[Eug Wanker]

Hmm....

Open letter from Yan Calotychos, founder of iView Multimedia

Tuesday June 27, 2006

Today marks an exciting new chapter for iView and its relationship with our customers. We’re announcing that iView has been acquired and is now part of the Microsoft Corporation. With Microsoft’s purchase of iView, we are in a position to enhance our industry-leading product, whilst strengthening our customer service and support.

As digital asset management has become an essential requirement for all creative professionals, many of you have told us that iView MediaPro is a critical component of your business. We take that responsibility very seriously.

In my view, this Microsoft acquisition affords us an unprecedented opportunity to be even more responsive to a thriving market and ensure that iView MediaPro continues to perform to its full potential. Our engineering and marketing team here at iView are energized and excited to be joining the Microsoft team, and I personally will continue to be involved in the evolution of the product for years to come.

What this acquisition will mean for you, our customers, is that together we face a bigger and brighter future in managing your creative workflow. The product that was born on the Mac will remain on the Mac as well as on the Windows operating system. All iView products will continue to be sold on the iView website and through our partners and channel. Bottom line: You all can continue to use and buy iView products knowing that they will be fully supported as Microsoft evolves the products in the future on both the Windows and Mac platforms.

Your feedback and suggestions have been integral to the development and tuning of our software, and as always we welcome your comments and questions. We have provided an FAQ regarding this announcement and we will keep you informed through regular newsletters and blog postings as appropriate.

Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to sharing with you the evolution of iView MediaPro — the industry’s true standard for digital asset management.

Sincerely,

Yan and the iView Team

[MaxPower2k3]

I was never a big fan of iView. it's organization features are a bit better than iPhoto, i suppose, but it's only organization. i wish there was at least a brightness/contrast adjuster or something so you don't have to export to photoshop to make any little change.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by MaxPower2k3

I was never a big fan of iView. it's organization features are a bit better than iPhoto, i suppose, but it's only organization. i wish there was at least a brightness/contrast adjuster or something so you don't have to export to photoshop to make any little change.

I don't use iView either, but I don't think you can can even begin to compare iPhoto to iView.

EDIT:

I'm thinking about iView Media Pro specifically.

[kcmac]

I think this all kind of a yawner. iView is really old news.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by kcmac

I think this all kind of a yawner. iView is really old news.

iView is a program with lots of Mac history behind it yes, if that's what you mean.

It's also a program that a lot of big Mac-heavy companies rely upon heavily right now.

[production_coordinator]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

iView is a program with lots of Mac history behind it yes, if that's what you mean.

It's also a program that a lot of big Mac-heavy companies rely upon heavily right now.

I'm one of them... I wish we had gone with something else now. Microsoft generally is the kiss of death for anything creative. It will have some kind of strange office/search proprietary integration within a few versions.

[Railroader]

iView is excellent for viewing large amounts of files quickly and weeding out the trash. it has saved me many hours in front of the computer. iPhoto is simply too slow and cumbersome.

iView's speed is it's greatest asset.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

I'm one of them... I wish we had gone with something else now. Microsoft generally is the kiss of death for anything creative. It will have some kind of strange office/search proprietary integration within a few versions.

ARG!!!

So true.

[Spliff]

Originally Posted by Railroader

iView is excellent for viewing large amounts of files quickly and weeding out the trash. it has saved me many hours in front of the computer. iPhoto is simply too slow and cumbersome.

iView's speed is it's greatest asset.

What he said.

I've never warmed up to iPhoto. Its integration with OS X and other apps is handy, but it's too damn slow and cumbersome. And I hate the way it has to copy my photos to a database. iView leaves my photos alone and the catalog will auto-update if it detects new photos in my folders and sub-folders.

Now that MS has bought iView, I suspect, that after a year or so, they'll discontinue the Mac version.

[darth-vader000]

I dropped iView once Aperture was released. I have not missed it, while it was a good tool, I think Aperture is superior in a number of ways.

This aquisition makes sense for MS, you have Adobe producing LR Apple has Aperture, they have nothing and we know Microsoft wants to domniate every sector of the computer industry

[osiris]

Another trophy for Microsoft.

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

A few things:
1) iView uses a database as well. Those massive iView catalog files are filled with all the image data and thumbnails.
2) iPhoto doesn't copy your photos to a database; it copies them to iPhoto Library/Originals/. You can also set iPhoto to point to a different source folder so they aren't copied at all.
3) Auto detection would be nice in iPhoto, agreed.

No matter how much they swear so, iView for the Mac is all but dead. Sure, we'll get a 4.0 version or something as lip service, but it will slowly die after that. One word: "Bungie".

Originally Posted by Spliff

What he said.

I've never warmed up to iPhoto. Its integration with OS X and other apps is handy, but it's too damn slow and cumbersome. And I hate the way it has to copy my photos to a database. iView leaves my photos alone and the catalog will auto-update if it detects new photos in my folders and sub-folders.

Now that MS has bought iView, I suspect, that after a year or so, they'll discontinue the Mac version.

[tycheung]

it's a good program - it's lean, mean doesn't do more than what it's supposed to. Right now, I think Aperture is too much for me, and doesn't officially run on my macbook. Iview fits the bill perfectly. MS buying it is making me very nervous.

[production_coordinator]

Isn't it a little ironic that Microsoft purchased a product called iView

[osiris]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

Isn't it a little ironic that Microsoft purchased a product called iView

I just got that.

[paul w]

It will be soon rebaptised Microsoft ImageView and who knows - it may eventually be bundled with Vista or part of a Microsoft Multimedia Suite iLife type thingy.

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Originally Posted by tycheung

it's a good program - it's lean, mean doesn't do more than what it's supposed to. Right now, I think Aperture is too much for me, and doesn't officially run on my macbook. Iview fits the bill perfectly. MS buying it is making me very nervous.

Funny you say this. Having used iView for years, I saw it become a bloated, slow and buggy pos. It does WAY more than it needs to, that's the problem, and partly why I switched to iPhoto 6.

[Eug Wanker]

If iView is a strong seller on the Mac side, I think Microsoft will continue to sell and develop it.

If iView sales start to decrease (because of Mac users worried about Microsoft?) then Microsoft will put less and less development money into it.

[olePigeon]

The product that was born on the Mac will remain on the Mac as well as on the Windows operating system.

Yeah, I remember Bungie saying the same thing. I wonder if it was hard for them to keep a straight face while saying that. The number of zeros on the cheque were probably making them giddy.

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

If iView is a strong seller on the Mac side, I think Microsoft will continue to sell and develop it.

No.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

No.

MS Office 2004

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

MS Office 2004

What does that have to do with buying out a company like Bungie or iView, then canning the Mac version despite strong sales?

[goMac]

iView will become part of Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Added Value Pack Plus Pro, which will retail for $699.

[production_coordinator]

Originally Posted by goMac

iView will become part of Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Added Value Pack Plus Pro, which will retail for $699.

New Features:
- Automatically converts all of your image libraries into Windows Media Photo file format! [FOR FREE!**]
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/wmphoto.mspx
- New connectivity features exclusively with MS Windows Server 2003
- New Microsoft Office Integration
- New Microsoft Publisher transition functions.
- New Windows Vista Only Features!

** Free for 3 months after STRONG_ARM DRM implementation. All images will become the property of Microsoft upon conversion. A $1 per image free will be charged to your MSN activation upon retrieval. Microsoft retains the right to charge additional fees in the future to use products we are currently forcibly, but freely, upgrading you to now. "Your images" will become "Our Images" with the distinct possibility that they will become "Microsoft's Images" in the near future. Printing of "Your images," "Our images" or "Microsoft's Images" is strictly forbidden without written permission. Copywrighted images will automatically be removed from "your" (AKA, our) library.

[production_coordinator]

One last one...

In other news, Microsoft offers GREAT NEW Vista feature... Microsoft Media Viewer Extreme!

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by production_coordinator

One last one...

In other news, Microsoft offers GREAT NEW Vista feature... Microsoft Media Viewer Extreme!

No thanks, I'll hold out for the Ultimate edition that can also view JPEGs.