Jacko these are independent features, one cannot substitute another. XMP is only applicable when there is standardised format for storing data, which is accepted by other applications. For example, there is more or less standardised format for storing tags inside XMP, as well as geo location, camera settings, RAW curves and so on. However, I was not able to identify format for storing data about people on the photo. Maybe there is still something I just don’t know yet, and I would be very grateful if someone would share with me information about that.
Unfortunately, I don’t know how to store data about people in XMP. All samples I’ve seen (such as data that stored by iPhone for example) were just not adequate. This is just not enough to solve issues of synching several applications without collisions, as it does not include ID’s for example. So I had two options:
- come up with my own extension to XMP to store all necessary data, that is not supported by any other application, which contradicts to whole idea of XMP
- or, store data in separate files, like Picasa did, which is much simpler to implement.
So, the choice was pretty obvious, to my mind.
However, if you have information how to store all necessary information in XMP files compatible way - I would appreciate sharing it with me. That can be game changing. Until then, there is still need for separate .ini files to store data that cannot be stored in XMP.
