What Is Microsoft's Photo Strategy?
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News Analysis. It's a question somebody asks me a couple times a month—but more often right now with Photokina going on this week. |
The trade show is kind of a bust this year. The showstopping announcements, like the Canon Eos 5D Mark II or Nikon D90, came long before the event. The D90 went on sale before Photokina; I got one last week. Even Microsoft got ahead of the show, with last week's release of Pro Photo Tools 2.0. Sigma DP2, announced Sept. 23, is a promising upgrade, but it's a niche product. Adobe also announced Creative Suite 4, which is bigger but had also been expected.
I had been planning to blog on Microsoft's photo strategy, but waited a day too long. Overnight, Microsoft posted a Q&A, which hints at the strategy but really focuses on standardizing the metadata associated with digital images. Timing is funny. Last week, metadata revealed that Microsoft's ad agency used Macs to produce "I'm a PC" marketing deliverables.
The problem in understanding Microsoft's photo strategy is simple: There is no center. Microsoft doesn't have a core photo product, like Adobe's Photoshop Lightroom 2.0 or Apple's Aperture 2.1, which meets the needs of amateur and pro photographers. The closest centerpiece Microsoft has is Capture One 4.1, which is developed by Phase One. In October 2007, the two companies entered into a strategic partnership. I'm still waiting for Microsoft to buy Phase One, which would be a good strategic acquisition, if there is real seriousness about pro photography.
Microsoft's consumer product, Windows Live Photo Gallery, simply isn't competitive enough with, say, Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, Apple iPhoto '08, Corel Paint Shop Pro X2 or even Google Picasa 3. Microsoft released a public beta of Windows Live Photo Gallery "Version 2009" Sept. 17—and there are plenty of improvements, but mostly tightening integration with other Live services. There is a new plug-in architecture for publishing to other services, which adds support for Flickr and SmugMug. Improved cross-Live product integration is the biggest new consumer benefit I see, and the software achieves good parity with iPhoto's integration with other Apple iLife '08 applications. I'm not as impressed by the photo editing capabilities, however, although Photo Gallery's image organization features are at least on par with those of most competing products—and in some ways better (but that's a topic for another post).
Like Bad Photos, the Strategy Lacks Composition
Without a center, an anchor, Microsoft's photo products lie out like a disheveled picture scrapbook. Here's what I see:
- Windows Live Spaces. A survey of Microsoft's blogging service reveals more photo than text blogs. I've often wondered about this, seeing as how the service reduces image quality on upload. Microsoft's major remedy for downsampling is Live SkyDrive, with people storing images online that can be linked to from Spaces. Sorry, but the approach is clunky.
- Windows Vista. One of the most promising—and later, disappointing—Vista features is support for RAW files produced by digital SLRs. The idea: Windows Photo Gallery would prompt users to download codecs from camera manufacturers like Canon and Nikon so that they could view and manipulate RAW files from within Windows file folders. But the codecs aren't automatically fetched and manufacturer support is spotty.
- Image Composite Editor. It's a tool for stitching together images to form panoramas.
- Photosynth. Consumers use the service to create three-dimensional composites from many photos.
- Windows Live Photo Gallery. I shouldn't diminish the program, for the new version significantly updates features and adds new ones. Among other integrated benefits: access to ICE and Photosynth from within Live Photo Gallery. By the way, the software does support RAW image manipulation and management.
- Expression Media 2.0. In June 2006, Microsoft acquired iView Media Pro, which later became Expression Media, now in its second version under the new ownership. Expression Media is best-of-class for managing disparate digital assets, such as photos or videos.
- Pro Photo Tools 2.0. The tools aren't about image editing but tagging. The software lets photographers quickly edit digital image metadata.
- HD Photo. Microsoft has put forth its own Windows Media-based image file format. One goal: to replace JPEG as the majority adopted image file format.
I haven't covered all the loose pieces of Microsoft's disparate photo portfolio. There is the Pro Photo Shoot add-in for Outlook and SyncToy 2.0 file synchronization tool, among other tools and services being tested by Microsoft Research.
I see lots of pieces, but no coherent fitting together. Closest thing for consumers would be the new version of Live Photo Gallery. But for serious photo amateurs or professionals, there is no anchor product. Microsoft's photo strategy is pieces that don't yet fit together as a puzzle.
Microsoft and Nikon Cut Me on the Bleeding Edge
I've got an anecdote for what I mean. On Monday night, I tried to edit some photos taken with Nikon's new D90 prosumer dSLR. I shot the 85 images in RAW on Sunday afternoon. Two of my daughter's friends are leaving for a year, as part of a public service project. She was anxious to post the pictures to her MySpace.
But I had some problems. The Nikon D90's RAW format isn't yet supported by many photo editing programs. Capture One 4.1 and Lightroom 2.0 couldn't open the files or copy them from the camera. No problem, I had wanted to test Nikon's Capture NX 2.0. I checked the system requirements and got a big surprise: There is no 64-bit version. In fact, all Nikon photo software is 32-bit, and the company's support site has warnings about 64-bit risks. Well, damn. Vista 64-bit handles memory differently than the 32-bit version—among other differences that presumably should improve the user photo experience.
I considered trying some of the Nikon software anyway, but looked for another solution first. I like to solve puzzles. I wondered: What about Nikon's RAW plug-in for Windows Vista? The v1.5 plug-in supports the D90, but is clearly identified as being for Vista 32-bit. Mmmm, I vaguely remembered a Windows Vista Experience blog post indicating that the Nikon codecs could run under Vista 64-bit. Sure enough, Brandon LeBlanc had blogged about the support in August: "This version of Nikon's RAW Codec takes advantage of Windows Vista's built in 32-bit emulation feature called WOW64."
I downloaded and installed the codec, which allowed me to transfer the RAW, or Nikon NEF, files from the D90 to the laptop. But when I opened the Pictures folder, the images weren't viewable. However, I could see them in Windows Live Photo Gallery v2009 beta. But my glee went glum: The software couldn't edit the images.
On Tuesday night, I did some more searching and learned on the Nikonians Web site that the Lightroom 2.1 Release Candidate supports D90 NEF files. Lightroom v2.x supports Windows Vista 64-bit. Problem solved.
NRW Puts Non-Windows Users in a Sticky WICket
But I wondered what Nikon was up to with its Vista 32-bit-only support. After all, Microsoft and Nikon entered into a cross-licensing patent agreement just about a month ago. Something else puzzlied me: Nikon's new flagship compact, the Coolpix P6000, has a "new Coolpix RAW mode (NRW) with Windows Imaging Component allows you to take and edit pictures in RAW mode with Windows Vista," according to the product Web site. Now what does Windows Imaging Component mean?
WIC, as Microsoft calls it, is yet another of those disparate pieces of Microsoft's photo strategy. According to the WIC overview page:
WIC makes it possible for independent software vendors (ISVs) and independent hardware vendors (IHVs) to develop their own image codecs and get the same platform support as standard image formats (for example, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and WMPhoto). A single, consistent set of interfaces is used for all image processing, regardless of image format, so any application using the WIC gets automatic support for new image formats as soon as the codec is installed.
Native Vista support for the file format and it being automatically updated has got to be good, right? I can't definitely say since I don't have a P6000 to test. WIC conceptually sounds good for Vista users. But what about everybody else? The Nikon Transfer 1.2.0 for Macintosh product information makes clear that the P6000 is supported. But the software does "not support the NRW (RAW) format." Meaning: Mac users can shoot in JPEG but not NRW. The P6000 owner's manual is clearer. NRW files require Vista with Service Pack 1 or Windows XP with SP3. "Capture NX, Capture NX 2 and Mac OS X are not compatible with NRW (RAW) images."
Meaning: Nikon's new WIC-based RAW format is Windows only. It's proprietary with a capital P.
So, in a roundabout way, I've come to answer the question posed by this post's title: There isn't a strategy, not a cohesive one. Microsoft has a bunch of loosely connected technologies, with Windows Live Photo Gallery as a point of integration for consumers. But there is no product for amateurs and pros. Prices on dSLRs continue to fall, putting advanced and RAW shooting capabilities into the hands of more amateurs. If Microsoft has some super-secret project—an Aperture, Lightroom or Photoshop killer—Photokina would have been the place to unveil it. (Well, the show's not over yet.)
Microsoft needs to appoint a photo guru, somebody capable of pulling together the pieces into a strategic mosaic. Computing relevance may be shifting to the mobile device and computing cloud, but the PC still has its role. Photography, with its client-side need for robust operating systems and hefty hardware, is one of many.
[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com]
Comments (9)
Photo Gallery is good, but the problem I am mainly concerned with is that lack of in between pro and amateur. In the late 90's Microsoft was on a right path with this I believe when they developed Microsoft PhotoDraw which was a part of Office 2000 Premium. I still use it to this day on Vista. It offered a combination of vector illustration, raster graphics and basic photography. I was so looking forward to version 3 with the Office XP lineup, but Microsoft never continued development. I was so angry that I even started a Bring Back PhotoDraw petition. I use tools in the Microsoft Expression suite, but they are not as user friendly/intuitive and seem even harder to learn than Photoshop which I have mastered over years. Microsoft needs to indeed consolidate and streamline their photo strategy.
Its promising, but the experience between editing, managing, publishing and sharing needs to be tighter. You mentioned an example of the deterioration of photos when uploaded to Live Spaces. I have overcome this through Windows Live Writer, then again create photo albums too and would love for my photos to maintain fidelity when carried to the web, whether its Live Spaces, Flickr or Facebook. The integration, ease of use needs to be better too. Lots of work to be done.
Posted by Andre Da Costa | September 25, 2008 9:48 PM
Re: HD Photo: I find it very odd that the HD Photo link points to an article that purports to talk about improved color management, but is shown in light-colored letters a thin sans serif typeface against a black background, making it absolutely hideously difficult to read.
And of course, the world needs more proprietary image formats. There just aren't nearly enough of them to ensure that today's digital records will be completely useless as quickly as possible. The goal is to make money, not preserve information. Your stupid and boring pictures won't be worth anything in a few years anyway. Why worry about saving them in a format for you have a chance of finding future tools that still can read them?
Of course, I fully realize that my refusal to submit to anything less than total devotion to, and total enslavement by, the Holy Church of Microsoft can only be considered as nothing other than Bashing.
Posted by Philosopher | September 25, 2008 9:55 PM
@Andre Yeah, PhotoDraw was great. Never understood why MSFT discontinued it. For example, would have made a nice Ultimate Extra when nothing else was forthcoming.
Joe, agree. As usual MSFT has lots of products ranging from good to bad, but no cohesive theme. Ballmer either isn't able, or isn't interested, in taking the various internal groups by the throat and pointing them in one direction. This is where Jobs and Apple, and even Schmidt/Google are beating MSFT hands down.
Posted by Paul | September 25, 2008 10:13 PM
Dear Joe
Why Oh Why dont you use the Gimp, Its got a windows compatible version as well and it natively supports RAW mode as well. I guess if microsoft doesnt support something you think that no one else does.
Me thinks that if you continue to support microsoft then you wont open your eyes to the wonderful world of real software that you can use in 100 years time. My Linux software from version 3 over 10 years ago still works great in the modern Fedora Core 9. Software designed to need replaceing only comes from proprietory companies, because they want your money. Please everyone grow up and use what works and doesnt demand an arm and a leg from you. dont waste your hard earned money on this stuff, use Linux .
Posted by No Monkeyboy Here | September 25, 2008 10:32 PM
Microsoft doesn't even have consistent support for a) file image formats it has created (Flashpix FPX etc)
b) multipage TIFF
c) codecs it has created (no shell support for TIFF or MDI Files created by Office Document Imaging program)
Live Photo Gallery is DAMN slow and is not integrated into Explorer. To use any of the LPG plugins like the composite or panorama editor, requires loading LPG (takes about a minute on my quad-CPU, compared to near-instant for Picasa) and then waiting minutes for any recently uploaded content to populate into new LPG folders.
There's no workflow integration over all of these for scanning or digital image acquisition.
It's put out an AutoCollage program that is expensive, only purchasable in some countries, and is seriously underpowered compared to the free collage features in Picasa 3
Posted by Mike | September 25, 2008 10:46 PM
Quote "Expression Media is best-of-class for managing disparate digital assets, such as photos or videos."
What other products are in this class of which you say Expression media is best - sure its better than the likes of Picasa, XN View etc - but they are free, EM costs real money - $US199.
On what criteria is MS better than idImager, Photoshop, ACDSee Pro 2.5, Media Dex, FileMaker Photo Mechanic, ChuckWaller etc etc etc
BTW I would not put all of those products in the same class, but I suspect if you've never heard of most of them!
Posted by Philip Daniels | September 26, 2008 7:33 AM
Re: HD Photo and Nikon D90's NEF format:
From: www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1219889084.html
"We checked, DCraw will open these NEFs, albeit with incorrect white balance. Hopefully, the early availability of these NEF files will help developers of third-party RAW converters quickly write code to read the D90's images."
And the dcraw (pronounced 'dee see raw', as in 'digital camera raw') converter's home page can be found at:
www.cybercom.net/~dcoffin/dcraw/
(I don't post clickable links because, even though they work for others, Microsoft Watch has always discarded my posts when they contain clickable links. So you'll just need to highlight them with the mouse and then drag them onto the New Tab button. This works very smoothly in Firefox and all other modern and capable browsers.)
Posted by Philosopher | September 26, 2008 12:03 PM
The overarching problem with Microsoft is the way they approach any application. The first priority for Ballmer and company is always scraping money from third-party tie-ins rather than creating a worthwhile product. If they can't find another company to handle the customer service side, they reluctantly cobble together an app that has minimal features and give it away free, with the main goal being to hurt a competitor's sales. The outsourced apps are mostly crap, and the ISVs who write them really don't care as long as they get their ten cents for every copy that ships in a Windows bundle.
Naturally, this strategy doesn't attract creative people who see monetization as a secondary benefit to writing a successful app.
Posted by Jeremy | September 26, 2008 4:10 PM
@jeremy: which also describes OpenOffice and every piece of shit preinstalled by OEMs
Posted by Mike | September 27, 2008 1:21 AM