Through many recent versions, the focus for MC has been home theater and high end equipment.
Our focus has been on extending and improving the
Media Network aspects of MC. This has included our first phone app (Gizmo), and a lot of work for video conversion. These, in turn, required work on MC's internal architecture. We've also added some audiophile features.
Is there ever going to be a focus put back on other areas of MC like Images?
Yes.
I'm guessing JRiver probably can't say, but their direction is going to require me to make a decision as to my direction. Do I put time in a program that has gone as far as it will with image management, or do I find something else to manage my photos?
That's a decision you'll need to make.
I've waited a long time (too long) to make a decision on how best to organize my thousands of photos as I'm wanting to stay in MC but it's looking like I'm being forced in another direction. I decided I'm going to stay with the standards of IPTC/XMP but they're not fully supported yet. I'm certainly not the only one out there with this concern based on recent posts.
Sorry if we're not meeting your needs, but I hope you'll understand that we may have a different set of priorities.
Here's the wik article on the current status of
photo tagging.