My issue is that I don't need a new image editing tool, as there are lots of them. What I need is a new DAM with the same features as Aperture.
I agree. RAW convertors/image processors seem to be a dime a dozen these days. Aperture (and Lightroom) was so much more and I think we all will eventually suffer greatly if there isn't a solid alternative to Lr for a complete workflow solution. All indications are if no one pushes Adobe on that front, beyond the Develop module (this is really pushed along by the Camera RAW team) not much has advanced in Lightroom. The Slideshow and Book modules are still complete jokes as compared to Aperture.
My wish is an enterprising developer would pick up the mantle based on more current code to match the latest hardware offerings. But everyone seems hell bent on focusing all their efforts on pixel editors and ignoring the other aspects. If all I needed was an image processor, I likely would have never given Aperture or Lightroom a second thought.
While I appreciate all that Aperture was capable of, I also do not want to go backwards. Much has advanced since Apple put Aperture on the back burner and then dropped it all together. So I can understand why a developer would be reluctant to acquire the Aperture code in it's current state.