There should be a golden rule in software development that follows along the lines of the medical profession's "first do no harm" policy. Perhaps it could be called the iPhotocratic oath.
It would read something like "I promise not to release any software that will damage my customer's data". This seems necessary, because rendering my iPhoto library unusable was exactly what iPhoto 9 did.
I regard data corruption as an unforgivable transgression, so no matter how good the latest release might be, it's already a few assessment points down before even using it.
A couple of updates have overcome data corruption and other minor issues, so those of you with a more forgiving nature may like to be more generous with scoring iPhoto 9.1 than I have been.
The important message here is don't even think about launching iPhoto until applying the latest update. Even then, be sure to have a backup of your iPhoto library before proceeding.
Outside of the latest version's capacity for bringing a little misery into your life, the improvements are largely cosmetic, though not unwelcome.
My first reaction to the new full screen view was indifference. However, slipping into full screen view and working through book-editing and other projects exceeded expectations. I especially liked the book-editing tools and would like to see some of them migrated into Aperture — which seems a fair trade given Aperture's full screen mode has been borrowed for iPhoto.
While there's not much in the way of innovation in this new version, it is more comfortable to work with than the previous version. Some of the book layout editing features, such as the optional design elements, are very welcome.
Letterpress cards are also a nice addition, though I have to say I find the styling a bit twee, and wonder if they will have limited appeal.
Also welcome is the Delicious Library-like Projects view, which provides thumbnails of your book, card and calendar projects, respectively organised. This visually-oriented way to recognise projects is much easier to use than the previous project listing method. I also appreciate pricing being screened up alongside the print product. Before this version, you had to link to Apple's print products web page for pricing.
A bit annoying is that you can't slip into the Projects view without first engaging full screen view. There's not even a choice in the View menu, so creating a keyboard shortcut isn't possible without some scripting. Further, it doesn't scale down to fit more items as you add projects to the shelves, so you soon find yourself scrolling. An option to resize the Projects view in the same way that you use a slider to adjust thumbnail sizes is an obvious omission from the interface.
Speaking of which, I wonder if some users may find the iPhoto 9.1 interface changes — such as the containment of edit tools within a side pane — a bit disconcerting, in the same way you might feel when coming home to find that somebody rearranged the furniture in your absence. Nothing you can't get used to but a bit discomfiting all the same.
Social media integration is no more exciting than the previous version of iPhoto, comprising Facebook and Flickr exports plus MobileMe. I find it surprising there is no Twitter integration, such as a built-in YFrog or Twitpic uploader, requiring the installation of a plug-in if you're a Twitter user.
Image editing tools remain, as far as I can tell, unchanged, though the enhance tool seems a little less aggressive adjusting colour saturation.
Finally, I'm astonished that Apple hasn't added a GPS data matching capability to iPhoto. For a company that makes a device with GPS capability, how hard would it be to add the ability to match iPhone GPS data with the timestamp of an image taken with a non-GPS camera? That would be the kind of leap forward that we have come to expect in a full iLife release. Sigh.
