-
Dear Avid…
Dear Avid,
It appears that Apple has decided to abandon professional users of Final Cut Pro. Good for you. You have been given a reprieve. Don’t screw it up.
I hope you have a long memory, because your former users do. Do you remember when users of Media Composer left en masse for Final Cut Pro and your company nearly died as a result? I’m sure that there were as many reasons for switching as there were users.
My reason? I got sick of your attitude. Yes, you basically invented non-linear editing and we all owe you a debt of gratitude. However, you never let us forget it. You became unapproachable and arrogant – ironically, very much like Steve Jobs. After we spent over $100,000 on two of your editing systems, you never really knew us and didn’t care to.
For your second life, why don’t you try to do things a little differently? Instead of adversarial relationships with your customers, why don’t you try acting like we’re valuable to you?
For instance, I found it offensive that after spending $50,000 for an editing system, you required me to cough up an exorbitant annual service contract fee or $200 per incident to talk to a support person. How about a year of free support? You won’t lose money. Most of your users are fairly smart people and The Cow is here for us too.
A credit card number as collateral for a defective board exchange? That really made me feel special. How about trusting the customers who have placed their trust in your products?
An ’80s era dongle? Yeah, I guess we’re all thieves lying in wait. Again, a little trust?
And two months after the last $50,000 editor we bought from you, you obsoleted all the Meridien hardware we had just bought and laughed when we asked for a way to upgrade. Boy did I feel like a chump.
Why don’t you take a few lessons from companies that do things right – like AJA. There is no charge for support calls – no service contract required. They are happy to talk to you about any problems you might have when using their products. They’ll even help you troubleshoot the products of others. They don’t mind sending replacement parts for troubleshooting and they won’t ask for a credit card before they do.
The way I figure it, Apple has given you a gift. You’ll likely have one more chance with many of us. But as the old saying goes, “fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me”. I’m probably gonna give you another chance and it’ll be the last one. Don’t blow it.
Sincerely,
Former and probable future Avid user, DRPS – I put my money where my mouth is and ordered MC today (6/16/11).
-
23 Replies
-
[David Roche] “It appears that Apple has decided to abandon professional users of Final Cut Pro”
Chill out. Honestly – this is getting silly.
Whilst I appreciate an attractive offer was made on MC, which may make sense to a lot of people as a client/hire option, abandoning FCP as a product a week before you actually get to see the new version is ludicrous.
All your other comments about AVID are pretty valid. Your only mistake is in assuming, like an abused wife, that your errant former partner has finally changed. Only cold, hard economics will ever turn AVID’s head. I suspect that if FCP does fail (as you already assume it will), AVID will redouble it’s attempts to milk its users for another few years – so either way, you lose.
Edit Out Ltd
—————————-
FCP Editor/Trainer/System Consultant
EVS/VT Supervisor for live broadcast
RED camera transfer/post
Independent Director/Producerhttps://www.blackmagic-design.com/community/communitydetails/?UserStoryId=8757
-
Your post in Final cut X forum does not make any sense. It would be much better served in Avid Forum.
Sohrab
2.66 GHz 8-core, ATI Radeon HD 4870,
FCS 3, AJA Kona Lhi“The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six months, or six years down the road. But he has faith that it will happen.” — Carl Ally
-
It’s already in the Avid forum and has been for a few days.
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/45/880530
—————-
Michael Hancock
Editor -
In Cupertino they have a saying, “Don’t let the screen door hit you”.
-
Oh but it does – don’t you know the Avid execs are reading this forum with great delight?
-
John, when you realize that Apple probably makes more on iPhones in a few days than they do on FCP in a year, then you’ll realize that they’re telling you and me the same thing.
-
I’m sorry, but I’m not gonna make you feel better about buying Avid and upending your whole production workflow a week before X is out, based off nothing but a 2 month old 45 minute presentation. Avid people may get a temporary little pleasure reading posts like yours, but I can’t imagine they feel much other than a complete sense of impending doom from the lack of information regarding X.
As users the lack of information is frustrating, but as a competitor it’s like waiting to be attacked by a much larger army with all kinds of weapons you’ve never even seen before. Something akin to aliens attacking cave men.
-
I bought MC but I haven’t abandoned FCP yet. I think it’s smart to have an escape plan for when Apple bails on us.
I’m under no illusion that Avid has changed one bit – hence the post.
Cold, hard, economics works on both sides of the fence. Professional video people are not “where it’s at” for Apple. The big money is in iOS and related hardware. That’s where Apple is headed. That’s why I’m ready to entertain the thought of going back to Avid. Since they rely on professionals for their core business, I at least have a reasonable expectation that they aren’t going to walk away from their products.
I went to Vegas, saw the FCPX demo and talked to execs at organizations that have large installed bases of FCP. When they’re telling you that it’s over, it’s probably over.
Good luck pinching and swiping your way to a good edit on your iPad.
-
@ David Roche.
Have a nice day.
David
______________________________
Believe me. Everything is a lie. -
yes apple makes more money doing other things. Does that mean it makes economic sense to stop doing the things that make less money? No. Apple is not a company of 5 people who can only do one thing at a time. There are thousands of people doing different things. There are people that work on pro video applications and there are people that work on IOS products. The people making the video applications are still making a profit for apple, and therefore are still part of their business. For the same reason that Chevrolet still makes the Corvette, Apple will continue to make products for the higher end video professional.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up