Aperture 3 update: 3.0.2

    Late last week Apple released an updated to Aperture 3 (version 3.0.2), which seems to have made some changes, fixing some big bugs, while apparently creating new ones? 

Will the Aperture Team every be able to get everyone's copy running smoothly?

    One of the most confusing aspects of these various updates for Aperture 3 has been that while some users are at the point that they are not having any problems at all, there is another group of users who are having problems every step of the way. Sadly I seem to be in the latter group. I have noticed a few new bugs that have been introduced in the latest update, such as the processing wheel endlessly spinning with "Exporting" showing after I export an image(s). The files are being uploaded to my server or exported to the location I'm saving the images, yet until I exit the program, Aperture still says "Exporting." I think this that is one of the strangest bugs I've seen yet.

    I get the feeling that I paid to be a beta tester, now maybe I'm wrong, but I thought companies paid beta testers, not the other way around! I get the feeling that the people who developed Aperture 3 are all sitting behind lowly 30" Apple displays, with 8 Core Mac Pro's loaded with 32GB of RAM, which clearly does not match the machine that a majority of Aperture 3 users have. That may be half the trouble!

    The memory leak is still present, although I think it is not as easily triggered. I've been able to get away with using adjustment brushes a little bit more than with earlier versions, so I do see that as an improvement. That being said, now when the memory fills up, the app always locks up, will in the past I still might be able to quit Aperture before that happened. So while Apple did fix some of the bigger issues with the way Aperture 3 imports libraries from older versions of Aperture, it seems like a step backwards in other ways. Here's hoping that by the time 3.1 comes out that I can actually take advantage of all the new features without my computer freezing!

    I wont give up on Aperture, because frankly I really like it, not to mention I dislike Adobe products and the price structure they have for their apps. One of the most glaring things that Lightroom 3 beta lacks is the ability to adjust RBG channels in the curves tool, something that you can do in Aperture 3, or Photoshop, if you just happen to have that much cash lying around. For someone like myself who isn't made of money, apps like Photoshop is just out of reach, and to be honest I find the adjustment tools in Aperture and Lightroom for that matter, do what I need 99% of the time. If not I can always fire up a free app, like GIMP.