A while ago, Schewe started a thread asking the question what would you like to see if Thomas (Knoll) designed a new Photoshop for photographers? Here is the thread:
http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=78240.0The thread was started in 2013. Here is Jeff's opening paragraph:
Thomas Knoll designed Photoshop over 27 years ago for a very different time and technology and user base well before digital cameras and printers. But, Photoshop evolved over the years to be everything for everybody...so, if Thomas were to through everything out and start over from scratch to design a new version, a Photoshop for Photographers (and not web, design, prepress, science nor video) what would be a core set of features?
I think that photographers would agree that much of Photoshop is unnecessary for their workflow and that Lightroom is almost the perfect tool - in fact, Lightroom is actually called "Photoshop Lightroom" - or at least it was, maybe it still is. If the Lightroom program at Adobe really wanted to repair its image and solidify its user base, it would behoove its team to take a risk and consider starting over. A lot has changed with camera technology, computing platforms and workflow requirements since Lightroom's inception. There are good things about Lightroom, there are bad things and there are things that people may want to embrace but can't with the current implementation.
If Adobe really is serious about not just improving tools and workflow for photographers, but
innovating and advancing the field, then I believe it might be time to take a good hard look in the mirror and do something awesome. Patching a well-worn application might be a short-term fix, but I think the world is ready for something way better. The smaller companies that are nibbling around the edges of this need give one the idea of what can be done, but it will take an Adobe to show the world of photography how it really is done well, if they choose to step up to the plate and do it right. I have to believe that this is, at some level, going on at Adobe now.
A nodal, customizable application that permits the user to configure their work environment and cull, edit and output their images quickly, efficiently and with the highest quality and creative flow is a simple request. In the design world, as the saying goes, you have quality, speed and cost - pick two. Well, I think most folks have been forced to accept the cost for a while now, leaving them only one other choice, at the expense of their enjoyment of Lightroom. For a lot of folks, their investment in time and money in an Adobe-dependent workflow keeps them tethered to the application. My guess is that the underlying sentiment in the Adobe survey was that users are a little fed up with having to accept the cost, at the expense of having to use software that is not only stale, bloated and inefficient, but also lagging behind smaller, more innovative applications that leave Adobe users less and less convinced to continue paying the subscription. Of course you can "vote with your wallet" and abandon Adobe; however, I think a lot of us long-time Adobe users hope that Adobe can get their act together and give birth to something truly extraordinary.
True innovation takes visionary leadership and an emphasis on investment in the artists, engineers and designers, not the shareholders. Here's hoping.
It will be interesting to see if LR 7 is just a new splash screen, with "bug fixes" and another UI facelift, or if it is something that is truly innovative and validates users' increasingly painful decision to stay patient with Adobe.
kirk