All the wailing over the new Final Cut Pro X can't obscure the facts: FCPX was rewritten - at great expense - to give it the power pros will need for the next decade. If this is "abandoning" I'm going with them.
In addition to my storage work here and on StorageMojo I've been producing industrial videos using Final Cut for several years. I'm not a heads-down TV or film editor but I understand why people are steamed.
The fundamental issue is that FCPX is not a drop-in replacement for FCP. It's missing dozens of features, like multi-cam support and tape ingest, that pros expect.
And Big Mistake, Apple stopped selling FCS, with all the pro features, and the dominant NLE (non-linear editor) today. So pros feel like they're being thrown out the door rather than given a stairway to heaven.
It's the architecture, not the features But step back from missing features and look at what Apple has done. They've re-written FCPX with an architecture that only pros need!
Key features include:
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.
Where Apple screwed up Apple's marketing missed the boat. And maybe engineering could have used another 3 months to fix feature deficits. But real men ship.
Some key mistakes:
The Storage Bits take Apple just went through this same issue with QuickTime and handled it better. The "new" QuickTime Player has major feature deficits compared to the 15 year old version. But since you can still use both, it isn't an issue.
Buying FCPX doesn't force you to stop using FCS, but not being able to get a new copy - with support - invites digital claustrophobia. For people who've built their livelihoods on FCP the fear is exponential.
But concerns that Apple is leaving the pro market just don't square with the facts. Apple spent millions to re-write their flagship creative product, packing it with features iPhone shooters will never need, to leave the market?
Looking at Thunderbolt, the architectural work in OS X and FCPX pricing it's obvious that far from leaving the pro market, Apple intends to own even more of it. From the Apple II on, Apple has always sought to foster the creative market.
To suggest that Steve Jobs, largest single shareholder in Disney, longtime CEO of Pixar, invested millions in FCPX to quit the market is silly. Yes, they've made some boneheaded mistakes with the FCPX launch.
But losing the pro market won't be one of them.
Comments welcome, of course. I'm in the middle of a project right now so I won't be upgrading to FCPX for a while. If you want to learn filmmaking, check out the Zaki Gordon Institute for Independent Filmmaking.