Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple acquires Pixelmator

pixelmator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

551–560 of 597 posts

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#551

Post by grvbck »

fny wrote: post #63
bangaroo wrote: post #7

apple's pro apps have been in a weird space for a while. aperture dying was a bummer, and final cut and logic feel simultaneously actively developed and abandoned to me, there's just not much buzz around them. it would be very neat if apple started to build the necessary portfolio of software to provide a viable, ideally not-subscription-based competitor to adobe's suite of products. they certainly have had the chops…

My guess is that this a purchase of what will become the ever missing “MS Paint.” It’s kinda wild that macOS bundles Garage Band but doesn’t come with anything for graphics.

OS X used to have iPhoto, which was a really decent app in the days of early digital photography. Until Apple decided to replace it with a more "streamlined" Photos app, by removing a lot of features.

I guess a lot of the editing has since moved to the photo-taking device (and the early iPhones/iPads lacked the processing power), but is that the cause or effect?

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#552

Post by quitit »

lowkey_ wrote: post #81

I'd never heard of Pixelmator before (congrats to them on the exit), and: WOW their website already looks like an Apple website. The colors, the font, the logo with the same colors as Apple Photos, all the images that show a Mac window, the shade of red in the top right, the "machine learning" section that almost looks like Notes, and I scrolled down and it's all about how great Mac is. It seemed inevitable that Appl…

This follows through into the app, which itself is a good demonstration for how a developer can tightly follow design guidelines while extended them with their own originality.

This is generally a good thing for users - building a unique UX for every app doesn't service the user. Some naively believe this is vanity, but no single app lives in isolation, so having all apps generally act and function similarly makes it very easy to pick up a new app and hit the ground running. Yes it also looks nice when all the apps look like they're from the same package, but that's not why we do it.

Something that stuck with me in the 90s was this description of the mac experience: "when you've learned one app, you've learned 80% of another". I bought Pixelmator and started using it immediately without any reference material, tutorials or videos, it is a 10/10 in quality software development.

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#554

Post by sroussey »

kmbfjr wrote: post #538
yndoendo wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't know what Pixelmator was, looked them up and they only distribute through the App Store. I haven't been an Apple user for over 10 years, through that macOS now uses the App Store to distribute OS updates. There is no getting around the App Store on macOS and must be used for Apple related software releases, such a Xcode. The community that looks for applications not in the App Store is most likely quite low. I…

Sideload? I have five apps that get regular updates via DMGs, two of which are unsigned and do not meet Apple’s sandbox requirements. All I have to do is authorize them to install in settings. You and I can agree on Apple’s App Store power and abuses, but you can still call MacOS a computer OS.

What unsigned apps do you use? The bar is pretty low to sign.

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#555

Post by TimTheTinker »

mxey wrote: post #171
rty32 wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it feels like something they'd be well-positioned to seriously take on if they invested heavily in it. I agree, but history just proved that Apple does not care. And let's be real: Photoshop is cross-platform, and lots of content creation software is cross platform (or a web app). There are many more content creators that use Windows than people here are aware of or want to acknowledge (on HN, sometimes you get the…

> A similar example is the iWork suite. It exists, but neither users nor Apple seem to care about it. I would disagree on that, at least about Keynote. I’m not the only one who loves it.

Keynote thrives because Apple does their in-person stage presentations using it.

They need something to handle that... and because it's Apple they won't use PowerPoint.

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#556

Post by matwood »

dividedbyzero wrote: post #521
TheKarateKid wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so. Mac sales have only grown and the whole "you need a Mac for creative work" hasn't been a thing since the 00's. I think this is more about having the team put advanced photo editing features into the native Photos app, and possibly contributing to AI image processing.

There are lots of amateur photographers out there that use Apple hardware yet so far Apple only monetizes storage. I wouldn't be surprised to see a subscription offering that includes pro tier features for Photos.app good enough to replace Lightroom for enthusiasts but not for actual professionals.

Exactly. I want a LR feature like editor that integrates fully with Apple Photos.

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#557

Post by Pulcinella »

dahart wrote: post #531
newaccount74 wrote: post #496

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But macOS requires app notarisation. They again made it harder to run un-notarised apps this year. If you look at the iOS side, it's clear that Apple has no qualms adding content restrictions for app notarisation, and it is more than just a malware check. It could be just a question of time until Apple decides to stop notarising Mac apps that do not use App Store payments.

Meh, Apple might be a little ahead of others, but all mainstream OSes and stores are basically headed this direction already. It’s just part modern security, part quality control, and part family & work friendliness. Most people on both sides actually want a walled garden. There will probably always be ways to run unsigned code and to get content that’s not approved by an app store, but maybe it’s fine if it’s ‘harde…

Yeah Windows does the same thing. It's something indie game devs run into. If you release on Steam, Steam launches your game. Otherwise you have to pay a certificate authority to sign your game or Windows Smart Screen will do the same "this code is sketchy. Are you really really really sure you want to run it?" thing MacOS does for non-notarized apps.

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#558

Post by kergonath »

grahamj wrote: post #470
kergonath wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I miss full tagging and smart album support Yes! And plugins are great, but the experience is not smooth, and quickly annoying when working with many photos. Also, switching libraries is not good. I wish it were more integrated because on paper, a photo management app combining the features of Affinity, DxO, and others sounds fantastic.

Someone here mentioned Gentleman Coders Nitro and it looks great so might try that for tagging and smart albums.

It looks very interesting indeed. Thanks for the suggestion!

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#559

Post by detourdog »

WillAdams wrote: post #247
detourdog wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Cenon for my CAM. I didn’t realize it was open source and I never expected to hear anyone else mention it.

It's only the drawing portion which is: https://cenon.info/ FWIW, I tried very hard to find every possible CAD/CAM program when researching the Shapeoko wiki.... though I found Cenon because I was a long-time NeXT user.

That is why I settled on it. The other one I was working with was FabBSD. I still have the source to that it is an OpenBSD focused on CAM. I think the developer lost interest when OpenBSD switched the security model for GPIO.

I think they are both good though.

Re: Apple acquires Pixelmator

#560

Post by [deleted] »

59nadir wrote: post #479
DidYaWipe wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are a few threads from the forums; there are probably more. The first seems the most extensive. To be fair, I'm not sure if there are employee responses in there or just eager apologists ignoring evidence and blaming other users for the defective behavior: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/53609-merg... https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/185759-sto... https://forum.affinity.serif.c…

The first thread is large, for sure, but is it relevant? Why do all of these have to do with pixel art, which is something you probably should do in a pixel art editor (Aseprite[0] is great, cheap and deserves your support)? If this is indeed an issue overall it would be very ironic because the Affinity suite of products are (as far as I understand) way more focused on and enable a non-destructive workflow than Photo…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN