I was interested to see this review; it's less technical and more pertinent than others I've looked at, although most seem to be heading toward the same conclusion -- that Aperture might be good some day, but not yet.
My personal feeling is that this is a major misfire. There'd been rumors of an Apple program that would take up some of Adobe's space, and everybody expected something that would be extremely well-designed and that would take a bite out immediately. That might be the reason for Adobe's Bridge -- an early defensive move.
Now, though, it seems likely that Adobe is in a position to adapt the best features of Aperture into its own programs, and make Photoshop even more complete, while Aperture spends time thrashing away at its own shortcomings and poor reviews. To me, the lack of a integrated Aperture-like program has been one of Photoshop's more mysterious omissions. It's obviously needed; all the other cataloging programs have problems in various ways, so much so that there are long discussions on the web regarding which is the least weak. If Adobe takes a long look at Aperture -- especially the positive remarks -- and comes up with its own version, then it could be Aperture that becomes the niche product.
One point in the review with which I would disagree, is the comparison to Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect to Microsoft's Excel and Word (one might add Access.) I don't think the Microsoft programs were better --- I think their eventual dominance was the product of a ruthlessly and illegally competitive company willing to manipulate its Windows monopoly to destroy competitors in areas it wished to control. Right up to the time I began using Word, I preferred WordPerfect -- but Word was becoming a standard and I needed my work to be in the standard. I still don't like Word; it's a bloated, awkward anti-intuitive product that I sometimes think (in the Mac version) is designed to drive people back to Windows.
But that's another rant. I think the same dominant-player process will work AGAINST Aperture, if Adobe makes Bridge into an Aperture-like product. Aperture is Mac only -- Bridge will talk across both operating systems. I think it could be a good example of the old saying that if you attack the king, be sure you kill him. Apple went after a piece of Adobe, and Adobe was barely affected.
Whatever happens, there is a need for a really good, solid, and photographer-friendly program like this, where you don't have to take three courses in database management just to get a friggin' image into your e-mail.
I hope sensitive people will excuse the friggin'.
JC