5 ms·

1) Pick a closed ecosystem 2) Have a non-standard use case 3) Beg Ecosystem owners to change to meet your needs

gr3yh47 13y ago
+1 Android/PC can do what the article wants, albeit with an initial investment of research and set-up but that's the choice... do you want buttoned up, everything 'just works' but only a certain way? or do you want customizable with tinkering required?
MasterScrat 13y ago
How non-standard is his use case? And what then would be the standard use case when using laptop, iPhone and iPad?
- pi18n 13y ago
  Isn't that part of the point? This is a totally normal thing to want, but no it is forbidden. Could a third party developer fix it? They could on Android.
  - josteink 13y ago
    They could, but it's strictly speaking not needed. It's already solved/fixed. Just enable/install Google+/Picasa sync and you have all your pictures on all your Android-devices, and on the web, just in case you need it outside this semi-closed Google system.
petenixey 13y ago
Or, for another perspective: 1. Pick the best (free) iOS management tool for the job at the time 2. Invest eight years of curation and 70Gb of photos in it 3. Use the setup with more than one device and the same way that 20M+ other users use it 4. Expect that I shouldn't have to be a contortionist to continue to do so
- josteink 13y ago
  > 1. Pick ... iOS ... for the job at the time And voila, you have found yourself a closed system which wont let you treat your data as yours, just as pointed out in the comment you replied to. There is nothing wrong with pointing out that Apple has a closed solution here, and that the solution is seriously lacking.
  - brown9-2 13y ago
    What are the complaints in the original article about not being able to treat your data as your own? The complaints as I read them are about pain points in syncing and accessing the different photos you have spread across different Apple devices, and how whatever sync features exist today ("Photo streams") exacerbate rather than improve the situation.
    - pessimizer 13y ago
      All of them, I think. If any vendor were allowed to drop photo management software (as a first class citizen) on Apple machines, software that would even be allowed to manipulate their current cloud library through an open API - would anybody be asking Apple for anything?
- Terretta 13y ago
  I have over a terabyte of photos in Aperture, family has half a terabyte in iPhoto, whole family uses photostreams, nobody has your issues. Apple doesn't have a great guide for best practice, and should fix that. But most of the troubles you outline, I feel you're "doing it wrong" or are actually flat wrong about how it works. This may be a training issue Apple should address. As just one example, I very specifically want my device camera roll and combined photo stream separate. Combining them as you suggest has severely negative consequences your article doesn't consider. Edits on iOS carry over to desktop, you can edit on the loo all day if that suits your style. You never ever have to delete photos from your photo stream and no Apple dialog tells you to delete from photostream. If you set prefs right, you'll get photos imported exactly once. Your letter raises awareness that people like photos. That's good. But while waiting, look into some of the prefs dialogs in Aperture or iPhoto. I'm comfortable that every need you mentioned is handled. But if you still can't find satisfaction for your particular workflow (e.g. photo pro doing commercial work in studio and on laptop in field), check out Image Capture plus the lesser known Auto Importer scriptable tool. You may have to mindlessly plug in a cable after a shoot or at least once in 30 days, but you won't have to press a key.
colomon 13y ago
But this is a pretty darned standard use case, isn't it? It's not like he's asking for the sun and the moon; he's just asking for a way to easily organize photos taken with multiple Apple devices, without using up all the storage in those devices. That said, my family has the exact same photo problem, but only half of the devices involved are from Apple. A solution which was not limited to a closed ecosystem would be much better than an Apple-specific solution, in my opinion.
- scholia 13y ago
  It's a standard use case for an average consumer who probably doesn't take that many photos and doesn't have much of a clue about backups. It's not a standard use case for anybody who is either a serious photographer or a geek....
Wintamute 13y ago
1) Pick a well written article that makes a few good points 2) Ignore those points and make a cynical/spurious criticism 3) Derail the discussion away from anything useful
planb 13y ago
Exactly this kind of service is where the closed Apple ecosystem should excel. Unfortunately, Apple has missed the transition from the Mac as a "media hub" to the cloud. iCloud came a bit late and they fail to keep up with the rapid innovation speed of other online services. But how is the scenario described in the article not the standard use case for everyone who has more than one (internet connected) device that takes pictures?
chiph 13y ago
It's not as non-standard as you think - I've got this exact pain-point. As well as my sister, who is not technical at all. I've gotten a couple of calls from her "Where are my pictures going?" and all I can tell her is "Hell if I know."
PaulHoule 13y ago
Hell for that matter, just try sharing your photos with your family on a home network. Both iTunes and Windows Media Player seem designed to frustrate that very common scenario.
kyro 13y ago
This is the worst kind of comment.
Camillo 13y ago
What does a "closed ecosystem" even mean? People are saying that EverPix does what the OP needs - is EverPix banned from iOS? (No it isn't.)

+1 Android/PC can do what the article wants, albeit with an initial investment of research and set-up but that's the choice... do you want buttoned up, everything 'just works' but only a certain way? or do you want customizable with tinkering required?

MasterScrat 13y ago

How non-standard is his use case? And what then would be the standard use case when using laptop, iPhone and iPad?

pi18n 13y ago
Isn't that part of the point? This is a totally normal thing to want, but no it is forbidden. Could a third party developer fix it? They could on Android.
- josteink 13y ago
  They could, but it's strictly speaking not needed. It's already solved/fixed. Just enable/install Google+/Picasa sync and you have all your pictures on all your Android-devices, and on the web, just in case you need it outside this semi-closed Google system.

petenixey 13y ago

Or, for another perspective: 1. Pick the best (free) iOS management tool for the job at the time 2. Invest eight years of curation and 70Gb of photos in it 3. Use the setup with more than one device and the same way that 20M+ other users use it 4. Expect that I shouldn't have to be a contortionist to continue to do so

josteink 13y ago
> 1. Pick ... iOS ... for the job at the time And voila, you have found yourself a closed system which wont let you treat your data as yours, just as pointed out in the comment you replied to. There is nothing wrong with pointing out that Apple has a closed solution here, and that the solution is seriously lacking.
- brown9-2 13y ago
  What are the complaints in the original article about not being able to treat your data as your own? The complaints as I read them are about pain points in syncing and accessing the different photos you have spread across different Apple devices, and how whatever sync features exist today ("Photo streams") exacerbate rather than improve the situation.
  - pessimizer 13y ago
    All of them, I think. If any vendor were allowed to drop photo management software (as a first class citizen) on Apple machines, software that would even be allowed to manipulate their current cloud library through an open API - would anybody be asking Apple for anything?
Terretta 13y ago
I have over a terabyte of photos in Aperture, family has half a terabyte in iPhoto, whole family uses photostreams, nobody has your issues. Apple doesn't have a great guide for best practice, and should fix that. But most of the troubles you outline, I feel you're "doing it wrong" or are actually flat wrong about how it works. This may be a training issue Apple should address. As just one example, I very specifically want my device camera roll and combined photo stream separate. Combining them as you suggest has severely negative consequences your article doesn't consider. Edits on iOS carry over to desktop, you can edit on the loo all day if that suits your style. You never ever have to delete photos from your photo stream and no Apple dialog tells you to delete from photostream. If you set prefs right, you'll get photos imported exactly once. Your letter raises awareness that people like photos. That's good. But while waiting, look into some of the prefs dialogs in Aperture or iPhoto. I'm comfortable that every need you mentioned is handled. But if you still can't find satisfaction for your particular workflow (e.g. photo pro doing commercial work in studio and on laptop in field), check out Image Capture plus the lesser known Auto Importer scriptable tool. You may have to mindlessly plug in a cable after a shoot or at least once in 30 days, but you won't have to press a key.

colomon 13y ago

But this is a pretty darned standard use case, isn't it? It's not like he's asking for the sun and the moon; he's just asking for a way to easily organize photos taken with multiple Apple devices, without using up all the storage in those devices. That said, my family has the exact same photo problem, but only half of the devices involved are from Apple. A solution which was not limited to a closed ecosystem would be much better than an Apple-specific solution, in my opinion.

scholia 13y ago
It's a standard use case for an average consumer who probably doesn't take that many photos and doesn't have much of a clue about backups. It's not a standard use case for anybody who is either a serious photographer or a geek....

Wintamute 13y ago

1) Pick a well written article that makes a few good points 2) Ignore those points and make a cynical/spurious criticism 3) Derail the discussion away from anything useful

planb 13y ago

Exactly this kind of service is where the closed Apple ecosystem should excel. Unfortunately, Apple has missed the transition from the Mac as a "media hub" to the cloud. iCloud came a bit late and they fail to keep up with the rapid innovation speed of other online services. But how is the scenario described in the article not the standard use case for everyone who has more than one (internet connected) device that takes pictures?

chiph 13y ago

It's not as non-standard as you think - I've got this exact pain-point. As well as my sister, who is not technical at all. I've gotten a couple of calls from her "Where are my pictures going?" and all I can tell her is "Hell if I know."

PaulHoule 13y ago

Hell for that matter, just try sharing your photos with your family on a home network. Both iTunes and Windows Media Player seem designed to frustrate that very common scenario.

kyro 13y ago

This is the worst kind of comment.

Camillo 13y ago

What does a "closed ecosystem" even mean? People are saying that EverPix does what the OP needs - is EverPix banned from iOS? (No it isn't.)