Review: Portfolio 7

I am a member of secretive association of computer nerds known as the Lawrence Apple Users' Group. Our meetings are a pastiche of shocking and debauched rituals that would horrify even the most jaded anthropologist, often involving activities such as ceremonial self-flagellation with 6-pin Firewire cables, the ritual incantation of Darwin command-line arguments, and the sacrificial burnt offering of dead iPod batteries to the powerful and mysterious fruit god known as Steve Jobs.

As part of my role in this priesthood, I've ocassionally reviewed some products for the group. This month I spent some quality time with Extensis's Portfolio, which is a program to keep track of digital assets such as photographs and clip art. It's a pretty cool product, and if you are at all interested, check out the PDF of the newsletter containing the review.

Here's the intro...

For $50, Apple will gladly sell you a copy of iPhoto as part of it's iLife suite. iPhoto is a great program; if you have a digital camera, it will easily let you organize, edit, and share your photos. For most people, this is all you will ever need. However, if you are a professional (or semi-pro) photographer, or if you are a graphic designer or web editor who needs to keep track of thousands of digital photos, clip art pieces, or graphics (and possibly share them with others in real time), iPhoto's limitations will quickly become apparent. Software developer Extensis has stepped into this void with their application "Portfolio" which is designed for the professional -- or pack-rat amateur who has moved beyond iPhoto.

If you want to read the rest, just click...