Metadata: what goes "out" should be let back "in."

[Silversleeves]

Or, in less obscure terms, why not Import the same files you Export, instead of requiring the user to translate/trans-format the data to .iptc files (something I, recaling test-driving Canto Cumulus and Extensis Portfolio for PPC Macs in 1996, still don't know exactly how to do). Barring that, an IPTC/XML import-export plug-in, maybe with code from KiPi or Nepomuk, might be the way to go, with a benefit to NConvert and GimpShop users who want to recover their metadata after modifying their original files.

I guess Pierre was caught in the wash of that trend away from writing apps that imported simpler formats with meta information in them. I don't know what started the trend, but one unintended outcome has been the sidecar file, so there must not have been much thought along lines of security of personal information involved in the Big Wave Away from Text.

BZT