Wednesday, October 3, 2007, 6:37pm
So there's new print products from Apple, including photo books that look really nice. The new iPhoto 2008 users can order these as iPhoto 2008 has been updated for these new products. However, the update for Aperture, 1.5.4, only makes Aperture work with all the new iLife crap. It doesn't update the print products available to Aperture users. So I sent Apple's print products support group a message, playing a little dumb:
There are new books described on the Apple site that look really nice. I never liked the way the old ones looked, which is why I've never bothered to order a photo book via Aperture. When will I be able to order the new books through Aperture?
The response I got:
Thank you for contacting Apple Photo Services Customer Support. My name is Mike and I'll be helping you today.
I understand you've been reluctant to order books from Apple Photo Services in the past. I see you've discovered some of the new options available for iPhoto 7 customers and you'd like to know when these designs will be made available to Aperture customers.
Thank you for your inquiry. I'm sorry, but I can't comment on rumors about decisions, products, programs, or promotions that Apple has not officially announced.
By withholding comment, Apple hopes to protect customers from making decisions based on information that is incomplete, inaccurate, or subject to change before the formal announcement. Apple believes this is the best way to ensure that all customers are treated fairly.
Boo. It would suck if paying Aperture users (the prosumers and professionals who pay more, assuming no student discount) didn't get the new stuff that the standard Mac users did. Yes, the upgrade to iLife isn't free. However, in the next moth or so, all new computers will be coming with OS X Leopard and the latest iLife. At that point, if a user buys Aperture, they will have paid for the privilege of having ugly photo books available.
Here's to hoping that Apple puts whatever code is necessary into Aperture to let Aperture users order the nicer books.