Aperture 3.4.4 Released - Not Upgrading Just Yet
Apple posted Aperture 3.4.4 today (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1649) and I'm not upgrading ... at least not yet.
No, nothing as nefarious as jumping to Lightroom. Although, Adobe has released LR4 and beta'd LR5 - two major releases - whilst Aperture stays at a 3.x base. Tempting at times ...
Version 3.4.4 is a modest update, and that's being generous. I'll take the stability and performance improvements, but otherwise there's nothing compelling here for a mad dash upgrade.
But the larger reason I won't upgrade just yet is because a new Aperture version generally means a bump to the library version. These are generally one-way streets. And I need to plan for that, accounting for all my libraries and platforms.
My workflow involves multiple machines, with new projects sourced on a mobile platform, and portions of my main Aperture library exported for on-the-go work. As I type this, I have 6 projects/libraries I need to consolidate into my main Aperture library before I consider an upgrade.
My quick upgrade checklist:
- Merge all my on-the-go libraries into my main Aperture library
- Refresh the vaults on my main Aperture library
- Do a full backup of my main Aperture library
- Do another one :)
- Upgrade my mobile platform
- Sanity tests on the mobile platform
- Upgrade my main Aperture library
My main Aperture library is a single library where all of my photos eventually reside. If your workflow has multiple libraries (personal vs. business, a library per year, etc.) you'll need to consider the upgrade path for your other libraries, too. You don't want a situation where many years from now you want to access an old library and find the library version is too old to be opened by a current Aperture version.
So ... if you haven't already upgraded, take a few minutes and plan for it. If you've already upgraded, I hope it's gone smoothly - and don't overlook older or separate libraries. They need attention too!
