I’ve been inundated with comments on my two most recent blogs on the release of Final Cut Pro X:
#1: Ain’t Nothing Like It in the World
#2: Apple’s Challenges (with FCP X)
Late last night, Apple published an FAQ answering some of the questions that have been raised during this discussion. Notice that for the first time, they are using words like “not yet” and “coming this summer.”
I recommend you read this.
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/faq/
Also, yesterday I heard a reasonably substantial rumor that Apple has decided to re-release Final Cut Studio (3) back into the market. I checked with my sources at Apple and was told this was NOT true.
I still think this is a serious mistake and urge Apple to reconsider – it does not hurt the launch of FCP X to also sell Final Cut Studio (3).
By the way, I want to reiterate something I said last night at the LAFCPUG meeting – it is way too early to make any final decisions on Final Cut Pro. FCP X is in its infancy. Apple IS listening to the discussion. To my way of thinking, Apple totally blew the launch of FCP X and needs to move quickly to fix things. Before you make any final decisions for yourself or your company, wait a bit. My suggestion is a month.
At the end of that time, passions will have cooled, Apple will have time to respond, and we will all have time to think. It is always better to make decisions with a cool head after thinking about it for a while.
The situation many editors find themselves in is difficult, but not hopeless. Give this a little time to play out.
I’ll have more later this week – still trying to wade through all the email — thanks to everyone for writing.
I am always interested in your comments.
Larry
P.S. By the way, I read every email and every comment, but I am just buried in trying to answer them all. I’m sorry if I haven’t gotten to yours yet.
36 Responses to Apple Is Listening
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Larry says:
June 30, 2011 at 12:01 am
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Claes says:
June 30, 2011 at 12:31 am
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Walter Lutz says:
June 30, 2011 at 3:01 am
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Craig Seeman says:
June 30, 2011 at 5:27 pm
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Paul Escamilla says:
July 1, 2011 at 12:28 am
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Ron Priest says:
July 8, 2011 at 10:10 am
← Older CommentsI agree. FCP 7 needs to return to the market. It makes NO sense to pull it.
Larry
Walter:
FCP6 came out in April 2007, by which time Intel Macs had been around for some time. It therefore runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel Macs and should be fine to continue to run.
Thanks Claes! Fingers crossed. 🙂
Apple has had a long history of managing transition, OS9 to OSX and “classic,” PPC to Intel and Rosetta, Shake being available for a long time after EOL was announced, MobileMe having a year long grace period on the move to iCloud, even iWeb and iDVD are still part of the iLife 11 box in the Online store although absent from the App Store. These transitions sometimes lasted well over a year.
Some people have said it’s the same old Apple stubbornness but, given the above, what Apple is doing by pulling FCS2009 is completely out of character with their past and even recent practice with transitions. I can’t believe they would even begin to think pulling FCS2009 would drive people to FCPX at this point in its development. I can’t help but believe something else happened that forced a change in proactive. We’ll never know though.
FCPX has great potential but I think the current moves by Apple have critically (but hopefully not fatally) damaged its chance to grow. It’s as if the infant was separated from its parents before it had chanced to be nursed and weened and accepted amongst its sibling.
Larry, I cannot agree with you that professional editors should take a wait and see approach. Why? Because we did wait, and we did see. And what we saw was that Apple has ZERO, and I mean, ZERO, respect or concern for the professionals who have used Final Cut for years.
And how can any professional even begin to consider moving forward with Apple products after this? Are you saying we should trust them? Why? There are other programs out there that will get the job done. Premiere and Avid and others. Adobe and Avid have long traditions of making tools for professionals. That is what they do. If there were no other alternatives at the moment, sure, wait and see and hope that Apple will change its tune and its business strategy and its attitude towards professionals.
But, as I said, there are other alternative you can use TODAY to get your professional work done. Will there be a learning curve? Yes. But if you move to FCP X, there will be an even steeper learning curve.
So a steeper learning curve that leads to a non-professional application? Or a shallower learning curve that leads to a professional application? I think the choice is easy. And i think its a disservice to any editor to suggest otherwise.
Just today I talked with an editor who used to be my assistant editor. I asked him if he plans to switch to Avid or Premiere Pro now. He laughed and said, “Is that really even a question?”. Then he told me that he just edited his first short film in Premiere. I asked him why he didn’t use FCP, since he knew FCP better. “I shot with the Red camera. Premiere supports Red. FCP doesn’t. It didn’t make sense to use FCP”.
I asked him how it was to edit with Premiere. He said, “well, obviously, I’m more comfortable on FCP, but got everything I needed done in Premiere. There’s no way in hell I could’ve used FCPX for this project.”
He told me I’ll be fine with Premiere. So I downloaded a trial version and began to cut with it. I’m glad I have a 3-day weekend to play with it.
FCPX’s FAQ now on Main Page!
I’m happy to see that Apple has placed a link to their FAQ on the bottom right of its main page! I just noticed that today. Maybe Apple is listening?
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro/