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!