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A bridge too far?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “[Bill Davis] “Seems to me the point was for Apple to quietly but definitively put out the message that X is not being ignored, but rather STILL in a robust cycle of constant improvement and we’ve decided to take a big step – not just small incremental stuff – and that’s going to take time.
”And they are saying that to a few hundred people at a trade show? Why?”
This is what bothers me most about Apple. The unnecessary secrecy, particularly for the ProApps division.
They decide to tease new features in FCPX, a program purported to be used by millions of people, but they only show it to a room full of people who happen to be in Vegas and happen to be at that hotel/conference room and happen to be there at the right time and are willing to sign an NDA? If Apple wanted to definitively put the message out there that X was not being ignore, this isn’t how you do it.
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Michael Hancock
Editor -
[Michael Hancock] “If Apple wanted to definitively put the message out there that X was not being ignore, this isn’t how you do it.”
They have said this repeatedly at numerous events, and it’s been repeated endlessly by people, including me, who have heard them say it. They’ve also said they can’t talk about it publicly, and I’m not entirely sure that it’s because they want to be all secretive.
Apple used to advertise and talk publicly about all their software, pro apps and consumer apps. That changed, for all their software, within the last few years. At about the same time, Avid, Adobe, Microsoft and most others went to some flavor of a subscription model. Maybe the same thing precipitated all these changes? Or do you think that all software vendors just decided to shake things up at exactly the same time?
Note that the only company that also makes the computer on which the software exclusively runs, now does not promote their software. They sell it, but they don’t advertise it, or preview it, or anything. Is it because they’re mean? Bad Apple! Is it a conspiracy to keep everyone in the dark? Apple is abandoning pros! Or is there some legal/financial/accounting mumbo jumbo that prevents them from doing so?
I don’t know the answer, but I don’t believe all this is because of Apple’s secretive culture. Some? Sure. But I think there’s more to this than we’re aware of.
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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~\”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.\”~
~I still need to play Track Tetris sometimes. An old game that you can never win~
~\”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented\”~ -
[Michael Hancock] “They decide to tease new features in FCPX, a program purported to be used by millions of people, but they only show it to a room full of people…”
What percentage of those millions of people are actually all that worried about the future of FCPX, as opposed to having a desire for this function or that function, and perhaps fixes for a couple of outstanding bugs?
I’d love to know what was presented at that gathering, but for me knowing it happened is one small bit of info that there is a future for FCPX.
Though to be honest, I don’t spend much time worrying about the future of any of the current NLEs. Any of them could go away, change drastically, or become unusable or unaffordable for some reason or other. Change is a given so why worry about it; that is just the way things are now with regards to all things in video production.
I do enjoy following these discussions when I have the time though.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Again, it doesn’t really matter. If Apple is implementing user prefs, isn’t that what you would want?”
I guess that’s my point. Other than consolidated libraries, I don’t believe they have been implementing user requests, except where those already coincide with the design team’s established goals. Even the 10.1 library shift might have come about because internally they also decided that the prior approach was not good. Bear in mind that’s not atypical for software developers, but I feel like Apple is way more insular than others. It’s their way or the highway.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Oliver Peters] “I feel like Apple is way more insular than others. It’s their way or the highway.
“In a way I understand this. If clients were allowed to shoot and edit all of the videos we produce for them, they would end up a lot different and perhaps not worse, but my wager would be that they wouldn’t be better and my job as mediator to their madness wouldn’t be very prudent.
Again, I don’t really know or care, but there are bugs to the things that Apple has designed and released. They should probably be fixed as it was Apple that implemented them, not users.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “And they are saying that to a few hundred people at a trade show? Why?”
I presume because that’s what was an acceptable approach within the levels of decision making involved at Apple.
Clearly to a business such as Apple – one of the largest companies on the globe – there is a major concern with message discipline so the company doesn’t have to contend with the fallout of the right hand saying A and the left hand saying B. One extremely effective solution to that that is to say as little as possible. We might not like that. But it’s proven to work for them. When they do release things, generally it’s fresh news.
Apple doesn’t just design, they have a crystal clear track record of DELIVERING innovation over time. So sooner or later, this too will be in the marketplace for people to love, hate, or for all I know, just be indifferent towards.
The only thing I’m ABSOLUTELY sure of, is that we’ll argue about it here. Cuz that’s what we do!
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Michael Hancock] “The unnecessary secrecy, particularly for the ProApps division.”
Well….
the way THEY do things has led to them becoming one of the leading companies on the planet with the resources to do huge things effectively.
Perhaps they would be even bigger and stronger if they tipped their hand more. But that’s speculation.
What they HAVE done – has led to where we are now.
So it’s worked.
Making you or me feel better isn’t really the point is it? It’s doing what gets them the result they want.
And so far, it has. That’s kinda hard to argue.
Creator of XinTwo – https://www.xintwo.com
The shortest path to FCP X mastery. -
[Bill Davis] “Clearly to a business such as Apple – one of the largest companies on the globe – there is a major concern with message discipline so the company doesn’t have to contend with the fallout of the right hand saying A and the left hand saying B. One extremely effective solution to that that is to say as little as possible. We might not like that. But it’s proven to work for them. When they do release things, generally it’s fresh news. “
But this is a company who’s stock price goes down when they didn’t announce what the analysts though they would, yet they continue to do public live streamed announcements.
An NDA for a piddly NLE and not one little peep of it anywhere?
Either Apple is scrubbing the internet of any mentions, or whatever was shown wasn’t all that great. In which case, where are the bug fixes?
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Either Apple is scrubbing the internet of any mentions, or whatever was shown wasn’t all that great. In which case, where are the bug fixes?”
Or the people there chose to honor the NDA and play nice. Or actual release has been so damn long in coming that we all forgot what was shown. 🙂
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Jeremy Garchow] “Again, I don’t really know or care, but there are bugs to the things that Apple has designed and released. They should probably be fixed as it was Apple that implemented them, not users.”
What are on your list?
Mine are that copying complex or long projects to another event just beachballs for a really long time and you have to hover the beachball over the event for 1-2 minutes to get a crack at moving it.
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