Apple and Adobe Software: Together

[Bill Davis]

I don’t have time to respond point by point due to my life being in boxes as I’m moving. So just two small things. As I’m reading the parts you’re quoting compared to your own writings, I am amused by the number of “weasel words” (old copywriters term for fuzzy terms like “approximately” and “in our opinion”) used to be purposefully vague. I use them myself all the time – but the number that show up in discussions of actual accounting “standards” always amuses me. GAAP itself – it’s only Generally Accepted – makes me laugh. But one thing I know for a fact is that the more successful an entity – the more lawsuits it will face from parties eager to litigate themselves a slice of that success. So if Apple is super diligent about how it does its accounting – so be it. And if the other As play the same game, fair is fair.

As to the Apple credit card file, the reason I’m OK with them doing that but NOT with Adobe doing the same is that Apple doesn’t post a charge UNLESS I elect to make a purchase. Whereas Adobe demands not just my card info but also the ability to auto-charge me monthly unless I opt OUT. As I’ve mentioned before it’s precisely THAT difference I object to. I believe it’s a powerful shift of transactional power that puts consumers at a distinct disadvantage.

Let’s say I die tomorrow. How many months until my wife recovers from her grief and jumps through the hoops to turn off my photo subscription money drain? I’m positive that’s not Adobes overt intent with the subscription switch – but it is one tiny exemplar of the consumer hostility of the model. Opt-out is crap. I still get “emails” and “tweets” from a friend I served with on a charity board of directors – and he tragically died four years ago! His linkage to auto triggered actions have out-lived him! Allowing auto draws from my checking account to anything even vaguely like that? No thank you.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[John Rofrano]

[Robin S. Kurz] “Then I guess I should have been more specific: Anyone that didn’t have a Mac before. Ever. And would have otherwise not considered getting one. As in moved from Windows or elsewhere exclusively for the sake of using FCP X.”

Oh, you are about to. 😉

Sony just announced end-of-life for Vegas Pro after 13 versions and there are a number of Vegas Pro users who have only used Windows and are asking me about switching to FCP X because they hate Adobe and are seriously considering buying a Mac for the first time for the sole purpose of moving to FCP X with no previous Mac experience. So people absolutely switch platforms because of an application that they need which is core to their business.

Here is one such conversation that went on just this week: Question for John Rofrano on system.

This is *exactly* how you should be selecting a computer. You should first select the applications you need to use and then buy the computer than can run those applications. Windows or Mac is irrelevant. It’s all about the applications you can run. Of course now it’s also about the business model. I would much rather record software as a capital purchase which increases the value of my company as apposed a subscription expense which devalues it as a liability.

…and BTW, after owning and building Windows computers for 30+ years, my 2010 Mac Pro is built way more solid than anything that PC manufactures sell you. Being the geek that I am, I stripped my Mac Pro tower down to the motherboard (to vacuum out the pet dander from the previous owner) and I was flawed at the construction of the build. Did you know that every single screw in the Mac Pro tower has lock-tight on it so that they don’t loosen? I’ve never seen that used in a PC build. I would gladly pay a premium for Apple hardware craftsmanship after seeing it first hand for myself because IMHO, it’s worth every penny.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Andrew Kimery]

[Robin S. Kurz] “Then I guess I should have been more specific: Anyone that didn’t have a Mac before. Ever. And would have otherwise not considered getting one.”

I never owned a Mac before. Ever. Until I bought one specifically so I could use FCP 3. Now the fact that FCP Legend is gone and FCP X isn’t doing much in my neck of the woods and all my other primary software tools are cross-platform means buying another Mac for work is much harder to justify for me. In chatting with other editors I’ve found many of them thinking the same thing. FCP Legend was the ‘killer app’ for the Mac for them, and me, so w/o it sticking with Apple for work machines isn’t the obvious choice like it was in the past.

And how do I require BMD hardware to use the software? I use both Resolve and Fusion and have no BMD hardware whatsoever.”

AFAIK BMD video I/O devices are the only ones that work with Resolve (never looked into Fusion).

[Bill Davis] “I don’t have time to respond point by point due to my life being in boxes as I’m moving. “

Moving, always fun. Remember to lift with your knees and have some cold beers ready for the end of the day.

[Bill Davis] “I am amused by the number of “weasel words” (old copywriters term for fuzzy terms like “approximately” and “in our opinion”) used to be purposefully vague.”

Love me some linguistics. Got in a fight w/a GF once because she asked if I *could* ever cheat on her as opposed to if I *would* ever cheat on her. Being technically correct didn’t seem to help me in that situation.

Of course only insiders know what really went down, but the educated guesses don’t seem that off especially considering the regulations I linked to, Apple citing accounting regulations, and Avid saying that the software updates it provide to customers free of charge were accounted for incorrectly. These days unless you have given Avid money in the past 12 months (either via subscription or annual support contract) you aren’t getting a thing from them, not even bug fixes, and that’s a far cry from a company that routinely provided free bug fixes going back 2-3 versions.

[John Rofrano] “…and BTW, after owning and building Windows computers for 30+ years, my 2010 Mac Pro is built way more solid than anything that PC manufactures sell you”

I agree with you about the build quality, but I’m not really a fan of the lack of user upgradeability (especially with the nMPs still costing top dollar even though they haven’t changed in two years). With so many apps leveraging the GPU these days just swapping out an old GFX card (or cards) can breathe new life into a machine.

[Bill Davis]

[Andrew Kimery] “Got in a fight w/a GF once because she asked if I *could* ever cheat on her as opposed to if I *would* ever cheat on her. Being technically correct didn’t seem to help me in that situation.”

OK – THIS made me laugh. And after a couple of days of quite a bit of generally enjoyable head down physical labor, it felt really good to laugh. Thanks.

[Andrew Kimery] “With so many apps leveraging the GPU these days just swapping out an old GFX card (or cards) can breathe new life into a machine.
“

Sure. But what troubles me is that while it can certainly “breath new life” into something – it seems to me that in these days of amazing leaps in technology – an old box with “new life” is going to be increasingly hard to justify when the distance between last years tech and this years tech keeps growing.

My last hardware refresh kinda clouded my perceptions about putting too much money or time into keeping older hardware going because the performance improvement I saw was SO big. Even 5 years ago, a new computer got me incremental performance increases. This last time, it was honestly a night and day difference. And the personal productivity boost was SERIOUS. Sic transit technology.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Dennis Radeke]

[John Rofrano] “…and BTW, after owning and building Windows computers for 30+ years, my 2010 Mac Pro is built way more solid than anything that PC manufactures sell you.”

I have both a Mac Pro and several PC towers. I’ve used both platforms for many years.

While the MacPro was a wonder of engineering design and functionality for 2004, by 2010, it had several worthy competitors. I have posited for a while that the original Z800 chassis by HP was the first that ‘out-Appled Apple’ in the form and functionality department. Complete tooless entry without sharp edges, superior hard drive bay chassis, of course more expandability, superior power supply, great air flow and cooling design and for the time, a very strong aesthetic. Again, people will disagree and that’s okay, but I think the point is that one person’s idea of solid is different from others.

I will add that I think chassis design is an important part of the picking your overall computer. For example the current Mac Pro has some great features and limiting factors that make the discussion all the more interesting.

[Andrew Kimery]

[Bill Davis] “OK – THIS made me laugh. And after a couple of days of quite a bit of generally enjoyable head down physical labor, it felt really good to laugh. Thanks.”

My pleasure. Yeah, it wasn’t that great of an experience at the time, but it’s pretty funny in hindsight.

[Bill Davis] “Sure. But what troubles me is that while it can certainly “breath new life” into something – it seems to me that in these days of amazing leaps in technology – an old box with “new life” is going to be increasingly hard to justify when the distance between last years tech and this years tech keeps growing.
“

That kinda goes along with what I’m saying, doesn’t it? If things are changing so fast wouldn’t being able to install improved components as they come out be a good thing as opposed to buying a ‘disposable’ computer every couple of years? Sure, there are major architecture changes that wouldn’t be backwards compatible but those types of changes are much less frequent than things like an increase in CPU or GPU speed.

I’m kinda eyeballing new machines right now and if I go with a Mac I’d like to get the number of ports and GPUs reserved for the MP line, but there’s no way I’m paying top dollar for tech that’s already at least two years old. The MP used to have a pretty predictable upgrade cycle (like all the Macs) but now… is it going to be 2yrs between MP updates? 3? 5? I know there potential hints of a new MP in some code in El Cap, but it’s still anyone’s guess as to when it will actually happen. If the machines were more upgradeable I’d be less weary of them.

In the past couple of years I’ve upgraded my Macs with things like SSDs, new GPUs, eSATA/USB 3 cards, etc., and that’s kept them useful for day in/day out editing for me. The stock versions of the Macs would at best be really slow and at worst unusable. It was either upgrade or buy new machines and I obviously chose to upgrade (in part knowing that the longer I wait to buy, the more I’ll get for my money). Talk to the 2010 me (or especially the 2001 me) and I would have said 2-3yrs is the max life of an editing machine and once you hit 5yrs you might as well take it in the backyard and shoot it. And this was certainly true in the 90’s but these days we aren’t seeing the same type of massive year over year gains that translate into night and day differences in real world usage.

I think a lot of the relatively recent real world speed increases have come from things like switching to SSDs (HDDs have been a longtime bottle neck) and having more apps taking advantage of GPUs. Once those changes have been made then I think it’s back to more iterative changes (faster SSDs, faster GPUs, etc.,). Oddly enough one of the weak links in the old Mac Pros is turning out to be the power supply. Modern GPUs pull more juice than what the MP was designed to handle so people are having to hookup external power supplies if they want to run some of the more power hungry GPUs.

With all that beings said, i’m sure to some degree I’m overestimating my needs, but I’ve developed a hope for the best, plan for the worst mindset over the years so I’m more comfortable having something I don’t need than needing something I don’t have.

-Andrew

[Robin S. kurz]

[John Rofrano] “Sony just announced end-of-life for Vegas Pro after 13 versions”

Really? Certainly not the scene I follow, but I also wasn’t able to google anything definitive either. Just seemingly rumors from the last NAB. Do you have a link? But I’ve heard various VP users say that FCP X struck them as being the closest to what they are used to, yes. Not knowing the first thing about Vegas, I have no idea how much truth there is to that.

[John Rofrano] “So people absolutely switch platforms because of an application that they need which is core to their business.”

Again, I was only speaking from personal experience and FCP X. Obviously there are always exceptions to every rule, yes. Those numbers imho not being more than a fraction of a fraction. I’m sure that FCP can very well be a big contribution for fueling a move like that in general, sure, just not all deciding. But that certainly could change. Who knows. We’ll see.

– RK

____________________________________________________
Deutsch? Hier gibt es ein umfassendes FCP X Training für dich!

[Robin S. kurz]

[Andrew Kimery] “AFAIK BMD video I/O devices are the only ones that work with Resolve”

Have never and don’t ever plan to need video i/o for Resolve other than to and from my disk. For me Resolve is no where near to being a usable NLE.

– RK

____________________________________________________
Deutsch? Hier gibt es ein umfassendes FCP X Training für dich!

[John Rofrano]

[Dennis Radeke] “I have posited for a while that the original Z800 chassis by HP was the first that ‘out-Appled Apple’ in the form and functionality department. Complete tooless entry without sharp edges, superior hard drive bay chassis, of course more expandability, superior power supply, great air flow and cooling design and for the time, a very strong aesthetic. Again, people will disagree and that’s okay, but I think the point is that one person’s idea of solid is different from others. “

I’ve seen the insides of the HP Z800 at NAB one year and I have to agree with you that it’s also very well constructed. If I ever needed to buy a PC again, HP Z Series would be my first choice. When Windows users ask me what PC to buy, I always recommend HP workstations.

~jr

http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com

[Dennis Radeke]

I’ve seen good things come recently from other manufacturers as well. Dell which for a while was all about supply chain since going private, I think is making some great hardware as well.