I had been using iView for several years, and was very happy to abandon Extensis Portfolio which was a real dog. I rebuilt all my catalogued photos which was over 20,000 files back then. While iView had some quirks and speed issues, it was delightful compared to Portfolio.

Then came the bad news of MS buying out iView. All the messages from the iView people (Mac centric as they were) assured us that the product would continue to be Mac centric and be operated autonomously (read that as not burdened by the MS Bloat Factory).

Of course, with my extensive investment in the catalogs already created, I had to continue with the now Expression Media program... which early on, was just a relabeled iView.

I haven't seen that much change in the program (except the shameless branding by MS) and am not sure what impact the MS Bloat Factory has had on the product "YET"... and hopefully they won't entirely ruin it.

Aperture, which I use daily. is definitely NOT a cataloging contender, thought it is a handy Q&D media importer and has some of the nice features like creating a quick web-view, or emailing a bunch of quickly tweaked RAW pics.

iPhoto, don't even consider unless you still have your training wheels attached.

The price $199...is highway robbery, but seems to be a trend started by Extensis with their outrageously priced Portfolio. But, then if you really need to catalogue a large inventory of pictures (5,000++) then the cost becomes a tradeoff of your time vs the $'s spent.

I'm sticking with Expression Media, for now, and hope that MS doesn't totally destroy it and my past cataloging efforts with it. Maybe if we plead our case to the MS "God of Bloatware" we can save this program...

Comments....please....if I am wrong, reply to this post...