theo wrote:
> I'm looking for the showstopper in these photo
> catalog/manaager/organizer programs, of the hobbiest level in the
> ~$20-60 range. My focus is on editing the Windows and the
> EXIF-IPTC-XMP metadata and assigning captions, descriptions, searchable
> keywords, creating categories and albums and the like. I'm
> disappointed with JASC's PSPA5 but I like Irfanview and also have
> faithfully remained with PSP since v.5 for editing images. I've
> scanned several 1000s of prints, negs, K and E6 diapos, all saved as
> TIF or PNG, and have notebooks scribbles of oral history going back to
> 1902 weddings up to 2003 1st day of school. Now the task to attach
> histories to the photos. Many prgs do some of the tasks quite well but
> their bulk of features are not my current needs.
> What I mean by showstopper, for instance, is one prg's metadata
> dropdown calendar would not allow dates before 01 Jan 1980, another
> would not display TIFs unless I pay for registration/activation.
> Here is the list of downloaded cmcrl demos or shareware:
> PrintShopProPhoto(Broderbund+Encore),
> StudiolinePhoto2(Studioline)PhotoExplorer(Ulead),
> FotoAlbumPro(FotoTime), PicaJetFX(PicaJet), iMatch(Photools), and [of
> course] ACDC (ACDSystems). Is there something about any of these you
> find particularly exasperating?
You mean besides the fact that they all run on Windows?
Seriously, the thing I would find exasperating about any of those
products is that they don't permit me to change how they work.
The fundamental advantage that a computer has over a typewriter
or an adding machine is that the computer is *programmable*. It
can be whatever you can imagine for it to be. People of ordinary
intelligence can write software that makes computers do new and
interesting things.
I've been working on a perl script to help me figure out the
parameters under which I can retire. Certain kinds of objects,
like an IRA or a Social Security account need to know the age
of their owner. Perl's native time stuff is based on the underlying
OS facilities, which can handle the range frm 1968 to about 2038.
In order to represent a birthday in 1953 I needed something else.
But guess what? Other programmers have had the same problem. There's
a module called DateTime that can do anything I'll ever need to do
with a date. And if I find something it can't do, I can extend it.
Life is good. My script can now project my money pot out to the
23rd century and beyond.
It is profoundly liberating to realize that one is not bound by
the restrictions of existing software. You're not even bounded by
the limits of your own imagination or available time. The boundaries
are set by the imagination and time available to the community. And
the community is huge, global, and growing.
None of this helps you find a proprietary product that meets your
needs. I am suggesting that there is an entirely different way to
view the problem in which things that are exasperating do not have
to remain that way.
Paul Allen
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