Photos is here. Aperture is gone. It could have been worse.

A few days ago, the once groundbreaking venerable Apple photo software Aperture was retired, and you can no longer buy it. This coincides with the introduction of Photos, a simple to use tool with limited functionality. Luckily Photos turns out more useful than I at first thought.

The main useful feature is the iCloud photo library. It is much easier to share files over all devices than it was with the Photo Stream. It also makes it very easy to download photos taken with iPhones and iPads to your Mac. Just take the picture with the iPhone, make sure it is connected to WiFi and open Photos on the Mac. The photo is there. Modify it on one device. Display it on another. The modification is there.

One just has to avoid the limitations:

• Do not try to store all photos in the cloud. The free space is too small for most users. Regularly move files from Photos to the Mac or an external hard drive. The photos can be dragged and dropped to where one wants them.
• Do not try to use Photos as main photo editor. Adobe products do a better job.
• There are many reasons why one cannot consider Photos a replacement for Aperture.
• No HUD.
• Limited view of EXIF data.
• No brushes.
• No presets.
• Much fewer options in adjustments.
• No plugins.
• ...

Still, there is a certain amount of things that actually exist.

• Smart Albums.
• Face recognition.
• Geolocations. (Displayed on maps, but not editable.)
• Keywords manager.
• Search.
• Export of original or edited photo.
• Apple's print services: Calendars, Books, Cards, etc.
• All the standard adjustments with options: brightness, exposure, highlights, shadows, saturation, black & white, sharpen, noise reduction, vignette, etc.
• ...

Considering the ease of sharing photos across devices and the acceptable adjustment functions, it is possible that Photos will be more used than Aperture.