# Luminar & Aurora updates



## mcasan (Jan 30, 2018)

Today Skylum updated Luminar and is supposed to update Aurora on Feb 1.

Neither app is serious competition to Adobe.   But Luminar does make a nice styling plugin after you have done the basic raw edits in Develop. 



Operating System: MacOS 10.13.3
Exact Lightroom Version (Help menu > System Info):  Classic 7.1


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## mcasan (Jan 31, 2018)

The drama continues over the Windows version of Luminar.   That drama is getting very old, very fast.


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## PhilBurton (Jan 31, 2018)

mcasan said:


> The drama continues over the Windows version of Luminar.   That drama is getting very old, very fast.


Why?


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## mcasan (Feb 1, 2018)

Windows version continues to miss features compared to MacOS version....and it is buggy as hell.   I can understand their management wanting to go after the Windows market.   But the product quality seems to be blowing up in their face.   Scroll backwards for 6 months or so and note which version has the most complaints.  

Log into Facebook | Facebook


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## tspear (Feb 1, 2018)

It was the complaints on the Windows version that actually prevented me from bothering to try it.
On the flip side, it did seem like they were fixing the issues with regular updates. The problem is that there were so many issues....

Tim


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## PhilBurton (Feb 1, 2018)

mcasan said:


> Windows version continues to miss features compared to MacOS version....and it is buggy as hell.   I can understand their management wanting to go after the Windows market.   But the product quality seems to be blowing up in their face.   Scroll backwards for 6 months or so and note which version has the most complaints.
> 
> Log into Facebook | Facebook


Software develop, GOOD software development, especially cross-platform, is a lot harder than it seems initially in those meetings in which engineering presents the "powerful conversion" tool that will automagically convert MacOS-based code into Windows code.  (Or the other way around.)  If a company wants to build cross-platform software, it has to start out with that plan.  Of course, the company needs to hire the right software developers.  Did I say that cross-platform software is hard to do?

And then there is testing.  It often takes time, lots of time.

A company trying to attack Adobe by seriously undercutting pricing may not have a good business case, because these markets aren't that big, and they aren't growing very fast.

Phil


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## tspear (Feb 1, 2018)

PhilBurton said:


> Software develop, GOOD software development, especially cross-platform, is a lot harder than it seems initially in those meetings in which engineering presents the "powerful conversion" tool that will automagically convert MacOS-based code into Windows code.  (Or the other way around.)  If a company wants to build cross-platform software, it has to start out with that plan.  Of course, the company needs to hire the right software developers.  Did I say that cross-platform software is hard to do?
> 
> And then there is testing.  It often takes time, lots of time.
> 
> ...



Anyone going after Adobe is basing it on the 80/20 rule. For 20% of the effort you get 80% of what people need. For a segment of the market (which includes me), this may be "good enough".

Tim


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## PhilBurton (Feb 1, 2018)

tspear said:


> Anyone going after Adobe is basing it on the 80/20 rule. For 20% of the effort you get 80% of what people need. For a segment of the market (which includes me), this may be "good enough".
> 
> Tim


Fewer features, sure, especially at a significant cost savings.  Software bugs, people really don't like those.


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## Ian.B (Feb 1, 2018)

Bit the same with On1 . That was a bit of an expensive/frustrating experiment for me --- although I really do like parts of it and how the programs works. Many bugs have been squashed; 2018 is far better than 2017 --- another free update to be released soon apparently . 

I feel it could be a while before there is a  true and serious alternative to adobe for the pros --- Adobe has such a *big *head start.

I tried Luminar when the windows version was 1st released but it was more like a 1/4 program  --- Downloaded another trail this morning to play with.


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## mcasan (Feb 2, 2018)

Look at Topaz Studio.


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