New Adobe app for real?

[ktinkel]

From AppleInsider comes this odd announcement.

Evidently Adobe is planning to release something called LightRoom to compete with Apple’s Aperture.

LightRoom is supposedly able to run on Macs that cannot support Aperture. And it may be that a PC version will be released later.

I have no way of evaluating this tale, but pass it along for what it is. <g>

[Robin Springall]

LightRoom is supposedly able to run on Macs that cannot support Aperture

Now that's clever (and sneaky). I expect that Adobe and Apple have a love-hate relationship, as both companies are dependent on each other for success.

Adobe first begun to port their software to PCs, then I heard they were developing for PC first and porting to Macs, which must have made Apple feel so threatened that they started developing their own competing products. Now Adobe are fighting back because Apple aren't catering for their OS 9 users.

[ktinkel]

Originally Posted by Robin Springall

Adobe and Apple have a love-hate relationship … Now Adobe are fighting back because Apple aren't catering for their OS 9 users.

Sounds plausible.

Maybe they are keeping each other somewhat honest this way!

[Andrew B.]

I think Apple is trying to find ways to sell more computers. Digital camera sales are exploding right now. By developing a Mac-only application for digital photographers, and giving native support for RAW to the OS, they differentiate themselves from Windows and can sell themselves as the platform for photographers. Adobe is also going after the digital photography customers, and Aperture is a threat. So it makes sense that they would try to head this off with their own specialty application.

[Robin Springall]

It's quite amazing how popular digicams are, especially seeing as how many different RAW file formats there are. Are many manufacturers agreeing to dump their proprietory formats and move over to Adobe's digital negative type?

[donmcc]

I haven't (up to Friday) heard anything about it on Adobe's forums. And I would be surprised if they release a major app on one platform before the other. They are generally very strict about releasing on the same day.

Don McCahill

[ktinkel]

Originally Posted by donmcc

I haven't (up to Friday) heard anything about it on Adobe's forums.

Official announcement today at “Adobe <labs>, Formerly Macromedia.”

According to the site, this is a public beta for Mac (with Windows to follow). It is designed to enable photographers to manage large volumes of digital images. Promises to save time sorting so you can spend more time shooting. It “adapts to your workflow, not the other way around.”

It will run on most commonly used computers, including laptops.

They are releasing this early, according to the announcement — “neither the quality nor the features are complete yet.” Adobe has set up three Lightroom Beta Forums (for general discussion, feature requests, and bug reports).

This is all detailed at the page linked to above.

[Andrew B.]

Here is a link that includes some comparisons to Aperture. Also, the link says Adobe started development before Aperture came out.

http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/01/a...erture-vs.html

[ktinkel]

Originally Posted by Andrew B.

… Adobe started development before Aperture came out.

Well, I gather it was Macromedia, but could be. But Aperture has been released, right? This is a beta.

[JohnC]

Lightroom is from Adobe (Mark Hamburg). But is using the Adobe (ex-Macromedia) Labs web site to host the public beta program.

John