Lightroom 2.0 Beta vs. Aperture 2.1

Saturday

05Apr2008

Posted on

Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 10:58 by

It has almost become a custom for Adobe’s Lightroom development team to rain on Apple Aperture’s parade. And this time, when it rains, it pours: recent Aperture 2.1 release might have been a letdown (see my previous post, and the one before), but it looks like Lightroom 2.0 is going to be a knock-out. And although Adobe has not announced the release date, the newly released Lightroom 2.0 beta expires at the end of August, which is enough of a hint.

SHORT HISTORY: Adobe Lightroom 1.0, released over a year ago, was Adobe’s first massive-scale public Beta program, and is has proven to be extremely successful. In addition to the expected outcome of any beta testing program (i.e., getting user feedback and using it to improve the software), I suspect that Adobe inadvertently discovered three things that are logical (once you know them) but which at the time no-one really knew for sure (since no-one had done it this way before):

1) releasing even a very early, buggy beta, at the time when your major competitor has just released a new version of its unique software, will persuade most people to delay their purchase decision until your final version is released; they may have intended to purchase the competitors “oh, so cool” title; now they won’t - they’ll “wait-and-see”. Check.

2) allowing people several months of incrementally improved software experience (through updated beta releases) creates not only excitement and blogosphere buzz (aka. viral marketing), but, most importantly, gives people the chance to become familiar with the nuts and bolts of application; gradually, your competitor’s software (which only provides a 30-day trial, at best) will begin to look less familiar; and in terms of user interface, “familiar” likely translates into purchase. Check.

3) allowing people to experiment with productivity software and THEIR photos over several months will inevitably lead to some wonderful “eureka” moments, and shots that, after being tweaked in the beta, are stunning. Giving up the software that lead to that, would mean having to repeat the intuitive, and unpredictable process, with no guarantee that one could actually replicate the same outcome in another program. This constitutes a very substantial affective and time investment. By now, y0our competitor (Apple’s Aperture) is DOA. Checkmate.

Now, merely weeks after Aperture’s much belated and anticipated 2.0 release, Adobe unleashes its Lightroom 2.0 public beta, again. So how is Lightroom 2.0 better than 1.0 and, more important yet, better than Aperture 2.1?

NEW LIGHTROOM 2.0 FEATURES: Lightroom 2.0 Beta sports a much improved, more logical user interface, and a few very convenient usability improvements (e.g., auto-completing keywords, and a streamlined, iTunes-like search bar; new, multiple photos print grid). It claims “better Photoshop integration,” which Adobe wants us to believe is a feature, and which really is another stroke of marketing genius. It also catches up with Aperture’s dual monitor support, and with Apple’s (previously unique) smart folders: these are called smart collections in Adobespeak.

Last, but certainly not least, Adobe adds a feature called local adjustments: a daring stab at the functionality of NIK software’s U-point technology (although through a different, somewhat less elegant, but substantially more powerful user interface); a feature for which Aperture currently has no direct match*. Local adjustments is Lightroom’s undisputed crown jewel, a “killer feature”: the reason why some Aperture users might will be tempted to ditch, and switch.

There are two, frequently wished-for and anticipated features conspicuously absent from this lineup (Aperture’s own “crown jewels”): book printing capability, and light table. I will review the new features in forthcoming posts soon, one-by-one.