Yup...I just saw this. I bought iView MediaPro recently and am in the process of starting to catalogue my image collection.
I view the acquisition with much trepidation. I expect to see things like MS Genuine Advantage (license verification) added to ivmp in short order. The author of the DAM book thinks that MS will add needed engineering expertise. Have you ever seen how bloated/security hole riddled/did I say bloated/lack of support of current standards (IE)/did I say bloated much of MS software is? Yeah...I use Wintel machines (more for business compatibility than anything else), but have slowly been weening myself off MS products where possible (Open Office is pretty good!).
I'm not sure this will be a good thing. I can understand ivmp management cashing out, heck...I'ld do the same in their shoes, since millions in the bank account ain't a bad thing...but I still view this as a form of sell out to their customers. Yeah...they say they will stick around, and for some period are likely to be contractually bound. But founders soon leave large bureacratic organizations if history is any indication. Don't hold your breath....they may have good intentions, but it's doubtful the founders will last more than a year or two under the MS culture.
It might cause me to jump ship if MS screws it up, which they have a habit of doing with their user unfriendly licensing and pricing models. Fortunately the current version allows easy export to agnostic XML formats. So I know I'm safe there, since my techie background will let me massage all the XML metadata into whatever format I need, if that becomes necessary.
Paint it how you will...but my 30 years in the software business and my gut tell me that this is not a good thing for ivmp. I've learned to listen to my gut.
Adobe would do well to provide a seamless XML metadata and image preview import from ivmp intop Lightroom right about now...especially if it was timed with a Windoze version of Lightroom which has been long promised and anxiously awaited by many, including moi. Heck...if they provide seamless import from ivmp with the Windows release of Lightroom, I won't think twice about tossing my investment in ivmp and converting to Lightroom ASAP.
Adobe...you listening? Got the guts to grab this potential opportunity and run with it?
Time will tell.
