iPhoto... supported but for how long?

[rexone]

We use iPhoto to manage our 50k+ photo library for our small business.

Putting aside all of the 'you need to face change...' arguments etc the simple fact is that Photos may be useful for people who's world revolves around the iOS & iCloud but there are people like us, who have been using iPhoto for well over a decade, who find Photos is lacking in very rudimentary functions, features and controls.

So... moving on from that... we will be continuing to use iPhoto until we find a suitable substitute.
Apple has been slowly unwinding support for iPhoto in the latest OS updates. For example it is increasingly difficult to have cameras mount (they'll mount but images won't load) and after importing you are no longer asked if you want to delete the imported images.

Our plan is to buy an older model Mac Mini or iMac loaded with an older version of the OS & run it exclusively for photo management exporting images across the network as required.

My question is... does anyone out there know what Apple's time-frame is for removing support?

Apple have a poor history with keeping customers informed about such things, they are big on telling you what's included in new updates but never tell you what they have removed.
I've reached a point now where I'm not installing updates (all of our machines are on 10.12.6) as I'm concerned Apple will kneecap iPhoto & we'll only find out after we've install a big update.

Thanks in advance.

 

[velocityg4]

As far as I know iPhoto is no longer supported. Just like Picasa is no longer supported.

That doesn't mean they are going to purposefully cripple it. It's just at some point some iOS, macOS or iCloud update will no longer be compatible with iPhoto. No one knows when that time will come.

I'm not too familiar with either. But I did just move a client from Picasa to Photos on El Capitan (since 10.11 crippled Picasa's import capabilities). This week I updated that client to High Sierra. Apple has changed the Photos interface in High Sierra. I'd suggest testing the latest Photos in HS and see if it brought functionality you want. There is no harm in testing it. I felt it looked more useful.

Personally, I'm old school. I don't like Photo managers. I keep everything organized in folders, edit them in Photoshop and view them with the system picture viewer.

 

[robgendreau]

I imagine the photos you have in iPhotos aren't very critical since you wouldn't roll the dice on continued support for it going forward. It could cease to be functional with any subsequent OS update. And you'd better keep some old DVDs with it in case you need to reinstall it.

There are a lot of photo managers that can do what iPhoto does. But without knowing what you find irreplaceable in iPhotos it's rather hard to give you any suggestions.

 

[rexone]

I imagine the photos you have in iPhotos aren't very critical
...

Thanks for leading with an insult there @robgendreau. Always demonstrates how sincere your attempts are at helping another users are.
Of-course they are 'critical'. I wouldn't be asking or seeking solutions if they were not.

Perhaps you can put forward some of these suggestions rather than sniping?

I need an application that;
- Allows images to be easily stored under an event/project/whatever
- Allows imported images to easily be split into event/project/whatever
- Displays index of event/project/whatever with images contained or behind (not displaying every image from event/project/whatever so entire library has to be scrolled through)
- shows all file numbers when viewing event/project/whatever
- Allows images to be curated from various event/project/whatever into temporary projects (albums) that leaves the original images in their original in-place
- easy key-wording & searching
- flexibility to change view to date order etc (ie - view latest imports first... not last)
- when co-shot images exist display RAWs, not stack RAWs & JPEGs or if stacked make it easy to access RAW
That should get you started.

Yes, I am aware that some of these things exist in Photos but most require multiple clumsy steps rather than a simple click or two.

As a long-term user I am furious that Apple have replaced iPhoto & Aperture with an inferior product.
I would have happily given them money for something half-way to decent instead they chose to turn a good app into something akin to iOS freeware & I need a functional solution.

One option I am considering is migrating all existing iPhoto material to Photos so existing Events & Albums are preserved and then all new imports I use Lightroom. Effectively Photos is used just as a library, not an active app.