Aperture versus ... what, exactly?
Based on the initial feedback we're seeing in our forums and the conversations I've had with other colleagues who train people to use Aperture, it's clear that a sizable percentage of people who are reading about Aperture's release and even trying the software all Just. Don't. Get It.
A certain percentage of users mistakenly thing that Aperture is an image editing utility. It isn't. It has image editing capabilities -- things like red eye reduction, image straightening, cropping, and quite marvelous color correction capabilities -- but that's only one aspect of the app.
As Rick LePage intimated in a PMA blog he wrote for Macworld, the question in many photographers' minds isn't pitting Aperture against Adobe Lightroom, contrary to what the layperson might be thinking after reading a cross-section of comments in places like Macworld. It's really whether Aperture or Lightroom is suitable to replace an existing post-production workflow, or whether a post-production workflow is necessary at all.
I'd posit that for any photographer who's taking any reasonable volume of pictures he or she wants to archive and catalog, a post-production workflow is necessary -- in fact, it's vital. You need to be able to find pictures you've taken, and eventually, any sort of indexing and folder archiving system you've come up with is bound to catch up with you.
But many photographers already use combinations of Photoshop and Bridge, iView Media Pro (now Expression Media), Photo Mechanic and a handful of other apps -- including some very cumbersome and expensive solutions rolled with products like Canto Cumulus -- to manage their digital workflow. And Apple still needs to answer the question -- "Why would I give that up?"
So far they've done a good job of articulating what Aperture can do, thanks to training information on their Web site and exposés on the new features in 2.0. Now they really need to get down to the nitty gritty and figure out a way to sell it to people who are already using other workflows -- and to that end, they haven't made it happen yet.