@kraterz
Apple might have botched the rollout of FCPX but they are changing the future of video editing. From another ZDNet article:
They?ve re-written FCPX with an architecture that only pros need!
Key features include:
64-bit architecture. Addresses more than 4GB of RAM. Aunty Em doesn?t need that, but pros already do, even if they don?t know it.
Multi-processor support with GCD. Rumor has it that a new 16-core (32 virtual cores) Mac Pro is due next month. The old FCP saw almost no benefit from more than 6. Grand Central Dispatch brings multi-processing to the rest of us.
Background GPU & CPU rendering. Takes advantage of the incredible performance of modern GPUs and multi-core CPUs.
4k media support. How many 4k consumer camcorders are there? None - and there won?t be for 10 years.
Object storage. 99.9% of pros have no idea what this is or why they should care, but as video content and archive capacity explodes, this is the only way to fly.
Cheap scale-out storage. Xsan costs $999 per seat today and next month it is free! Including the Xsan cluster file system in OS X Lion and in OS X Lion Server for $50 is huge for video shops.
These aren?t features that Dad needs for a soccer game video. These are a foundation for feature and capability growth for more than the next decade
And from a former Avid employee, Mike Bernardo:
Based on your time at Avid, how seriously do you think they are taking FCPX now? Do you think they see this as a window of opportunity to steal back some of the FCP base ? or do they see FCPX as an even bigger threat now?
Mike Bernardo: I still have many friends at Avid, and I?m sure there are a lot of smart people there thinking about this very issue as we speak. I know that while I was there, they took the threat from Apple very seriously.
I think it would make sense to try and capitalize on Apple?s mis-step with some customer outreach and perhaps try to position Avid as the company that still ?cares? about Pros as a short term tactic. But without some new product to show, I?m not sure how effective that would be. If, as a FCP7 user, you hadn?t picked Avid in the past, I?m not sure what would change your mind now.
The bigger concern I would have if I were at Avid would be that it appears Apple is again trying to leapfrog their competition with a new paradigm for video editing. Avid?s interface was already showing its age, and now it?s only going to appear more antiquated in the eyes of young editors growing up on FCPX. Maybe Avid doesn?t necessarily see that as a big deal ? they have their loyal users who aren?t going to switch and they know it. Remember also that Avid doesn?t make their money from the editor software alone ? they also have big enterprise server systems that manage large amounts of media and also do things like big newsroom automation systems. These are things that Apple are not likely to compete with. However, in all those kinds of systems, the lynchpin is the Editor, and if none of the younger editors know how to use, or don?t care to learn Avid, that?s a big long-term problem.
Discussion on:
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