So, I've been playing with the "new & improved" version 2 for the last few hours. As far as I can tell… and I've been using the application since it was plain iView Media… it's EXACTLY the SAME as version 1.0.2.

The Menus are the same, which STILL need some logic applied to them.
The Preferences are the same… pretty much everything.
And it's still a pain to tweak window settings.

There's STILL no way to set global Slide Shows Options! I want interactive slideshows and NO controller by default. For 200 buck$, is that too much to ask?

There are 2 MAJOR new features (this IS a Microsoft acquisition after all):
There's a new "professional" looking splash screen… that still cannot be disabled.
AND there's a NEW and even more nebulous icon, which isn't even a Leopard friendly 512 x 512 pixel icon! The development team must be exhausted by their efforts!

Unfortunately, there appears to be no other application like this in the Mac market that gives you the breadth of supported media AND the kind of control over where and how your files are stored. (Thankfully, it STILL ain't iPhoto, folks!) I've tried AtomicView, which seems to be about halfway between Expression Media and iPhoto or Aperture and shows some promise, but is wickedly overpriced like this. Maybe it'll develop into something by the time Microsoft destroys this application either actively or by neglect. Who knows.

So, for now, Microsoft hasn't wrecked it and appears to have done no harm. It's pretty disappointing that there were no interface improvements made, but knowing Microsoft's sense of interface design, that's a relief. Fortunately for now, MS seems not to be charging an upgrade fee for current license holders. If so, that's a good thing for current users.

So, it's good enough and works fine. That's not much of a recommendation.