[hecubus]

Just some thoughts on earlier posts about iPhoto re-organizing people's image organization into junk - I agree that iPhoto should be more like iTunes in allowing you to add files to the library without necessarily adding it to it's own internally-maintained structure, but the reason why a lot of people love iPhoto is that it takes that level of maintenance out of the equation. I don't need to organize my photos myself, the software does it for you. If I add my images to its library, why would I need to keep a duplicate set in a completely different structure? iPhoto's goal is to take over the task of organizing your photos so you don't have to do it.

Part of the simplicity of iPhoto is that it's not complicated, it's not infinitely-configurable. Infinitely-configurable software increases complexity for the user and the software. This can be said for most of Apple's software - it does the 80% of what everyone wants extremely well, whereas I find most Windows software does 95% of what everyone wants but does an acceptable job of it. There's a trade-off there. Obviously there are exceptions, Picasa being the obvious one.

For those looking for a free (for the time being) alternative to iPhoto, check out Adobe Lightroom. It's currently in public beta (you have been warned that it's beta software) so don't expect it to be free after the beta period is over and the software expires. You might actually have to *gasp* pay for good software that does what you want it to do.