing Mercedes with a good living room sofa and stereo that's just as comfy, except it doesn't drive.

3 weeks agopermalink

Wally626

I used Aperture when it came out and for many years after. When they stopped updating I switched to Photos, so now my old Aperture and iPhoto files still live on in Photos. I did not notice a huge difference, at least after an update or two, between editing individual photos in Aperture and Photos. However, there were some tools for batch work in Aperture that I do miss. For those of you holding on to old hardware to run Aperture, I understand, I kept an old machine running for years to run a music program that failed to make the jump to OS9, eventually I had to switch to a new program when my computer died and it was not worth the hassle to buy a used machine for one program. I have tried several music apps since and finally ended up on Finale, but I still miss the old one. Finale is powerful but it has been kludged over the years way too often and the user interface is very inconsistant.

4 weeks agopermalink

piccolbo

I remember when I helped a friend install Finale from a floppy disk. We had to switch the OS disk with the app disk so many times. Amazing it's still around.

4 weeks agopermalink

On Windows, I'm still using my 1999 Micrografx Picture Publisher. How come Microsoft keeps compatibility for older programs and Apple doesn't? It isn't as if Apple is even trying to force you to buy an upgraded version of Aperture. Are there technical reasons that make this impossible in the Mac OS or do they simply not want to include the compatibility coding?

4 weeks agopermalink

Picture Publisher eh? Great program, I used to use all the Micrografx stuff and used PP for a long time before finally switching to Photoshop. I also used Micrografx Draw which was an excellent little program. However it will no longer run on anything after Windows XP. Even in compatibility mode.
There does come a point when the architecture of an OS, whether Apple or MS simple will not allow certain processes to run. I think that traditionally MS was always a bit more generous in this respect than Apple. Certainly with 32 bit stuff being phased out that will be more and more the case.
However its not just 32/64 bit. For instance Lightroom CC needs Win10 to work as does a 3D Vis program called Capture. Lots of others as well I am sure.
So yes, there are technical reasons. But as I mentioned in another post, if Apple really wanted to make it work they could do. Anything is possible if you throw enough money at it. And who has more money than them?

4 weeks agopermalink

That's a ridiculous comparison. It's like comparing Windows Notepad.exe to Microsoft Word.

Also, Microsoft does the same thing. Windows Movie Maker used to come with Windows, and it was a great simple way to make a video. But it was last updated in 2012 and Microsoft ended support for it in 2017.

As far as what Apple is doing, they have continued to modernize the OS and tighten up security and other areas of the OS. You can argue as to whether it's worth it for them to hold software to higher standards and leave the past behind, or if it's better to carry your 35-year legacy forever on your back like Microsoft does. But Apple has decided to go the route they have.

One big reason Apple doesn't need to maintain Aperture? There are too many other good raw editing choices for photographers on macOS now. If Apple chose to revive Aperture...would all the Apple haters now post with glee at how Apple has decided to compete with its own developers?

4 weeks agopermalink

I don't see how it is a ridiculous comparison. Picture Publisher is old, has not been updated, the company is out of business, but it still works. Apple has a long history of forcing various software upgrades and changes. It even forces you to abandon all kinds of cords and interfaces or use adapters. I presume Windows Movie Maker and other abandoned Windows software will still work on the latest OS. I'm sure there are exceptions but there are various compatibility modes in Windows.

4 weeks agopermalink

>>On Windows, I'm still using my 1999 Micrografx Picture Publisher. How come Microsoft keeps compatibility for older programs and Apple doesn't?<<

It's the same reason why the virus run on everything from Windows 2000 on.

4 weeks agopermalink

@brycesteiner... are you an OS programmer at Apple?

4 weeks agopermalink

I think some may be missing the point. I prefer using Picture Publisher 10 for my image editing rather than Photoshop or other current programs. Some tools in it work way better and it can do some things I like that no other program can do. I am appreciative that after numerous computer and OS upgrades, I can still use it.

If I were on the Mac system and loved using Aperture, my choices would be to keep an old computer, have a dual boot setup, or abandon the program. I do not prefer that approach. In 35 years of using DOS and Windows I have not had a virus infection.

3 weeks ago*permalink

greencurry

Is it wrong for me to want Apple to go into the finance market, lose everything in the next downturn (except IP) and have to become an honest company again?

4 weeks agopermalink

What would make Apple an honest company again? Compared to all the rest?

4 weeks agopermalink

ksharp

Um, what? Everything comes with trade-offs. We can follow the Microsoft model, and support everything made in the past 3 decades (and for the most part, they do). That makes development (for MS) far more expensive, and because of the vastly increased complexity, we see the large number of security holes. You can see just how important backwards compatibility is to them by looking at OS-level compatibility layers built into Windows.

On the other hand, the Apple Way™ is to deprecate things quickly and remove them from the systems in question after a few iterations. They no longer spend engineering resources maintaining perfect compatibility with everything made since 1990s, and thus all manner of testing, security included, becomes far less taxing on their resources.

On the other hand, Apple discontinued Aperture because it wasn't making them sufficient profits. They're not a charity; if Aperture does not bring in profits, they will expend their resources elsewhere that may.

4 weeks agopermalink

Apple killed a healthy and popular Aperture as they were too lazy to maintain their pro apps business. Apple for the last ten years cares only about money and could give a toss about pro users. Apple is for iPhone users, the computers are an unhappy legacy and only there to make sure iPhone users have computers which sync well with their phones.

Apple has gone from about $4000/year spend from me to about $200/year due to their non-repairable computers, poor warranty service (even under Apple Care which used to be bulletproof) and the absence of the very popular 17 inch MBP.

4 weeks agopermalink

AndyJH

It's a shame to see Aperture support discontinued, but us photographers really are spoiled for choice. In case you're looking for an Aperture replacement, here's what I've used and enjoyed:

Apple Photos + Serif Affinity Photo is a great combo for DAM + RAW developing + Image compositing.

Adobe has their CC Photographer's plan at $10/mo—subscriptions are a touchy subject but the price is right, and LR Classic performance has gotten a lot better as of 8.x.

And finally, switching to Fuji got me using Capture One more regularly. Pro 12 is jaw-droppingly good.

4 weeks ago*permalink

piccolbo

In aperture I can edit one image pick edits from it, apply them to a group, then do a review, than go back and make the images a bit more consistent, then look again and refine the crops, let it sit one day (reboot in the meantime), pick it up again exactly from where I left it off. How do you do that with an external editor in Apple Photos? Or is affinity more tightly integrated? Can you do that kind of iterative process in Capture One? Thanks.

4 weeks agopermalink

AndyJH

@piccolbo: That's exactly what you'd want Capture One or Lightroom for. Both excel at that workflow.

Based on my experience, I don't believe that's possible using Apple Photos + Affinity. The main limitation there is the Develop persona of Affinity Photo and the inability to make iterative edits across a group of photos.

3 weeks agopermalink

piccolbo

Appreciated. I have a basic knowledge of Affinity and Photos. If it's not too complicated, how is the Develop persona an obstacle? LR CC is not expensive for a pro, but is a maybe 5X-10X increase for me and I have some concerns about lock in (not fully informed, I must admit). LR classic I am afraid is close to sunset, like Aperture. CO sounds good, but doesn't have any support for multi-image HDR, which I use extensively. Also panorama. So I'd have to round-trip to external apps. Perfection should not get in the way of the good and I should go for CO, do whatever merge I need to do early and then go into my iterative mode. I tried on1 which does it all, and I found problems in the first five minute of use. Support says to reinstall! After the first pic? Lots of good to great editors, but no DAM features, no pun intended. Thanks again.

3 weeks agopermalink

AndyJH

On1 had some performance concerns for me too. Affinity is—IMO—the most stable and performant of the crop of low price/permanent license options.

The obstacles I found with Affinity Photo's Develop persona are these:

1. There appears to be no way to copy/paste/sync RAW adjustments between multiple open images.

2. There appears to be no way to write development metadata to a RAW file or sidecar file. If this was possible, you could retain your Develop adjustments across multiple sessions.

3. The only support for developing multiple images appears to be the Batch Process command, using a pre-defined development preset. This works to sync multiple images, but then you have to make all your iterative adjustments in the Photo persona, by adjusting the .afphoto file—not on the RAW file itself.

Don't get me wrong, Affinity is a phenomenal tool. But I approach it closer to a Photoshop equivalent, and it sounds like you're more after a Lightroom equivalent.

3 weeks ago*permalink

samfan

I'm guessing it's a 32-bit app and Apple can't be bothered to rewrite it for 64 bits?

I read somewhere that 32 bit support os being deprecated in OS X.

4 weeks agopermalink

Yes, Apple is deprecating 32-bit but your guess is wrong.

1) Aperture went 64-bit in 2010. It's been 64-bit for almost a decade. That's not the problem. More likely, Apple's changing some frameworks in the OS that Aperture relies on, and since Aperture isn't being updated. it's going to start failing.

2) The Mac operating system isn't called OS X. It was renamed to macOS in 2016.

4 weeks agopermalink

samfan

Okay... Well it's possible someone will create a workaround. I know it's not... er, any other operating system where user patches exist for everything but maybe.

Yes I know about the name but it's still OS X for me, back from the day when Apple was cool.

4 weeks agopermalink

It could also be that Apple are having a big clean-up of old libraries and services in preparation for switching from Intel to Arm architecture CPUs, and found that Aperture required too much effort to make it work well on Arm?
If I was an Apple fan, I'd rather believe that than assume Apple were screwing me over deliberately by allowing Aperture to be broken on the next MacOS (cynical me believes the latter).

3 weeks agopermalink

Marco Nero

I purchased a Mac Mini and a pro Apple Cinema screen for Photo Editing.
Cinema Screen dies 1 day past warranty. I take it to Apple & they replace it.
Mac Mini dies. Take it to Apple & they recommend a new one.

Take new Mac Mini home... it doesn't plug into my Apple Cinema Screen because the new screen has Thunderbolt cables. Try to buy older model. Apple no longer makes these monitors. Have to get a refurbished one.

Then Apple Mac Mini HD fails during Yosemite Firmware/Security update. Take it to Apple. HD Disk is corrupted. Apple erased HD & re-installs latest update. Now Mac Mini does not work with my monitor: glorious sound is gone. Turns out it's a known defect. ALSO: All my expensive editing software is now incompatible with new Mojave Operating System.

Apple announce new 2019 Mac Mini. Does not plug into 'older' Apple Cinema Screen. Apple no longer makes one. "Buy Aperture", they said. "It will be fun", they said. Time to show Apple the loyalty they've shown me.

4 weeks agopermalink

Ha! I wish I could like this post more than once.

4 weeks agopermalink

It would be very convenient for the market to be stable.

It isn't.

It is dynamic and ever changing with new technologies being developed in an ever changing and rapid development cycle.

It isn't Apple's fault, they are responding to the market just like eveyone else.

It is annoying tho.

Remember floppies? (and Zip drives and others).

Remember the outrage when Apple dare even to produce Macs without them?

That is the nature of things.

And appartently, it's all your fault.

4 weeks ago*permalink

RLight

You can (and I would recommend) install an older OS...

But yes, I do feel Apple's moves on the Mac side of the house, and even iPhone side of the house of late are questionable.

Now that said, I've looked at the PC market, sadly, they haven't caught up. Thus I wait. I might recommend you revert your OS and wait as well. Apple or Microsoft is bound to do something worth switching to. And if not? Well, there is CentOS...

3 weeks agopermalink

Apple lost of a lot of people when it changed and dumbed down FCP. They went to Adobe Premiere Pro and never came back. And that runs just as well on Windows.
I hear that FCPx is a lot better now, but once a user base is gone it stays gone.
I suspect that many people saw that Aperture was on its last legs and bailed for Lightroom. Again, Adobes gain is Apples loss.
Which is odd because they are deadly rivals. One might think that Apple would continue to pump money into their pro software just to keep people in the camp. Even if it meant rebuilding from the ground up and made little profit.
They are after all one of the most cash rich companies in the world. They could afford to do it just because.

4 weeks agopermalink

Ziginox

It's weird how big the rivalry is, considering Apple used to always bring someone from Adobe on stage to show off the latest pro computers with some tech demo.

4 weeks agopermalink

I suspect a big reason Apple is so cash-rich is that they rarely throw money at things just because.

4 weeks agopermalink

ScapingFeet

No Mac Pro, No Aperture, No Pro Apps, No good for nothing Mac?

4 weeks agopermalink

No Pro Apps, what do you call FCP and Logic?

4 weeks agopermalink

ScapingFeet

Not for long!

3 weeks agopermalink

Sc1920

Aperture was a great program that should have improved as it aged. I still find it a pleasure to use when I check my old library periodically for orphaned images. I switched to Capture One because I detest Adobe and didn't like Lightroom, but Aperture did a lot of things easily and did them well, although not everyone's cup of tea. Unfortunately, Apple is becoming a strictly popular consumer product company, gone are the days of catering to niche users. I still prefer their OS to windows, but they are making a lot of bad design and software decisions ever since Jobs died. For a company with a oil tanker full of cash, they sure don't act like it.

4 weeks agopermalink

carcour

Completely agree with you. Capture one still lacks the way Apple organized the projects visually.

3 weeks agopermalink

MrImprovement

Apple has shown time and again, that they cannot be depended on to take care of their customers. If you "fit" into their current marketing schemes - great! However if you don't , you can just "honk" off.

Sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in cash, with a decent piece of software that could easily pay for its incremental development and support on newer platforms, with $50/year upgrade licensing... but instead Apple just threw under the bus the 1000s of photographers who use it along with their credibility in recommending it to others who were getting into photography - "just buy a Mac and Aperture, and everything will be fine..."

4 weeks agopermalink

"If you "fit" into their current marketing schemes - great! However if you don't , you can just "honk" off"

I think that goes for a whole lotta companies.

4 weeks agopermalink

photostarts

A few years ago I was commissioned by a publisher to write a book on Aperture 4. "Just write about Aperture 3, then, when 4 comes out, update it quickly and we'll get it into the stores."

Hmm. I shouldn't have listened but I wrote the book as requested and we waited...and waited... until eventually Apple admitted it was going to abandon any further development of Aperture.

The reason? Shortage of ready cash? Surely not? It's just the way Apple operates. For example, my iPad 1 still worked perfectly, but it rapidly became useless because Apple stopped upgrading its iOS.

I still run Aperture 3 on a Mac simply because I have several libraries of archived images which I like to view occasionally. I much prefer my Dell XPS for just about everything else. I have abandoned Apple -- and I wish I'd never bought either the iPad or the Mac in the first place.

4 weeks agopermalink

I used a Mac Mini 2 Retina for my DJI Inspire drone work. It had issues where the video freezed up in hot weather. So I updated the OS hoping it would help but it made it much worse... the video freezed all the time. There was no way to revert back to the old OS so I bought a Samsung tablet and have had no problems.

That is the last Apple product I will buy.

4 weeks agopermalink

@AlanG
I call BS!
there is no such product as a Mac Mini 2 Retina. No Mac Mini has ever come with a built in screen, let alone retina and there has also never been a Mac Mini 2 model.
I don't care if you hate Apple or not, but at least make it look like you know something if you are going to comment about something you supposedly have.

4 weeks agopermalink

Specifically it is an iPad Mini Retina 2. I think of it as a Mac product I guess. I wrote quickly and haven't used the thing for a couple of years. I only needed it for my drone and gave it to my daughter.

These are just tools for me and I don't follow them closely. The thing let me down and became useless as this drone tool for me whatever they call it.

Geez you are pretty rude. I hope you continue supporting Apple as I own their stock. (And Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.)

4 weeks ago*permalink

DAM Apple.

I wish you had upgraded it like you did with FCP and Logic Pro. Now there isn’t going to be an Aperture X but an eX Aperture.

4 weeks agopermalink

FCP Studio was killed in its tracks just as thousands of full time editors and studios had made huge investments and made FCP Studio the center of their post-production studios. It took ten years for FCPX to almost reach the same point of usability and recover most of the functionality of FCP Studio. Yes FCPX is okay but Apple destroyed or damaged the businesses of thousands of editors and video professionals. Some of us will never forgive them that betrayal.

Killing Aperture was more of the same. I will never grow attached to an Apple application again or really invest in learning an Apple application. While I use the OS now, it's on Silver Towers and with third party applications from reliable developers. If it wasn't for the third party developers, I'd leave Apple without a second thought now. Sad considering Steve Jobs' legacy in developer powerful creative tools for content makers.

4 weeks agopermalink

A couple of my friends use FCPX and love it. I suppose you can not please everyone. The tech sector is highly volatile and navigating within sucessfully is notoriously difficult.

I can understand your point and frustration. So, you'll leave Apple, what makes you think other companies are any better?

4 weeks ago*permalink

The position that Apple is not worse than Microsoft won't get many points with me. It's like comparing the crimes of a murderer and a rapist. I'd leave to Linux. I'm still here because of the third party developers as I said.

FCPx is adequate these days. For at least five years it was nowhere near adequate. What the heck are business owners supposed to do during the last three years while FCP Studio needed a new video engine (not a new interface) and the first seven years where FCPx was a glorified iMovie). Total disrespect for its customers.

Yes, Apple has become as crappy & selfish a company as Microsoft. Faint praise. And yes Adobe is even worse. Many of the smaller developers still work for their users and for the joy of making better software. Of course they want to make money doing so. No issue with that. But when making money, speculating on share prices mainly, should not be the goal of a company. A software company should make the lives of users and employees better.

3 weeks ago*permalink

DCSteve

I used and loved Ap for years, but when Apple discontinued it, I realized it was time to move on. I switched to Lightroom and really enjoy it. I have the cc plan, and enjoy being able to easily edit pix on my iMac, phone, or iPad. LR is preferable to Ap in some ways, in some ways it's not. But it works great as a DAM and multiplatform program, which are the two things I wanted. I realize LR is not everyone's preference, and I would have preferred to stick with Ap. But life moves on, and we have to move with it.

4 weeks agopermalink

Don't forget - you don't have to upgrade. You can keep using it forever with your current setup and don't have to worry about a thing. At some point you may not be able to get the latest web browser for future secure sites, but deal with that then.

I'm sure someone will say, "you have to upgrade to get the latest security updates. blah, blah blah." True, but you probably don't need the latest security updates. How often do we see Windows 10 broke something on the latest update. With all of the security updates that we see you'd think the entire OS would be the most secure possible. Another patch seems to need another group of patches to fix the probelms it caused. It's never ending on the merry-go-round of the update ride!

4 weeks agopermalink

lauma

True if you are a consumer, then you can take the risk of skipping security updates and have only yourself to blame if for example your bank account gets breached because by chance somebody used a malware your system was defenceless again.

If however you run a business you have to ensure data security, if anything happens and the computers used don't have all the latest patches installed you can and will be fined maybe even lose your license depending on the area you work in and country regulations.

Also hardly anybody is using Aperture anymore as new cameras are not supported, but Everytime Apple makes bigger changes under the hood new Software usually requires the latest system at some point so people are forced to update.
But at the same time my guess is that quite a lot didn't export their Libraries to whatever software they use now, it's a pain in the rear to do that but should be done anyway.

4 weeks ago*permalink

Richmondthefish

@lauma Large businesses run legacy applications on unsupported OS many times because these typically are legacy applications that are far more complex over a photo editing/management program and cannot be retired without significant investment. With that said these legacy applications would be not be internet facing and in a very secure area within a network. I do agree with you that running Aperture would not make sense for most but if you have a workflow that is currently supported with Aperture you can end up using if for a VERY long time, you just need to know the limitations and should take the necessary steps to secure it.

4 weeks agopermalink

The reason you get more security updates is not always because the previous update introduced bugs. It's because there are always new vulnerabilities discovered that require a different patch. You have to keep up with the black hat hackers.

This is especially critical with zero-day vulnerabilities, where by the time a new security exploit becomes known, it is also known that it is already being used in attacks. Now a patch must be applied as soon as possible.

The OS has code from many places, so it's not always an Apple or Microsoft vulnerability. The problem may have turned up in an open source component that the OS uses, for example.

Also, it is not always possible to use software "forever with the current setup." I have an old 1990s computer that I kept in case one day I needed to open a file from an old program that doesn't run on the current OS. But the computer no longer starts up, and now I have to figure out why, or find a used one to replace it with.

4 weeks ago*permalink

Aperture's core tools are still great but there have been huge advances in noise reduction for instance. Aperture does not turn out acceptable files at this point with modern cameras. Sadly.

So not upgrading in this case just doesn't work. As I've mentioned above, I use the file system (Finder and folders) to manage photos (FastRawViewer for culling) and DxO PhotoLab to process them. The results are finally good enough and Adobe-free so I at last miss Aperture less.

Apple slowly collapsing Aperture (v3 was uglier and clunkier than the brilliant v2), made digital darkroom a lot slower and a lot less fun for many years.

4 weeks ago*permalink

Rosember

There is a lot of misconception about Aperture - even by Apple. Many people think it is about RAW conversion and things like that. It isn't. It is about the DAM and the DAM alone. And to all the blaming of Apple for not further developing Aperture I'd like to add that in 5 years not one maker of professional photo software was able to create a DAM that is even remotely as intuitive or easy to handle or as fast to go with their software. And that is the true shame! Not Adobe, not Capture one, nobody. In five years! And just to mention it, even Apple supporters were surprised to learn that I am still sticking to Aperture for the DAM and the DAM alone. What a failure of perception! And no, I do not like external solutions. I want a single spot to go to for my photo work on my computer. A single spot I can rely on, not breaking functions or connections because a developer stops working or updating.
Go, get my money. Build such a DAM! (Yes, I could live with almost any RAW converter.)

4 weeks ago*permalink

lauma

Send a feature request to the Capture One support, if enough do it they maybe look into it.

4 weeks agopermalink

GoodKnight

Agreed 100% that was the real magic in Aperture

4 weeks agopermalink

AbrasiveReducer

It seems you always pay a premium for ease of use. But over time, some users become more sophisticated, while others thrive on unnecessarily complicated software (aka learning curve) and sometimes software and even operating systems evolve to where they become reasonably intuitive and trouble-free. When that happens, the advantage to using an Apple product diminishes and Apple knows this.

4 weeks agopermalink

Einride

100% agree. Aperture is still the best DAM out there. Such an intuitive program.

4 weeks agopermalink

Grimstod

Hate light room and am not switching. I have hundreds of thousands of photos in Aperture. Looks like I will have to get an isolated machine that wont be updated to continue running and keeping my photos. Its a shame that companies are literally deleting photos from peoples machines without our knowledge like this.

4 weeks agopermalink

mario GTI

Yeah, that's my thinking as well. I think I will just keep my Mac mini non-updated for edits and stuff. I just can't gave up on the Aperture so easily, even though I've tried several other convertors out there.
The Aperture works best for me, plus all my cameras are supported by Aperture and I don't plan on updating any time soon.
Seriously, we should be entiled for a full refund for the program, we didn't rent it, we bought it, now they simply saying good bye, do what you want but we are gone, and soon will be your photos,... sad.

4 weeks ago*permalink

warp101

Loved Aperture but migrated to Capture One last year. The writing has been on the wall for a while

4 weeks agopermalink

User9362470513

Er, like 5 years...

4 weeks agopermalink

Er, yes, I think 5 years constitutes a while.

4 weeks agopermalink

warp101

Yes, 5 years is “a while”

3 weeks agopermalink

glokenpop

Yeah if you want things to keep working get windows. I have an iMac it is a very nice piece of hardware but I think it will be my last.

4 weeks agopermalink

User9362470513

I have a new Mac and the old argument used to be that the Mac just worked and never crashed like a PC. The new Mac is riddled with bugs and constantly crashes and is full of glitches.

4 weeks agopermalink

Toselli

Nowadays apple gets their money selling phones, keeping a line of professional PCs and softwares is just a hobby for them, so when it's just too tiresome for them they just don't do it, like upgrading the 7 years old mac pro.
I sold my imac as despite the major OS updates there were no updates for the video driver. The problem with that was that it got incredibly slow even with basic tasks like mission control (ex exposè), getting seconds to load and running at like 1 fps... I used it for a year or so with windows as it ran much better, then when I discovered that even if it was a 5 year old machine I could sell it still at half the price I sold it!

4 weeks agopermalink

I would rather walk away rather than use windows.

4 weeks agopermalink

Omniryx

Get a horse.

4 weeks agopermalink

Bjrn SWE

Apple just have to make Aperture run under newer OS. At least for another 50 years. I have like 80% of my images (several hundred thousands?) in the Aperture library, with literary years of work done to them. It would be possible to move the RAW files to Lightroom, but all the work done to them will be lost. Not acceptable.

4 weeks agopermalink

CaPi

Haven’t you known that Apple wasn’t supporting Aperture anymore for years? You got lucky it worked for as long as it did.

4 weeks agopermalink

Bjrn SWE

The solution (I guess) will be to keep a copy of Mojave alongside with newer Mac OS.

@CaPi: Such a question deserves no answer.

4 weeks agopermalink

CaPi

Point taken

4 weeks agopermalink

Alex Velasco

I use Aperture. I have a moderate library of about 250,000 images. I will switch to Photos. This is sad news. I wonder why this will happen as the application is 64 Bit. The Apple support article states: “For technical reasons, Aperture will not run in future versions of macOS after macOS Mojave.”

4 weeks agopermalink

Because 64-bit isn't the only reason for incompatibilities. Apple has tightened up other areas like security and which frameworks are still available.

4 weeks agopermalink