Originally posted by RGlasel You can flame away, but Apple kissed off the true power user market a long time ago. There are better profit margins in dumbing down your OS and applications so consumers with above average incomes and below average computer literacy will prefer your hardware. In Apple's mindset, supporting pro-grade image editing software is a cost centre with a relatively poor ROI.
Well, it's a mixture with Apple. I've used a huge variety of computers and operating systems continuously since 1972, including many flavours of UNIX over the last 25 years or so, especially linux. Underneath all the glitz, OS X is a fully configured UNIX, which is why scientists such as myself use macs so much. When I go to conferences in my field (solar physics) I see 60%+ of my peers with macs because they can do serious science with them at the UNIX level but also have the convenience of higher level utilities.
So, at its core OS X is a powerful OS. Unfortunately, Apple has an annoying tendency to think they know best. The level of configurability of the window manager for example is very limited compared to any linux WM. So yes, I agree with you, they tend to dumb down their interfaces, despite the underlying flexibility and power of the OS. And yes, we are unfortunately seeing the same thing with such utilities as Aperture 3.
I am withholding final judgement till I see the long anticipated Aperture 4: will they try to catch up with and surpass Lightroom, or will they abrogate the field and let Lightroom etc sail off into the distance whilst they and their users are left sitting on a rock?