The Future of Phoshare: Time to move on

[Tilman]

Summary: Phoshare 1.5.2 will probably be the last version of Phoshare. If you rely on it, please make alternate plans before installing the next iPhoto update.

Phoshare had a good run, but it has gotten to the point where it is becoming increasingly challenging to keep up with new versions of iPhoto and Aperture. With iPhoto 9.4, the amount of data shared with other applications has been greatly reduced, and some features have already been lost:

• Keywords are completely gone. That is a big loss for Phoshare with iPhoto because iPhoto itself has no options to save metadata into the image files. Aperture can save metadata into image files, so there it is just a loss of convenience (you need to remember to hit "Generate Previews" ever once in a while).
• Downloaded images (from MobileMe, Facebook, etc.) are no longer shared, and Phoshare cannot export them.
• Face regions are recorded based on the geometry of the original image file. Cropping, rotating, or straightening an image will cause the face regions to no longer align with the edited image. Worse, if you crop a person out of the image, the face region data remain.
• No information about original image files. Phoshare makes an attempt to locate the original, but that is a bit flaky, and will not always work.

The information is still there, but only in the internal iPhoto/Aperture database. No API or documentation to these database tables are provided by Apple. 

Phoshare was always an Open Source project, available with full source code, under the Apache License 2.0. I'm willing to merge in essential fixes submitted by the community, but you are also welcome to make your own versions. See the license (Section 4. Redistribution) for the conditions (it is quite generous).

I have transitioned my own photo library form iPhoto/Aperture to Adobe Lightroom some time ago, and no longer use Phoshare myself. Adobe Lightroom can be configured to save all your work into the image files automatically, so you don't even need a tool like Phoshare to liberate your work. But if you are looking for something that synchronizes your library with a folder tree like Phoshare, have a look at Jeff Friedl's Folder Publisher for Lightroom. Such plugins are easily developed for Adobe Lightroom because it provides a complete and fully documented interface for developers.

Tilman

[Laurence]

Hi Timan

This is a big shame because I cannot find anything else like it. Why dont you charge for it then maybe it will give you some motivation. I would pay for it due to there not being anything else.

Tilman wrote:

Summary: Phoshare 1.5.2 will probably be the last version of Phoshare.
If you rely on it, please make alternate plans before installing the
next iPhoto update.

Phoshare had a good run, but it has gotten to the point where it is
becoming increasingly challenging to keep up with new versions of
iPhoto and Aperture. With iPhoto 9.4, the amount of data shared with
other applications has been greatly reduced, and some features have
already been lost:

  * Keywords are completely gone. That is a big loss for Phoshare with

    iPhoto because iPhoto itself has no options to save metadata into
    the image files. Aperture can save metadata into image files, so
    there it is just a loss of convenience (you need to remember to
    hit "Generate Previews" ever once in a while).

  * Downloaded images (from MobileMe, Facebook, etc.) are no longer

    shared, and Phoshare cannot export them.

  * Face regions are recorded based on the geometry of the original

    image file. Cropping, rotating, or straightening an image will
    cause the face regions to no longer align with the edited image.
    Worse, if you crop a person out of the image, the face region data
    remain.

  * No information about original image files. Phoshare makes an

    attempt to locate the original, but that is a bit flaky, and will
    not always work.

The information is still there, but only in the internal
iPhoto/Aperture database. No API or documentation to these database
tables are provided by Apple.

Phoshare was always an Open Source project, available with full source
code, under the Apache License 2.0

<http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0>. I'm willing to merge in

essential fixes submitted by the community, but you are also welcome
to make your own versions. See the license

<http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0> (Section 4.

Redistribution) for the conditions (it is quite generous).

I have transitioned my own photo library form iPhoto/Aperture to Adobe
Lightroom some time ago, and no longer use Phoshare myself. Adobe
Lightroom can be configured to save all your work into the image files
automatically, so you don't even need a tool like Phoshare to liberate
your work. But if you are looking for something that synchronizes your
library with a folder tree like Phoshare, have a look at Jeff Friedl's
Folder Publisher for Lightroom

<http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/folder-publisher>. Such

plugins are easily developed for Adobe Lightroom because it provides a
complete and fully documented interface

<http://www.adobe.com/devnet/photoshoplightroom.html> for developers.

Tilman

[ToddJ]

Is there software that will export the facial recognition data (like Phoshare does?)

[etchings13]

Truly saddened by the end of this software. Phoshare made for an awesome backup solution for iPhoto -> Dropbox, and now I am totally lost for a way to backup that large library while being able to browse photos online as well. Maybe Adobe's recent decision to go online-subscription only will change your mind, Tilman? One can only dream.

[Maxim Veksler]

I found about phoshare from a link that explain various options for working with iPhoto / Aperture "locked" structure of photos. Sorry to see that phoshare is not being maintained any longer. 

The link mentioned http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/learn/Lightroom/h_more/iPhoto_to_Lightroom.htm describes other methods (when phoshare is not doubt the best of them) for integrating iPhoto structure with Adobe and Picasa, worth checking out.

p.s. I'm sending this email twice, the first one was deleted because it looked like spam -- I assume -- It's funny to be writing the second email trying to overcome the spam filter :) Hope that this one makes it through to the list...

Maxim.