The writing has been on the wall for Apple's iPhoto and Aperture photo-editing apps for some time now. Back in July, the company announced that it was stopping development of both programs in favor of the new Photos app that the company finally released details about last week. But Apple hadn't said whether or not it would continue to make its older apps available — after all, Aperture does contain some more advanced features not found in the new Photos app. However, it's all very clear now: Apple's official page for Aperture now says that the app will no longer be available to purchase once Photos launches later this spring. You'll be able to buy it through the Mac App Store until then, but its days are officially numbered.

That's no big surprise — once Apple decided to stop development, spending your hard-earned dollars on a dead program seemed like a bad idea, even if the new Photos app isn't quite the replacement you're looking for. We imagine plenty of pros who may have still had Aperture workflows will probably move over to something like Adobe's Lightroom, while plenty of other consumers will be happy enough with the new Photos app. iPhoto's ultimate fate isn't quite as clear — while Apple's Aperture-related pages make it clear the software is going away, there's no such corresponding message for iPhoto. Still, it's hard to imagine it'll stick around, as Photos is positioned as a one-to-one replacement for the venerable but now-outdated iPhoto.