In what way?
> Yes but that doesn't deal with folders which aren't indexed. For example if you do an iPhoto import it can lag for a while before Spotlight catches up. Bang - synchronisation problem.
Moving goalposts. First you said the metadata was opaque. It wasn't. Now you're saying there is lag.
What were you trying to do? I do a lot of photography, and while I am no means a pro -- or even a semi-pro -- I have done automator scripts against iPhoto with zero problems. You still haven't said what you were trying to accomplish.
The metadata is still not opaque (its not stored with the files making backup/restore hard) and it lags meaning its potentially somewhere between ok and useless at any point in time.
Watermark, thumbnail, rename, move to a directory outside iPhoto, run a gallery script. Hell.
I ended up with ViewNX which has no abstraction and a python script using PIL instead of automator. Neither of which leverage any advantage that OSX portrays. In fact I could do the same thing on any platform.
No but doing that when iPhoto stores backups of your images is a pain in the arse.
b) talking to the library from apps - the UI was horrible and inconsistent
Automator + Photoshop.
> c) metadata was entirely non transparent and hard to get at.
Yes but that doesn't deal with folders which aren't indexed. For example if you do an iPhoto import it can lag for a while before Spotlight catches up. Bang - synchronisation problem.
This shot me badly.
The whole solution is just bad.