# Macphun is becoming SKYLUM Software



## Canon Rumors Guy (Oct 25, 2017)

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<em>We have a vision of bringing photographers a truly worthy Adobe alternative. We feel we are among the few companies who can achieve this goal. We also know that you – photographers – have high expectations and demands. And we will do the best we can to make you happy with your new software.</em></p>
<p><em>To reflect a lot of upcoming changes, our growth and big plans we are changing the name to SKYLUM. We think that this name is a better fit and is closer to where we want to go in the near future.</em></p>
<p><strong>From Macphun/SKYLUM Software:

</strong>We started Macphun more than seven years ago as the team who built apps for iPhone. In the first three years, we released close to 60 different applications. Most of these apps were really far from photography.</p>
<p>But the biggest successes came from our photography applications. We topped more than 20,000,000 downloads with our most popular applications: FX Photo Studio, Silent Film Director, and Perfect photo.</p>


<p>Early in 2011, we launched our first photo software on the Mac App Store – FX Photo Studio Pro. A year later, we received our first recognition from Apple – Snapheal was named among the Best Apps on the App Store.</p>
<p>Since then, our products have been getting this (and similar awards) non-stop. I believe Macphun is the only photo software developer in the world to hold this recognition for five straight years in a row. We also have more “Apple Editor’s Choice” awards than most app developers on a Mac.</p>
<p>Throughout these years we grew and got bigger. We were driven by the idea of helping photographers on the Mac, to make stunning photos in less time. <strong><a href="https://macphun.com/blog/macphun-is-becoming-skylum?kmi=canonrumorsguy%40gmail.com&utm_source=Macphun+Friends&utm_campaign=2b00e706c1-Skylum_news_Macphun_list10_25_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_912838542a-2b00e706c1-271286049&mc_cid=2b00e706c1&mc_eid=b5720d7939">Read more at Macphun</a></strong></p>
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## Famateur (Oct 25, 2017)

Cool.

I was expecting a name change sooner or later. Now that they're aiming at cross-platform markets, their Mac-oriented moniker needs an update.

Let's just hope the "sky" in Skylum doesn't mean cloud-based memberships! :-X


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## Canon Rumors Guy (Oct 25, 2017)

Famateur said:


> Cool.
> 
> I was expecting a name change sooner or later. Now that they're aiming at cross-platform markets, their Mac-oriented moniker needs an update.
> 
> Let's just hope the "sky" in Skylum doesn't mean cloud-based memberships! :-X



Hah, let's hope not. I counted 6 cloud services trying to be sold to me on my little Surface. It has become quite annoying.


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## Famateur (Oct 25, 2017)

Canon Rumors said:


> Hah, let's hope not. I counted 6 cloud services trying to be sold to me on my little Surface. It has become quite annoying.



Egad.

The "cloud" is not the basket I'd like to put all my eggs in. Unfortunately, it seems that's the way our net-dependent tech culture is headed.

Still, there's hope that "archaic" non-cloud solutions will persist. Just look at how tintype photography managed to hang on!


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## drs (Oct 25, 2017)

I look certainly forward to any step you do. Adobe had its time... subscription is not for me (I used Adobe since the early '90s for our business and teachings. Now: I love any alternative to it, not longer a fan boy, not at all ;-)

Anyway, anything cloud based is not for pro's and I hope you get that. My last shooting weekend ended up in around 200GB of raw material. This is not doable in the cloud, not now, and I hope you leave a version without cloud dependency. (The new name suggest otherwise.) Thanks for considering.


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## Canon Rumors Guy (Oct 26, 2017)

drs said:


> I look certainly forward to any step you do. Adobe had its time... subscription is not for me (I used Adobe since the early '90s for our business and teachings. Now: I love any alternative to it, not longer a fan boy, not at all ;-)
> 
> Anyway, anything cloud based is not for pro's and I hope you get that. My last shooting weekend ended up in around 200GB of raw material. This is not doable in the cloud, not now, and I hope you leave a version without cloud dependency. (The new name suggest otherwise.) Thanks for considering.



Exactly, this is why they make RAID backups. I use Backblaze for offsite backup (along with a poorly updated hard drive i store at my parents house), but that's for a catastrophe like my house burning down, not to actively work with daily.


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## Talys (Oct 26, 2017)

Famateur said:


> Canon Rumors said:
> 
> 
> > Hah, let's hope not. I counted 6 cloud services trying to be sold to me on my little Surface. It has become quite annoying.
> ...



To be honest, I don't think it has anything about our net-dependent tech culture, except in the case of Chromebooks.

"Cloud" in the context of software tools is often code for "subscription based" -- and that means better long-term profits for companies, because you have a guaranteed relationship with a customer, instead of a single purchase. 

In the same way, "Free" is often a code for, "Advertising Supported".


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## SecureGSM (Oct 26, 2017)

"Cloud" is rather code for OPEX vs. CAPEX I hope it makes sense. It certainly does to your CFO and COO.



Talys said:


> "Cloud" in the context of software tools is often code for "subscription based" -- and that means better long-term profits for companies, because you have a guaranteed relationship with a customer, instead of a single purchase.
> 
> In the same way, "Free" is often a code for, "Advertising Supported".


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## unfocused (Oct 26, 2017)

I wish them well. Adobe could certainly use some competition.

However, until they offer a full suite of products -- desktop publishing, web development, vector graphics, etc., it won't do me any good.

Plus, I' think they'd need to make their file formats open source in order to provide a level of confidence in the event their experiment fails.


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## Orangutan (Oct 26, 2017)

unfocused said:


> I wish them well. Adobe could certainly use some competition.
> 
> However, until they offer a full suite of products -- desktop publishing, web development, vector graphics, etc., it won't do me any good.


Not sure if they're adequate for your needs, but there are some decent open-source tools for each of those purposes. E.g. Scribus, Inkscape, and multiple HTML editors and other web development tools.


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## mb66energy (Oct 26, 2017)

Orangutan said:


> unfocused said:
> 
> 
> > I wish them well. Adobe could certainly use some competition.
> ...



LaTeX with LyX for typesetting, gimp, ... - you are absolutely right. And these tools - especially inkscape - can produce great results with good flexibility for publication.

But I think that most users prefer a more integrated style of working: One document containing images, text, tables, etc. without using directories to keep files together which are used for one project.

And for RAW development I like DPP - while not very mighty it is a hassle-free tool for global corrections in very high quality. The current version improved e.g. noise filters dramatically by flattening the noise without reducing sharpness too much.


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## Talys (Oct 26, 2017)

Orangutan said:


> unfocused said:
> 
> 
> > I wish them well. Adobe could certainly use some competition.
> ...



I love all sorts of non-Adobe tools, personally (my favorite being CorelDRAW! over Adobe Illustrator). However, nobody else that I run into uses them, and I'm constantly given files in Adobe format (just like 99% of word processing files given to me are Word DOC/DOCX, and 99% of spreadsheets are XLS/XLSX). And if I give someone a layered bitmap that isn't PSD or a vector that isn't AI or EPS, they just tell me they can't open it.

I can't speak to Macphun because I'm a PC guy. I've used all sorts of RAW converters, but in the end, I always come back to DPP because it's free and I can install it on every PC (and I have a lot of PCs...) and Lightroom, because it's "complete" and works pretty well with PhotoShop.


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## Joakim (Oct 26, 2017)

It is great that we get alternatives to Lightroom, if for no other reason than for Adobe to having to keep innovating.
I am very happy with a subscription to LR and don't mind not having a standalone version. I am absolutely terrified that the recent name changes and launch of a new Lightroom CC means they will eventually phase out Lightroom "Classic" and only have a cloud-based LR. That is an absolute deal breaker for me.

I don't work in marketing but it strikes me as a bit odd that SKYLUM markets itself as "a competitor to Lightroom" instead of "a photo organization and non-destructive editing software"


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## rjbray01 (Oct 26, 2017)

cloud + huge files = bad
subscription = well, maybe we're going to have to get used to that 

I was vehemently against subscription but eventually I relented and now have a family Office 365 subscription

And, last month, I finally signed up to a Lightroom/Phototshop subscription too - albeit using my Open University student ID to get a huge discount.

Like many, I have a fear of a reduction or loss of earnings rendering me without the funds to continue my subscription and then being unable to use the software ever again at all.

But, what swung it for me was that in reality, for the time being, I change my camera and lenses every so often and need the latest edition anyway. And, when I'm old and on a state pension (that's not far off for me !) then I'll just use open-source stuff instead ... and it'll be pretty good I'm sure. Or I'll rise to the challenge of selling some pictures to pay for the subscription.

I realize that Adobe's profits are absolutely colossal, however I suspect that they are going to run out of features that people really want/need pretty soon - and then the open source guys will begin to catch up and the software will become cheaper. That's what normally happens with software - innovation followed by commoditisation. 

I'm trying to assure myself that things will actually be ok and prices will probably go down not up - but I think it'll be ok !


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## Zeidora (Oct 26, 2017)

After over 20 years with Adobe I dropped them as well. The single integrated package days are over, because there are other, better suited specialty application. E.g., z-stacking in PS is dreadful, so there is ZereneStacker and HeliconFocus. HDR is better in Aurora, etc.

I use AffinityPhoto for photo editing, DxO for RAW, Zerene & Helicon for z-stacking, Aurora for HDR, and QuarkXPress for layout. Hardly do vector, but would go for AffinityDesigner. Never used LR, manage assets with proper database (FileMaker Pro).

The one thing I have not found yet, is a Dreamweaver alternative; still use CS5.5. The template function is critical for me. If anybody knows something good on Mac, let me know. Thanks!


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## Velo Steve (Oct 26, 2017)

[list type=decimal]
[*]I agree with the majority here who hope to see a non-cloud product. I spent about 8 hours over the last few days restoring data when a cloud-attached product (not photography related) was failing to reconcile something between the cloud and local data, causing complete loss of functionality. It could have turned into hundreds of hours of work.
[*]Terrible name. I want to pronounce it as sky-lum, as in "lump" without the p. I'm sure that's not what they mean.
[*]If you want to establish credibility with Windows users that you're not just doing a rough port, don't wait to the sixth paragraph to mention Windows, especially after having "Apple" or "Mac" in four of the first five.
[*]I hope they consider Linux. I have Windows 10 on a laptop, but if my power machine ever can't run Windows 7 I'm going to revisit Linux. I'm not a huge Gimp fan, but I could learn to use it or whatever is best on Linux at that time.
[/list]


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## Pookie (Oct 26, 2017)

Zeidora said:


> After over 20 years with Adobe I dropped them as well. The single integrated package days are over, because there are other, better suited specialty application. E.g., z-stacking in PS is dreadful, so there is ZereneStacker and HeliconFocus. HDR is better in Aurora, etc.
> 
> I use AffinityPhoto for photo editing, DxO for RAW, Zerene & Helicon for z-stacking, Aurora for HDR, and QuarkXPress for layout. Hardly do vector, but would go for AffinityDesigner. Never used LR, manage assets with proper database (FileMaker Pro).
> 
> The one thing I have not found yet, is a Dreamweaver alternative; still use CS5.5. The template function is critical for me. If anybody knows something good on Mac, let me know. Thanks!



Yea, this is the next change in my workflow... right now evaluating DXO and AffinityPhoto. Sick of Adobe BS.


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## BeenThere (Oct 26, 2017)

I’m not feeling it with the new Skylum name. Better would be PhotoWow.


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## BeenThere (Oct 26, 2017)

Too late! That name is already gone.


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## rjbray01 (Oct 26, 2017)

Velo Steve said:


> [list type=decimal]
> [*]I agree with the majority here who hope to see a non-cloud product. I spent about 8 hours over the last few days restoring data when a cloud-attached product (not photography related) was failing to reconcile something between the cloud and local data, causing complete loss of functionality. It could have turned into hundreds of hours of work.
> [*]Terrible name. I want to pronounce it as sky-lum, as in "lump" without the p. I'm sure that's not what they mean.
> [*]If you want to establish credibility with Windows users that you're not just doing a rough port, don't wait to the sixth paragraph to mention Windows, especially after having "Apple" or "Mac" in four of the first five.
> ...



I can't help noticing that the letters are easily re-arranged into KLUMSY also ...


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